We were just cruising along as we hit the 11km mark on the morning of my first Ultra Marathon.
Upon reaching the waterfront at Cramond in Edinburgh the sun started to peak over the city and the legs felt great. It was as if the 11km was the first kilometre and we had just started. Time for a social media update to anyone that was interested in my progress. At that time in the morning it was mostly an update for my wife. The temperature started to lift so we accommodated by removing the morning layers. Then a bit of refueling so I could perform later in the training run. As I chewed on some of my famous flapjack I took a brief moment to admire the way the sun bounced off the calm water. It was then I realised I still had a little over a marathon left to run…..
I wanted to write something during this time (weird time), not really for anyone or any particular reason. Perhaps a way to reflect or gain a deeper understanding of why I started running. Before the pandemic hit I decided I wanted to run an Ultra marathon. I have had it on the list for a while and it was one of those things that scared the shit out of me. When shit started to hit the fan in March 2020 my race was cancelled and now I have found myself with another year to train.
Another year to train for my Ultra Marathon
With my preparation extended I thought I better get serious about this event as I had only trained for 3 months. To run at a higher level I would need more time to get those adaptations and conditioning. Or at least limit the amount of suffering over the two day event and near 100kms. As part of my training I decided to use the virtual ultra tour of Edinburgh as a stepping stone to 100km. So I set in motion to run the 57km in one day having only ever done 1 marathon in my life. It also timed perfectly with a forced 10 day quarantine/taper as I tested positive for Covid-19 – however that is another story altogether.
You might be thinking that I am a hard core runner and have been running for years so I just want to enlighten you on my previous running experience. I have run one, yes only one Marathon in Rotorua New Zealand. It was a last minute thing or something to do with some great school mates. I had 12 weeks to train so I was going to go from 5km to 50km to be more accurate 2km to 42.2km. The very first run ended in a calf injury. So it was more like a scratchy 10 weeks of preparation marred with injury. I quickly realised how knackered my body was after years of punishment on the rugby field. I only managed a total of 100km in running prior to the event. I needed some way to hack the training so I could at least complete the race.
Enter the Four Hour Body by Tim Ferriss.
I had read the book a number of years prior and had remembered a chapter called 5km to 50km in 12 weeks. Following Tims advice I focused 80 percent of my training time on my suspension and 20% on actual running. One thing in my favour was that I knew the Rotorua marathon course very well having grown up in Roto-vegas. I had run parts of the route while I was at high school in the round the lake relay. Plus plenty of advice from my old man, I knew the sticking points of the course. It was clear I needed to train smarter as I had not gone for a run for two years and my longest ever run was 13km. Which I ran a little over 20 years ago. Knowing that I was never going to light the race on fire my one thing was simply to say a big fuck you to everyone that doubted it could be done.
40km of the race went to plan but a missed drinks station made the 39th and 40th kilometres painful. I was searching for hurt and found it that’s for sure. With a lot of support from family and the prospect of beating the old mans best time I got it done and posted a fairly respectable time of 4 hours 28 minutes. Beating the old mans time by 6 minutes was just a bonus, thanks to my mum who got me through the last few kms. So what else got me through other than the support? When I signed up to the race I told everyone that I was going to do it and with very little training (stakes). From the outset I held the mindset that no matter what happened I would get the distance done. I consistently visualised myself running across the finish line and accepting the medal. Secondly some gold nuggets of information from Tim’s book and lastly setting up a training calendar and check box system from James Clears Atomic habits. I knew if I ticked the boxes with my training the result would take care of itself (even if that training held little running).
A marathon is one thing but why run an Ultra marathon?
Throughout my life I have physically been capable of doing most things. Probably a result of my upbringing in New Zealand and a highly competitive family. Having three older brothers who pushed me around and along the way. So after getting the Marathon done, something told me if I could do a marathon with so little training I needed an event that scared the shit out of me. After admiring my mate Ali set a big hairy audacious fitness goal, a switch flicked in my mind and so I searched for an ultra.
When I started training properly for the ultra I had a tonne of work to fix all the imbalances and underlying injuries. The first couple of runs which were only 2kms hurt like fuck. The good news for anyone thinking about running or even training I can honestly say that our bodies are amazing and they adapt very quickly. Running the hills on trails never gets easy but I do enjoy being outdoors. It reminds me of the running I once did as a kid around the Blue Lake and in the Redwoods Forest. Running has become the one thing for me. A way to get out into the world for some fresh air and a mechanism to clear the head.
What a weird time it is and finding pursuits to clear the head have become very important.
During this time it really has put things into perspective. A sobering thought when there has been over a million reported deaths worldwide. With an evident level of stress and uncertainty placed upon everything I hope we have all started to ask better questions of ourselves. Is this the life we envisaged and are we inspired by our current heading. From change comes opportunity and it’s just a matter of identifying it or uncovering it. Once we have identified or become aware of what we want to do then it needs to be followed up by planning the strategies and actions to make it happen. At the time of writing I have around 120 days left until my Ultra Marathon – The Ultra Tour Of Arran.
Thank you
I must thank Tim for his book The Four Hour Body, James Clear for his book the Atomic habits and my new running coach Jimmy Moran. With each training I grow in confidence and this week I am looking to complete my second marathon albeit not in an event race with other people but a scheduled virtual race/slow training run. I am using it as a training run for my Ultra Marathon but hope to beat my first Marathon effort. I am not sure I will want to be a runner after the Ultra or if it will even go ahead but I have enjoyed the journey so far. I can take comfort in the fact that the training has not been half arsed.
PS: I am also running the Ultra Tour Of Arran For Children With Cancer UK – If you have read this far a little donation would be greatly appreciated. Please follow the link https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/cashmagic