Please, lets keep the lights off this time...

Ok, its not quite come to that, but....after 5 months of couch potato life, I realised that if I keep this up not doing an ounce of sport, that day of being so fat WILL finally come.

So finally, tonight, I decided to slowly get back on that Ultra-marathon saddle, and it feels great !

Pizzas, chinese, fish and chips, Indian, you name it (especially pot Noodles) I think i can wangle keeping this up, but maybe throw in a few nuts, some spinach, bananas and blueberry's and raw carrots here and there. At least they taste good too. 

Glencoe - West Highland way - A Perfect Place to break an ankle in minus 6 degrees

The main aim is to, in 2 years run the Idatarod Invitational, and be the first Scot to do so. But since tonight i was wheezing round 5km, there's a long road ahead. It'll hopefully end up with the 'training run' of Susitna 100 race in February, a 100miler in Alaska which you can also bike or ski (if you are metrosexual, that is)

First thing, and anyone in the neighbourhood is welcome to join me, is a little bit of winter running - on the 100mile West Highland Way. Wait a few weeks though, I need to buy some cold weather equipment and so on, and get to some semblance of fitness. But the idea of trying to run it in 3 days, sleeping rough, and living on lovely pot noodles and mars bars - just to imagine the beautiful feeling of solitude halfway up a soaking blizzardy mountain in the middle of nowhere in December, with only....em...sheep for company...ok ok i'm no salesman, but at least i'll be free of the incessant white noise of FArsebook or email or telephone for 3 days (or more probably 5, plus the time in hospital)

Marathon Des Sables Diary, Stage 1

Ok so i bizzarely completed the 26th Marathon Des Sable 2011. I really can't explain how, but i wrote a little diary on the subject. You can read the first part on the link below.....

http://alanstraveladventures.blogspot.com/2011/04/marathon-des-sables-diary-stage-1.html

Final preparation for Marathon Des Sables (involving mostly Wine and Doughnuts)

Well as im sitting here on the train to Tartu, drinking coffee with white sugar and eating a lovely jam doughnut, im beginning to wonder what i should actually be doing the week before a big race.

Its almost impossible to conceptualise what a desert ultramarathon will be like from here in the frozen north, with a temperature change of 50 degrees, a heart attack is definately in the running. I'll feel pretty stupid if that happens.

However, although I was quite chuffed with my ability in the cold weather, after a month in the hot - I feel im cheating by running in the indoor track- I did a little fast half marathon on Sunday, in 1 hr 30, with no backpack, indoors to ensure technique was still there (well...kind of) but this kind of temperate enviroment is so far removed from the hot and dry and mountainous desert, which drains every inch of your energy - there are so many uncertainties regarding what kind of time i should be aiming for, i dont think theres anything i can do to know that right now except estimate...at the moment my experience is

Cool Weather Marathon, no backpack, flat ground - 3.5- 4hrs
Hot weather Marathon, no backpack, flat ground - 4 -4.5hrs
Hot weather Marathon, full backpack, bad terrain and up and down steep hills - 6- 7 hrs

So im reading books that say the average pace for Marathon de Sable is 4miles an hour, or 6.5hrs for a marathon. Which is basically, like the 3rd above- walking, which means im at about average pace for the race right now (disapointing, bearing in mind ive been thinking about training for 6 months now) Ok i understand steep hills (like my last big run in the back of Jaco) its physically impossible to run up and down, but surely the whole distance isnt like that? While i cant see myself briskly sprinting up 1000m sand dunes in 45degree heat for 20miles, im sure the terrain is mixedso i hope to get that up to at least 5-6km an hour.

So all i can do now is avoid getting sick or injured (i have a niggling ant bite on my ankle which has opened up, so ill try to see a chiropractor today) and well...apart from that ill just drink and wait. Probably i shouldnt really drink, but im sticking just to wine. And i am in Estonia after all (which still has 2 metres of snow AND IS STILL SNOWING)

Seriously though. This week, my training will consist of i think one long walk in the snow, with a pack on. Possibly drunk but its no matter. I need to read up on Chi-Walking and i really should look at my diet and buy a ground mat so i dont freeze at night. Theres no amount of Yoga that can put off my impending and inadequetly trained for doom now. It kind of serves me right really for getting into such stupid things - why didnt I stick to something safe like Muy Thai?

I'll write a diary on the race and put it in here afterwards. Seriously,  i hope that it doesnt get embarrassing or involve any airlifts or other pansy style cop-outs. Or my leg being amputated. I can promise you that there will be moments when ill lull between conciousness and semi-conciousness, but i will try to stay alive the whole way. I have some really good power songs in my i-pod. From what i read, the real enemy is nutrition and keeping hydrated and salted up throughout the time, as all your sodium sweats out constantly. So basically drinking wine as training is ok. Well done Alan, by writing about it your almost there...

Au Revoir and wish me luck!

ps I'd like to thank Nick Constantine of Soul in Motion for his support and help in my Chi-Running. If anyone is in Scotland/North of England and wants to change their whole running technique, his website is here

Mountain Marathon Trail behind Jaco

I did my first marathon distance last week in the mountains outside Jaco. Because most of it was either steep uphill or steep downhill, i left at 12noon, with some bananas, nuts and an extra bottle of water, as there weren't any Macdonalds on the way.

Monkeys can and do attach themselves to you, this one was trying to get my jelly babies

I started off right across the road from where the 'Maxi' supermarket is, on the dirt road that leads to the canopy tours (3km in) As i ran in, a bull stood in my way, but it seems that they are more scared of humans than British bulls, and it scarpered thank God, as I ran towards it clapping my hands like an idiot.

The track is flat for the first 4km then starts to rise gently - it was really exhausting that time of day in the full heat of the sun, so i tried to slow down when i got to the shade of any trees there. By 5km id almost drank my first bottle of water but luckily theres a waterfall, up the hill a little so i could fill up. After that, the real hell started. Im sure it was about 45degrees hill, it seemed to go on for about 3km , then you get some respite and downhill again, then back up again. It took me about an hour to complete the next 5km and up to the top of the hill, where it flattens out and there is a cooling breeze. Id love to hear some tips on running up hills with a pack on, because Chi-Running doesnt help a great deal. I basically walked the steepest parts, since i knew i had a long run ahead in a remote part and didnt want to end up wearing my headtorch later or sleeping up there, if it got dark (if the snakes and ants wouldn't eat me alive, the monkeys or the drug smugglers would ! )

If you keep following the trail, when you get to the very top, there is a smaller trail in red earth, that goes right and higher - this is the way you should go unless you want a 195mile run round all the mountain villages (which sounds like fun but not in one day) If you get to a surreally located restaurant on the track, in the middle of nowhere which has a sign saying 'no world economic crisis here' at the entrance, then, like i did you've gone about a km too far so turn back (or im sure you'll want to give up after that steep hill and get a lift back from the ATV guys that hang out there, as its too rugged for cars.)

The trail you should be on, and i was on, goes all the way to Hermosa beach and back to Jaco. It undulated randomly up and down hill, and almost none of it is flat, so it does make hard going. And dont stop to eat on the way, like i did - my whole body is now a dot-to-dot book of ant bites. I should mention now that you should have an anti venom kit if your up in these kind of places, as there were a few snakes about, although not quite 6m long Anacondas like Venezuela.

The view is great but its a hell of a hot in the middle of the day

Eventually after another 8-10km or so, the road forks again - you can actually go either way - left you'll pass some farmhouses and you can go for 15km more and get to Jaco beach in a more gentle fashion, and I suggest this road. Theother option is (like i did stupidly after asking the farmers wife in the house there which way was less difficult, she must have understood more difficult) to go right and what looks like your going nicely downhill....however halfway down the trail almost peters out to long grass (which isn't fun going steep downhill on) then you find yourself going down a track that is physically very difficult to stand up, you pretty much have to clamber, and then you find yourself in a quarry. It is in theory a shorter route (about 8km back to the road) but it probably takes at least twice as long, as you have to step down bit by bit, knowing every second that you may be about to hit a dead end of impenatrable jungle and have to climb back up again. After the quarry, its best to follow your nose out of there without getting shot by the (armed for some reason) guards there, and then the track becomes wider and you can gently follow it down to the original road, and eventually back out to Jaco. For some idiotic reason i got into the running mood about then, so i ran down the long road to the beach, just in time for sunset (6.15ish) and ran home that way.

As for Marathon De Sables training, i think that was my best day yet, but the bad news is that 1. i must have ran less than 50% of the distance, and climbed/walked/scrambled the rest and 2. I was aching like hell the next day, which doesnt bode well - i suppose im used to easy little beach runs not these mountains straining my calfs and knees and tendons. Interestingly the steep dowhill was a lot harder than the uphill, especially after a long and tiring day, so i think i'll spend the next week ahead of the race with a fair amount of hill running if i can to strenghten those muscles a bit and get them used to hills (as i beleive there are some in the race)

I think im as fit as im going to be due to my inherent laziness and lack of discipline, but i think i have my Chi-Running down ok now and ill try a 30-40km run tomorrow along the causeway here in Panama City and assuming its a breeze at a decent 5min-5.30km  clip then i think ive done all i can do. The biggest issue ive had here is still running in the middle of the days humidity and heat, but hopefully its the humidity thats the problem (which wont be a problem in the desert!)

Jaco, Costa Rica

I just got back from a great longish run through the sunset, so i'm writing this with endorphins coming out of my ears ;o)

Finally i think i've cracked the Chi-Running technique and am back coming towards peak fitness - about time, since the race is less than a month away now. I heard from a freind that i'm Estonias first ever and sole representative in the Marathon Des Sable this year, which means i only have to finish it to be a record holder!

When the tide is low it's perfect, apart from the heat and humidity (and rivers)

The running in Jaco beach, here in Costa Rica is pretty simple. There are i beleive some good trails (i'll hope run some this week with a guy i met who organises adventure racing in CR) But the main obvious running choice is the beach. It's 5km long, so you can do up and down for 10km or twice for 20km (like i did today) or 3 times for 30km etc. I don't know, i thought there would be a breeze, but the humidity is still hellova high, and is probably the biggest limiting factor in running in hot tropical areas. There are two rivers, and one has a croc so be careful, but its actually quite cooling to run through these on a hot day anyway.

My first race when i got here was a 7km night race in Jaco, and even then the humidity is around 70-80% so the sweat simply drips off you or sticks there - i.e. sweating doesnt cool you down so you overheat, which of course saps your energy and, in time kills you (see last blog post)

I think however after 2 weeks here, my body has got used to it, and id say i can run normally with my full pack on for an unlimited period of time (boredom permitting!)

The main things i was thinking about today was technique - after about 10km, i felt a little tug in my knee, and in my lower back, so set about altering my posture to fix that. So with a bit of focus and thinking about the techniques Nick Constantine showed me in my last Chi -Running lesson i mentaly listed the things i still need to make sure im not doing -

1. I need to keep making stupid looking but effective prancing leg movements to ensure i was landing on the middle of my foot, not the heel. In the sand i was checking this too, and it seemed my footprint showed im landing in the middle - i'll need to take a video to check that.

2. I must make sure my knees are behind my centre of gravity and so arent taking any pressure or acting as brakes (i.e. most western runners do this, stop it!)

3. I need to peel my feet off the ground, rather than any sudden movements (thats easy in the beach Thankfully)

4. I need to relax my calves and ankles so the oxygen can get to them ok - i thought about this earlier before the run and incoroporated some ankle rolls and shaking my legs about much to bystanders amusement, before the run.

Anyway, with 2 weeks left here in Jaco, before two weeks of travelling before the race, i intend to now start on a 3x20km and 1x40km runs a week regime, to get me match fit, with surfing and yoga in between days to strengthen my middle more (and make me look more handsome generally of course ;o) )

But i know that in the back of my mind is the 92-94km day in the MDS, so its likely on the second 40km day, i'll attempt something crazy to whet my 'Ultra' appetite - (and make me realise that im actualy not so fit after all !) ;o) watch this space!!

Running in Hot and Humid climates

Running in the intense humidity has issues all of its own. I did finally find though a great place in Panama City to run - which was full of other runners around 6-8pm when it was a bit breezy and below 30 degrees c.

The Causeway, Panama City - perfect for running

The place i mean is the causeway, at the end of the Panama Canal - you can knock out 5km there and 5km back, in fact more if you round the block a little at the landward end. Its a beautiful narrow road that connects 4 little islands, lined at time with very romantic restaurants and with a beautiful view of the Panama City skyline. Because of he breeze, it doesnt feel so humid, and so, while of course you still sweat like hell, you can run almost normally.

However i ended up the next week in Jaco, Costa Rica - talk about humidity! The beach is great for running along though, it's about 10km up and down (my battery ran out on my i-pod yesterday so i cant tell you exactly until tomorrow)  Tonight at 7pm i ran a 7km race through Jaco - it was quite well attended, a few hundred glistening, aclimatised, Tico bodies. And one Scottish idiot with a full backpack on, sweating profusely. I went back to the old ways, i mixed honey with my water bottle, which i like to think improved my time (40mins odd)

My biggest problem with running in this hot and humid weather (it was still 29degrees c at 7pm!) is breathing. Just like if you are in a really hot steam room, i found myself struggling to take full breaths, and trying to get air into my lungs took up a lot of the focus of the race. Of course the sweat drips off you instead of evaporating so you sweat more and more and don't cool down, which is probably the root of the problem. Theres a great link about this and the health issues here . (i.e. it's quite silly to do excercise in hot humid weather, you might die)

The starting line, Jaco - so humid even guys with no shirts are sweating like crazy!

And yes, of course its beginning to dawn on me (especially when semi-concious while running in this damn heat) how difficult this marathon des sables is going to be. I have a month and ten days to go from struggling to do 10km with full pack on in the searing humid heat here, to (by 2 weeks) i should be at least knocking out 80km a week including a 30km run or so.

Well, ive knocked the drinking on the head and im eating better now, and every day im swimming and cycling (and surfing badly) so i think im making the right moves at least. I could murder a pizza though right now so i think thats just what ill do.....adios!

My new running track, Jaco beach, Costa Rica

Year Zero

So I made my first ‘hot weather’ run of the season, here in Panama City. And i’m still alive.

Although i understand it was just a mild 31 degrees, I can safely say, it was certainly the hardest 3km of my life (im running 3km and i have a 250km race next month, dammit!).

Note forced smile for the camera -I could hardly stand up

Can you imagine sitting in a very large sauna, just beginning to sweat as some Finn put lots of water on to show off. With running gear and an 8kg backpack on. Then running 3km? Well, sounds easy, if you’re sitting in your bed reading this, or tucking into fish and chips somewhere. Well, maybe i packed my pack too heavy, it jostled about as it had my laptop etc in there (ill bring a towel this time as i’m soaking with sweat here in the air conditioned heaven of Dunkin Donuts)  or maybe it was because i just came from Baltic winter weather last night, or maybe it was just the sheer humidity taking it out of me,  but to be honest I barely made the 3km today. (19 mins by the way in case youre asking,  6 and a bit mins a km)

 From the map there seemed to be three decent choices – a trail in the national park that borders the city, the promenade along the waterfront (its about 3 km long) and the causeway  beside the Panama canal which is about the same. It was a hot day and i had my pack on so i opted for the easiest to find, at the seafront. I walked about and got myself familiar with the city too (ok ok it was noon and i was scared to run in such heat)

Either way it really brought it home to me how difficult and different running several marathons in severe heat  will be compared to running on a nice easy indoor running track back home. How i laugh now at how i nievely thought that running 10km circuits every few days would prepare me for such hell. Fortunately most runners are North European and don’t know what the hell they are up against, so maybe this month of hell in the tropics will give me an advantage when it comes to the race. Either way im going to try 4km tomorrow, i think ill try the causeway then, its about 2km there, 2km back, and ill pack my bag with the same things as ill take in the MDS itself – sensible huh?

 I think tomorrows run will be better as im more aclimatised to the heat (i feel a total dickwad whinging about sruggling over such a short distance already, but i may as well be honest about it)

Chi - Running - It's Not All About Looking Like an Idiot

Some Poor Buggers Feet (taken from googling 'Marathon Des Sable Feet')

 I had a 'Chi-Running' lesson last week in Edinburgh. If you want to see me prancing around like a fat turkey on amphetamines, with tights on, you can watch the video, ill put it up when i work out how to.

Dont watch it if you have a crush on me girls, you'll change your mind, really....

Plagiarised from my trainer Nick Constantines website -

'ChiRunning combines the inner focus and flow of T'ai Chi with the power and energy of running to create a revolutionary running form and philosophy that takes the pounding, pain, and potential damage out of the sport of running. The ChiRunning program increases mental clarity and focus, enhances the joy of running, and turns running into a safe and effective lifelong program for health, fitness, and well-being.'

Despite seeming a bit like a Chinese Eckhart Tolle, the main principles are sound -

1. It's all about biomechanics. You dont see gazelles getting sore knees. Or even cats for that matter. Thats because they move efficiently. In the west, people run like clunky robots, with terrible technique, which is why they end up with niggling injuries that keep with them all their running lives, or keeps people saying total crap like 'yeah i cant run, i get sore knees/back/shins...' doh!  Chi-running aims to allow you to run smoothly and without injuring yourself for long distances.

2. To run ludicrously long distances without getting injured, you need to sort out the basic technique perfectly first. The whole intelligence here is to tweak your technique and improve it so you both speed up dont die.

The Videos (thanks to and another free plug for Nick Constantine from soul in motion ) were extremely helpful. Not only did they show me that actually i'm not all that good looking after all, Nick was kind enough to put me through a structured programme where i could see where I was making small errors in technique, so I could fix them, followed by a powerpoint focussing on where I can improve (In my case i needed to relax my ankles, and watch my footstrike, and increase my cadence towards 175 per minute)

And stop eating pot noodles.

Anyway I recommend the lessons, i'm looking forward to using the remainder of this month (in an extremely cold and icy Baltic Estonia) to run indoors with my pack, get my technique right, and build up to some decent mileage. And to try not to drink more than 3 nights a week. Bring on the Marathon Des Sables!

Fatties of London, You Have No Excuse

 I found that the Capital Ring is actually not a Gay bar in Old Compton Street, it's a ring of running/walking/cycling paths all round London - a kind of 'walkers M25' as the bumf says.

Runners are completely spoiled in London - it never gets cold, and there are hundreds of tracks and paths, by canals, in parks, along motorways...so you London fatties have no excuse, im afraid.

I gave it a shot round Finsbury park yesterday, just the usual slow 10km with the pack on, I think I can start building up the mileage now at last though after a succesful 'Chi-running' lesson in Edinburgh last week (more about this in the next post).

The place was teeming with runners, junkies and alcoholics. Every now and then, i'd come face to face with the mangled up crazy eyes of some nutcase with his can of strong lager, and we'd both look at each other, each of us thinking 'Thank God im not you' . A very special moment.

New Year Resolution

Despite having flu for the last ten days ive finally made the first (hopeless 5km) training run of the year, on the icy roads, before the snow came back on again...I now have 3 months to get into super shape and fitness levels - if its not been snow/icy out, ive been down with flu, so im totally out of shape. However, this is how i plan to change that (got to act serious now - whether i can deliver, theres another story!)

1. January - Im in Scotland, London and Estonia (which is about -15 right now) After being out for most of December due to snow/illness/laziness, my aim for this month is to get back into basic good shape again. I've a chi-running lesson in Edinburgh this week, so i can learn to chi-run with the pack on.  Talking of which, the casino was nice to me last week, so i splashed out and bought all my kit online - i now am the proud owner of lots of dried chicken korma packets, compass, headlight, desert running shoes (they look great shoes actually) and a superlight raidlight backpack. It seems that my weight will only be about 8kg on my back which is fine.

2. February - Im in Estonia, Buffalo, then to Panama. Just in case anyone asks why, its because I am actually homeless, ie i dont have a home. Pretty weird feeling but ill sort that out after the Marathon Des Sable. I'll buy a tent or somthing. Again i'll be in frozen countries and i dont want to humph around winter kit but i think ill have to. I'll be in Panama, which at least will be above zero degrees, from 12th Feb so this is when my peak and most intense training will take place, im hoping by then to be in good enough shape to increase my running distance to 10km short and 30km - 40km long again, with pack.

3. March - Panama and Madrid. I'll have most of this month in the warmer and cheaper climes of Panama City, so ill be able to spend the first week and half pushing my fitness up and maybe looking at other things like speed and diet and so on, and tweaking any kit that doesnt work right. On 20th, ill fly to Madrid, Spain and try to get down to Morocco from there for the race. After 20th, i plan to wind down training and relax ahead of a lovely week long walk/run in the desert.

Fortunately ive been reading up about the Marathon Des Sables. It actually seems like a much easier race than i thought it was - it certainly is no longer the hardest race in the world, although i suppose its still in the top ten. But i imagine if im not careful it is still possible that my last vision will be a vulture plucking my eye out somewhere in the desert.