Tour Of Fife: Preview

The Tour Of Fife is one of the flagship events organised by my running club, Fife AC. It's a 5 day series, with a race every day, encompassing hills, trails, roads and sand. This year is my first attempt at the Tour. Club mates tell me that it's great fun. They also tell me that it's bloody tough. You can read about the Tour in more detail HERE - but please let me draw your attention to the race I'm dreading most, the Up Hell Time Trial this Friday. Although it's only 1.5 miles long, it involves a climb of 754 ft! It's going to hurt...but hopefully in a good way.

Race Report: Newburgh Race

Oops - looks like it's been a wee while since my last post. Well, I have a couple of excuses. The aforementioned tendonitis flared up a bit and kept me off running for a while. I say 'a while' - it was really only a few days. Strictly speaking I should have taken it easy for a little longer and I'd have undoubtedly recovered in a shorter period of time. But being a reckless sort of an idiot, I persevered under the misaprehension that I could somehow 'run out' the injury. And guess what? I couldn't. So what should have been a minor setback ended up lasting far longer. Lesson learned :)

Oh, I've also been on hols in sunny Luxembourg. I feel rather smug in the knowledge that I went out running pretty much every day I was there, which went some way to keeping off the cakes and pastries which kept on calling my name.

But enough of the excuses - back to racing! Weds 20th July, I lined up with 120 others in Newburgh, on Fife's Tay coast, for a mixed terrain 4.5 mile race. Great weather, but the main problem turned out to be the width of the trails / paths we were running along. Apart from a stretch of road at the start / finish, most of the race was on very narrow paths where it was nigh-on impossible to pass other runners. This meant that at the very begining there was a massive sprint for position, rather like in a Formula 1 race, after which the runners did the best they could to maintain their place. That is essentially what happened to me - I tucked in behind the leading pack and stayed there. Finished in 20th position in 29 minutes.

More importantly, I finished injury free. Hooray! Well, apart from some bastard midge bites.

No Mean Feet

An interesting discovery, of sorts, this week. The tendonitis in my left foot has been making itself known off and on, particularly so when running up hills. However, I noticed when walking about the house barefoot that there was absolutely zero discomfort, presumably because of the angle my foot is at. Now, I've been reading quite extensively about barefoot running and also other more efficient running forms (ChiRunning, in particular), and it struck me that now is probably as good a time as any to tweak my running style a litte.

ChiRunning - although I don't buy into the whole 'chi' aspect of this, the actual biomechanics make a lot of sense, since they're focused on taking pressure off your limbs and working from your core. Heel striking is often considered the cause of many impact injuries, and ChiRunning requires a midsole footstrike. Having given it a try, I'm quite impressed. The focus on relaxing my ankles and calf muscles in particular lessened the tendon discomfort considerably. It will take quite a while to properly get the knack of this, but I think it'll be worth sticking with.

Last night I also decided to do something a bit more radical and give barefoot running a go. Like ChiRunning, it necessitates a different approach to running form, one which has the potential to lessen the likelihood of a number of running injuries. To start with it felt BIZARRE running without the familiar cushioning of my running shoes. But at the same time I felt kinda 'springy' and light. Immediately I noticed that I was running from my midsole and there was zero tendon discomfort when I ran up hill. Side effects today? Very few, apart from my feet feeling a little more tired than usual, although I expect that they'll toughen up over time.

This doesn't mean that I'm planning on throwing away my running shoes just yet as I can't quite imagine me doing a long run of 15 plus miles barefoot. Well, maybe at some point, but it's a long way off. But I'm certainly going to explore the subject more and see if it really does make a difference to injuries etc.

Injured!

There are two types of runner: those who are injured, and those about to become injured. I've just moved from the latter category to the former. Looks like I've inflamed the tendon stretching over the top of my left foot / ankle area. It's a classic over-use injury, and one which will need some TLC. Sadly, that means I'm going to have to knock this week's planned races on the head and take it easy(ish). I trained with my club last night, but I could  feel that the tendon was still tender. So, a few days of lighter running for me. Frustrating, but such is running life.

Race Report: Edinburgh Marathon

And there was me thinking that I'd already posted my report of this year's Edinburgh Marathon. Doh! So, bit late, but here we go...

Firstly, the weather. So much was being made of the relatively mild / benign weather conditions that people were daring to mention PBs and course records at the start area. Being a cynical sort of chap, I refused to get carried away, mainly because 'mild' weather seemed to equate 'heavy downpours and strong winds'. I don't mind running in pish weather at all - much more preferable to unrelenting heat / sun - but I'm realistic enough to know that it won't somehow enable me to run faster than ever before.

Secondly, the course. Although ostensibly the 'Edinburgh' Marathon, only approx 6 miles of the race are within the city. After leaving town via Leith / Portobello, the remainder of the course is in East Lothian, through Musselburgh out to Longniddry, and then back to Musselburgh. A minor point, granted. Being largely coastal, there aren't many hills to contend with, however.

The race. Starting in the faster area, I was initially surprised at the relatively conservative pace of those around me. It picked up after a mile or so, but I had to work a bit harder than anticipated to make up some time. The weather was chanageable, to say the least. One moment bright sun, the next peeing rain. Fortunately the wind was behind us as we ran east for the first 18 miles. And it was going pretty well up until the turn...

...and then we met the headwind. Miles 18-22 are typically when many people encounter the wall in a marathon, the moment when glycogen stores in the body are seriously depleted and it feels like you can't go on. Well, fortunately that's never been a problem for me as I've worked hard on my fuelling strategy. However, the wall of wind blasting in off the sea was something I hadn't anticipated. At times it was so strong that I felt I was running backwards. I got pretty angry at it too, as I knew it was costing me a significant amount of time.


Nevertheless, I was pretty pleased to finally finish in 3hrs 21mins. A solid enough time, I guess, but I know I can do way better. But that'll have to wait until my next race.

Grub's Up

There is so much bollocks on the internet about what to eat / what not to eat when you're training. Here's a good wee article which cuts away a number of myths.

Race Report: Strathkinness-Blebo 4.5

Running to finish line at Strathkinness

I wasn't planning on racing at all in May until the Edinburgh Marathon on the 22nd. But last week I remembered that my running club was staging a 4.5 mile trail race locally on the 4th. So common sense departed and I signed up.

The Strathkinness-Blebo race was, on paper, straightforward - a multi-terrain blast along a few quiet country roads, farm tracks and trails. From the start line we could see the road stretching ahead uphill, but as soon as that summit was reached it descended again. And again. I upped my pace, enjoying the chance of some downhill running. But then it suddenly dawned on me - the finish line was roughly at the same height as the start, which meant that we were going to have to do some serious uphill running at some point. Less that one mile in, the hill came in the form of a gruelling dirt track which seemed to continue up, and up, and up. Stupidly I had eaten too close to the start of the race and the exertion of blasting up the hill nearly caused me to barf everywhere.

Fortunately I managed to keep my stomach contents down and relaxed into the race. The course undulated for the remainder of the race, although there was another short, sharp uphill section. Finished in 30 mins 24 seconds, and then proceeded to eat more cake than is humanly possible at the post-race tea.