British National 100k Championships - Race Week & Report

M 8 miles (6:17mm)
T 7 miles (7:34mm)
W 7 miles inc. 2X1mile (6:11mm)
T 6 miles (7:38mm)
F 5 miles (6:19mm)
S 3.5 miles (6:33mm)
S National 100km Champs.
Total 90 miles (6:43mm)
Total Training Time 10hrs 05 mins


Race week arrived with me not really too sure about how things were. I ran a woeful 5,000m at the Yorkshire Champs so wasn't expecting much but knew that a proper taper should at least leave the legs feeling nice and fresh. And that it did I did a little session of 2X1mile on Wednesday whilst carb depleted and ran them as hard as I could. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the efforts come in at 5:01 and 4:58. Pretty much Mile PB territory for me!


Over the past few weeks I had been a little concerned that my 'aerobic efficiency' hadn't been at the levels I have enjoyed in the past when getting close to a marathon. I suspect the virus pre-London had had some impact on this as I had been trying to peak for that race and then things were a bit out of kilter. Despite this I had put some decent miles in so knew that I was prepared and had the miles in the legs to run ok even if it wouldn't be my best. As it was my first attempt at a 100k it was also very unknown what would happen!


As it was the National Championships I was very keen to do well and so perhaps somewhat naively made my goal to win the race and get the qualifying time (6hrs 55mins) for the World Championships next year. I had somewhat arbitrarily decided that for me to do this I would need to run around 6hours 40mins which is exactly 4 minutes per km or 6:25 per mile. There were other top athletes, such as Lee Grantham (2:21:43 marathon PB) and Ant Clark, amongst others in the race who had experience at these sorts of distances in the past. I was a complete rookie so everything that goes with pacing, fuelling and hydration was going to be a bit of a learning curve. That said, the target to run around 6:40 I thought should be enough to hit my A-Goal. The secondary goal of the race was to learn something from it.


I can confirm that I didn't achieve Goal A but I certainly achieved Goal B!


The conditions seemed like they were going to be reasonably kind however where the race was held is a very exposed part of the country so any breath of wind and we would feel it. There was also no shade whatsoever and it was a very sunny day and really quite warm, although not roasting.

I set off very conservatively in the first 5k as I hadn't done a warm up. Do you need one when running 62 miles?!?! I found myself in third place as Lee Grantham and Tom Evans had put in a 15 second lead. I then decided to bridge the gap over the next 5k which I did. I was enjoying running in a group ticking off the miles very nicely and everything feeling ok. My nutrition plan was pretty simple really. Eat a gel or a bar every 20 minutes and around 150mls of water at each aid station which would be every 5k. I would also pick up a Pitta with Peanut Butter after each 25k lap which I thought would take care of my salt requirements.  Unfortunately at the aid stations it was difficult to decipher where the water was as most athletes had arranged to have their own drinks bottles put out so it wasn't until 15k that I got my first proper drink of water. I wasn't concerned at this point as the pace still felt very much like a jog.


After the first lap I felt top drawer and got a nice cheer from my girls. Around 30k I made a move! And was quickly building up a lead over Lee & Tom. My legs felt great but I was conscious that my heart rate was higher than it probably should have been. I got to 50k and picked up my PB Pitta and restocked my fuelling belt. Unfortunately this time the PB pitta was a bit of a struggle and I was having difficulty chewing it down so probably only ate half of it before discarding it for some lucky pigeon. There had been houmous wraps on offer at the main aid station which on reflection would probably have been easier to get down.

I still felt great and pushed on to 60k. by now my lead had grown to around two and a half minutes on Lee in 2nd place and 10 minutes on Ant in 3rd. I was confident that I could maintain things.

Leading and feeling strong but things about to go wrong!

However things were about to go wrong! My watch beeped and I reached for a bar but I just couldn't eat it. It was disgusting. My body just refused to eat it and I had to spit it out. I knew from here I would likely be in trouble as I needed the fuel to get through the distance. But I ploughed on regardless. By 75k and completion of the third lap it was 'only' one more lap to go. Fair enough it was another 15.5 miles but I thought I should be able to muster through. Shortly after completing this lap Lee came past me very strongly and I gave him words of encouragement as he looked certain to get the qualifying time and the win. It was around 83kms that I unfortunately came to a standstill wobbly, woozy and a little incoherent. I then walked/jogged to the 85km point where I officially retired from the race. The marshals at the aid station were very helpful and tried to get me to eat and get me on my way again. But my decision had been made. I am sure had I taken a rest and refuelled I could have got the finish but by then mentally I had disengaged from the race as I would likely come in with a c8hrs finish time which would not have achieved my A-Goal and would likely have really done some damage to myself physically and mentally. This way a DNF felt justified as I had certainly learnt a lot from the experience and there were always other races to get it right. So I ran 85km at an average pace of 6:42 per mile, which considering I walked the last mile of that is pretty decent. It was also the furthest I have ever run by some 12 miles.

I don't have any regrets about how I approached the race, nor with the DNF. Of course I wish things had turned out differently but I do feel I learnt a lot and was pleased I 'gave it a go'. It has given me more insight into what Heart Rate & effort I think should be sustainable for me for 100k and also the importance of hydration in combination with the fuelling. My feeling is that my decision to stick with plain water was probably my main downfall as my body was becoming slightly hyponatraemic (sodium balance was out) which resulted in a reduced blood plasma volume meaning my heart rate was increasing to unsustainable levels. On reflection I also suspect my fitness was also probably only worth 6hrs45- 6hrs50 on the day so running at 6hrs35 pace for the first half was a little ambitious to say the least.


Where now for my future? Well I feel that the ultra world is the direction my running is going. My engine is definitely my strength and I cant wait to have another crack at the 100k distance to try and get that World Champs qualifying time! My next 100k race will be in Winschoten, Holland in September. I also plan to put myself forward for selection at next year's Anglo-Celtic Plate. In the meantime, I have three weeks of reduced mileage and some faster stuff before the build up begins.

British National 100k Championships - 24th April-14th May Training Log

W/C 24th April
M 20.5 miles (6:43mm)
T 6.5 miles (7:55mm), 7 miles (7:09mm)
W 16 miles (6:27mm)
T 10.5 miles (6:17mm), 10 miles (6:39mm)
F 11.5 miles (6:01mm), 6.5 miles (7:11mm)
S 8 miles (6:55)
S 40.5 miles (6:12mm)
Total 138 miles (6:33mm)
Total Training Time 15hrs 02mins


W/C 1st May
M 15 miles (7:04mm)
T 12 miles (5:57mm), 5 miles (7:49mm)
W 8 miles (7:19mm), 5 miles (7:44mm)
T 20 miles inc. 30mins, 4X5mins, 30mins (5:55mm)
F 8.5 miles (7:24mm), 5 miles (7:50mm)
S 10.5 miles (6:34mm)
S 22 miles (6:13mm)
Total 111 miles (6:40mm)
Total Training Time 12hrs 24mins


W/C 8th May
M 10.5 miles (7:36mm), 4 miles (7:26mm)
T 8 miles (6:46mm), 4 miles (7:15mm)
W 11.5 miles inc. 15X1min (5:21mm)
T 10 miles (6:42mm)
F 8 miles (7:59mm)
S 5 miles (6:34mm)
S 14 miles inc. Yorkshire 5,000m Championships (16:15!), 5 miles (6:46mm)
Total 80 miles (6:50mm)
Total Training Time 9 hrs 5 mins


This first week post-London was really critical in terms of the specificity for the ultra and I was keen to get in some big miles including my longest run ever. It went well with a 20 miler the day after London. There was still definitely some fatigue there but doing a 20 miler at a half decent pace on tired legs is good conditioning for what is to come on the 21st. The rest of the week went ok with some decent miles at not too shabby paces but it was all building to Sunday which was planned to be a 40 mile run. this would give me the opportunity to practice my fuelling as well as hopefully run a bit quicker than planned pace for the ultra. I split the session up into 4X9.5 miles (not your standard interval training!) just to break it up a bit. I did it on my usual tempo loop but changed direction after each rep. This confirmed what I already suspected in that my Garmin is quite optimistic in one direction and quite pessimistic in the other! The efforts were at 6:11, 6:02, 6:09 and 6:12 pace with the whole run averaging 6:12mm. It was a really useful exercise as it allowed me to gauge how much fuel I would need to take on in the race. I was running ok and started eating after 45 minutes then every half hour but only 150 kcals at a time. As I approached 30 miles I started to feel like I was close to 'bonking' so quickly ate a bit more and then felt better and finished the session quite well. That said I do think that the final rep pace was reflected by the lack of fuel and also perhaps that it was seven miles further than I had ever run before. It was such a satisfying run to get done though.

The second week I was just keen to ensure that there weren't too many ill-effects from my 40 miler as well as continue to get some decent miles in and a hard session. Although I had planned to run a few more miles this week I was sensible in that I eased back a little as I was suffering from DOMs quite severely on Tuesday and Wednesday. I had left the session until Thursday as my legs really weren't up to much faster running before then. The session itself went ok, not particularly fast but it was blowing a gale and considering how my legs had felt 24 hours earlier I was quite chuffed with the paces of 5:31mm for the first 30 mins, c5:15mm avge for the 5 minute efforts and then 5:38mm for the final 30 minute stint.

Last week was the first week of taper which included one 'sharpening' session and the Yorkshire 5,000m. I did a sharpening session of 15X1minute on/off on the treadmill with the on efforts at 20kph and off at 16kph. This gave me confidence that I might be good to run a reasonable 5,000m but it seems the miles of recent weeks have left my legs very strong but not very fast! I struggled in with 16:15 in what was pretty much a full effort! There was one benefit from it though in that it allowed me to calibrate my Garmin Footpod so I should get much more accurate readings for pace on the treadmill going forward! It confirmed my suspicions that when I run on the TM I am not running at the pace my Garmin has been giving me. This means it would appear that my mileage wont have been quite as high as I have reported in recent weeks although it wont be too far away!

I thought it would be sensible to get a blood test this week, given the change to the plant-based diet just to ensure I am not deficient in anything. The results are below and typically for Vegans there may be a deficiency in B12 and Iron. But these seemed ok. My Haemoglobin and Haematocrit seem to be in a similar place to where they have been when I was eating meat too so hopefully this is a positive sign. I don't really understand much about blood tests to be frank but it looks very similar to previous results so I don't think I should be worried. I will be having a vegan hiatus for a few days while I deplete my carb stores and go back on the dairy for a bit before loading up from Thursday.

So one week to go and I'm very excited about my first ultra. I have some idea what I think I might be capable of and think I can get to 75k in pretty decent shape but what happens after that is a complete unknown. For anyone that wants to track, you can do so here. The race starts at 7:30am on Sunday and there should be splits every 5k. See you on the other side!

Running for Charlie - London Marathon 2017 Week 16 of 16

M 14 miles (6:19mm)
T 13 miles (6:32mm), 7 miles (6:34mm)
W 17 miles inc 3X4.5miles (6:05mm), 4 miles (7:31mm)
T 14 miles (6:37mm), 6 miles (7:14mm)
F 9 miles (6:42mm), 6 miles (7:35mm)
S 7.5 miles (7:10mm), 4 miles (7:46mm)
S 28.2 miles including London Marathon (2:34:33)

Total 131 miles (6:34mm)
Total Training Time 14hrs 20mins

This doesn't look like a standard taper week I am sure you will agree! For folks that read my last blog I decided to knock London on the head as a PB attempt and instead focus on my debut at the British 100k Championships on 21st May. Of course I would still run London as I was keen to fulfil my promise of trying to help raise funds for my colleague's son Charlie who needs surgery and physio for his disability. Thank you everyone that has donated and there is till time if you could spare a few pennies. I have been humbled by the generosity of folks that have donated, some of whom I have never even met! So thank you once again. If you are inclined to donate the link is here.


Running the London Marathon at a steady effort would also prove to be a good training run for the 100k.


I travelled down on the Saturday and made my way to the expo, which is a necessary evil! It is so busy on the Saturday and it takes a good three hours out of one's day to get over there, get sorted and get back, even if you do fly through there! There was something positive though and that's that I got to see many of my old club mates from Orpington Road Runners who do a sterling job of volunteering with number and chip collection as well as manning one of the baggage lorries on race day.


I stayed near King's Cross on my own and made my way across to Blackheath on Sunday. Once inside the Champs start it was great to see so many of my running friends from far and wide and catch up on what their plans were for the race ahead. I was so excited and for this once I wasn't nervous as I would be taking it relatively easy.


I started quite a bit further back than I normally do but was still over the line in a few seconds and was running a long with Rob Downs before he shot off into the distance. I was also with Mark Offord and Stuart Beaney for large parts of the first half. There was also the novel situation of running with a chap dresses as a carrot until the 9 mile point. I even tried to do Facebook live interview with him on the go! It was a guy called Andrew Lawrence who actually runs for Morpeth. I'm not sure his kit would have stood the test of UKA scrutiny to count for team prizes but he ran very quickly for a carrot.


The race wore on and I felt great, I was having an absolute ball, high fiving and getting cheers from the folks at the roadside, some of whom I knew and others that I didn't. London really is ace as you get to feel a bit like a Rock Star for a couple of hours. The race proved to be a very good training session and I completed in a slight negative split with 2:34 feeling on the whole very comfortable. It is still a long way though so the legs are always going to be a touch tired especially with 130 miles in the legs for the week.

London Marathon Splits


So following the race there was exactly four weeks until the 100k. That would give me couple of weeks of big miles before tapering down!