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
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
No comments:
Post a Comment