A Great fortnight and a FKT (Fastest Known Time)

Two weeks with some great and varied running. Still recovering from yesterday’s effort but more of that later.

The week after our Santa Cruz island and Backbone Trail adventures was quiet but I was entered for the Chuckanut 50k on 17^th March. This year would have been a great race as organiser Krissy had obtained a huge permit for 1000 runners and was celebrating the 20^th year of the event in style. Unfortunately I waited until I had news of a job before committing to the plane tickets and, by the time I knew I had a job, plane tickets were $500 and up. A little crazy for a 50k.

So, the alternative was round 1 of the local trail series. A simple 11 mile figure 8 loop in Romero Canyon which was pretty much the second run I discovered when we first moved to Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara has some wicked fast runners and ex professional cyclists so local races are no walkover but I thought the unusual conditions might help me – wind, rain, low cloud – all very unSanta Barbara like.

A very British Day at Romero Canyon

5^th place was all I could manage but I did happen to remark to my friend Howard that the forecast was for the rain to turn to snow right down to about 3000ft overnight. He readily agreed to my suggestion that we might have some fun in the snow on Sunday and so I found myself leaving the house in the dark on Sunday morning for a rendezvous in Ojai.

Looking into the Sespe Wilderness

The safer descent

We took a gnarly jeep road up the hill in his big rig and set off running up to Topa Topa and Hines Peak. Sure enough, snow was at 2500ft, early on it was all crispy and we managed to have one of those “one Kahtoola micsrospike each” mini epics to negotiate an iced up ridge on Hines (we elected the powdery bushwack for the descent rather than the exposed ridge). An outing of around 22 miles and 5500ft capped a week in which I recorded under 50 miles but had a lot of fun.

So then – yesterday

When we ran the Backbone Trail over 2 days recently, I made no secret of my interest in running it whole and that the current record time would soon get reduced. Perhaps the fact that one of the two guys who set the current record stated he thought it would stand for fully two years also spurred me on?!

The Backbone Trail was first conceived almost 20 years ago but has only just come into proper existence and indeed one section still crosses a small section of private land with “grace and favour” access. It links a series of existing trails running from the mountains just inland of Santa Monica through to the fabled Ray Miller trail in Point Mugu State Park. Setting off from the Eastern end you quickly gain height to look over downtown LA and planes taking off from LAX. The trail, though is continuous with no more than a couple of hundred yards of tarmac along its whole length. A few sections are fire/jeep road but the vast majority is singletrack – some groomed and some quite rocky. So, it is a remarkably continuous route, often cleaving to ridgelines and with great views to the ocean and inland.

Backbone Trail start - 07:15

All previous accounts make a few things clear – most have ended up starting of finishing in the dark because of the length of time taken and the fact that they have run in the winter for cooler temperatures. Heat seems to be a significant factor in accounts and it’s pretty much impossible to do the thing unsupported because there is little or no water for most of the route. Finally, route knowledge is critical – there are many many trail junctions with few good maps and the route is completely unsigned in parts. My recce in the company of the local expert, Howard, would be my secret weapon.

It's warming up - bottom of the big climb from Piuma

Once the forecast showed low temps, overcast conditions and low probability of rain I knew it was time to have a go. Another early weekend start then. 04.30 alarm and on the road at 5 for the drive. Inauspiciously, the park gate was closed when we arrived. Fortunately we were able to park within a ¼ mile of the gates and so my planned 07:00 departure was only delayed until 07:15. Lynn had very kindly given up her whole day to crew for me and had a car full of the usual crap that accompanies these attempts – with the addition of the means to create grilled cheese sandwiches, my recent favourite. The two guys I had hoped might pace me near the end were both out of town so it was to be a solo but very well supported attempt.

A rolling lunch - pizza, apple sauce, cookies, strawberriescoke, bloks, gels and ginger sweets

Right from the off it felt good – in the flow and just covering the miles without too much effort – so much so that I reached the first support point about 17 minutes ahead of schedule. This surprised both of us; my schedule was really just a self produced thing based on Naismith factors but I had cross checked to the previous best East to West time of 15:07 and it seemed to work. Same story at the second support point 18 miles in – another 9 or so minutes up. After this though, the minutes gradually slipped away until I was back onto my 12 hour schedule so maybe I went off a little too fast or maybe my schedule just didn’t factor in enough “slow down when you are knackered” reality.

At miles 25 a long climb begins, it is exposed to the sun and, sure enough, that was about when the sun came out. Still though, by local standards for late March it was a cool day and there was a great breeze. At about half way it still looked as though 11:?? was a possibility but then I started a bad patch around mile 40 on a section I had labelled as 5.5 miles but felt like 6.5. Recovery from that wasn’t too bad but once I left the final support point at mile 52 the wheels really fell off on the climb up to Sandstone Peak. This was where I had struggled in the Ray Miller 50 a few weeks earlier only worse – I just could not seem to get powering up the rock strewn path. Fortunately my body was still responding to gravity and the longest downhill section of the whole trail was just around the corner. For a while I had been worrying that my improvement over the previous best of 12:47 would be a mere few minutes but then, as I ascended the final hill onto the Ray Miller loop I now know well I calculated that a little over 12 hours should be possible if I could run the undulating fire road along the top and descend quickly to the finish.

Sunset at the top of the final descent - Ray Miller

I bust an absolute gut to make sure the final time was 12:0? – in the scheme of things, what does it matter but in that moment I determined that I did not want it to be a second over 12:10. As I touched the trail sign at the finish I had 19:23 on my watch but the date/timestamp on the camera recorded at start and finish said 19:24 so an elapsed time of 12 hrs and 09 minutes is what I am claiming. 38 minutes ahead of the previous best.

2 great weeks and 2 VERY tired legs today. Huge thanks to Lynn without whom I would have not been able to do this and to her great grilled cheese sandwiches.

Finished - 19:24 - just before dark!

Building Up

Pleased to report no strains or injuries after the Ray Miller. Of course I felt worked, that's the idea of a race - to leave it all out on the course - but I have had much worse DOMS (Delayed onset muscle soreness) after 20 mile runs when I was less fit. Still a bit chastened by the winners time though - there is a site in the USA which records all your results and does some major number crunching to come up with %age performances. Hats off to Mark Gilligan - creeator of Ultrasignup.com because he now has the cool feature where entrants for any race are ranked according to their past performances. Well, it was a little frustrating to see my % actually go down after the Ray Miller race. In part this is because his algorithm takes no note of advancing years so my former glories at Hardrock et al still bump me up. Oh well, they say that there are damned lies and then there are statistics!

Backbone Trail - from the outskirts of LA

After an easy week the fun began again as we hosted friends from Sacramento and Salt Lake City for a few days of running on Santa Cruz Island and on the Backbone Trail.

The former we visited last October - it is one of the California Channel Islands that would make great venues for a Scottish Islands Peaks Race type of event if only races were allowed within the National Parks. This time we saw a grey whale on the boat journey over and enjoyed two hot dry days immediately followed by a 2 day stint on the 68 mile Backbone trails which runs from Santa Monica to the Ray Miller trail in Point Mugu state park.

Backbone Trail - to Sandstone Mountain

108 miles in 4 days was a great bit of training that left me feeling tired by confident of my base fitness especisally since I had the energy to turn on the motors on the final 8 miles of the trail.

The runfurther series is now underway for it's 7th year and it is very pleasing that we have, once againn, managed to pull together a prize fund of over £10,000 retail value - even in the current economy we have some great sponsors who are willing to provide significant gear to support the series. Almost 50% is available as spot prizes and competitions (rather than just to the leaders) and we are redeveeloping the site to offer a lot more advice, training and community features so I am happy that we are doing our best to encourage people into the sport at all levels.

So, why do we run? That was something I gave a little thought to this past week and penned the first of a series of articles for run247.com

Why do we run?

It is intended to be a thought provoking piece so I would really welcome all and any comments - have I missed the essence? are your reasons different?

OK - was supposed to be racing in Seattle this weekend but flight prices got away from me before I booked. Over $500 just to travel there seems daft so it will be some more diligent training in the build up to the Sonoma 50 on 15th April and then the Fellsman on 28th April which I am so excited about!!

Sat 25 Ray Miller 50 mile/11000ft: 8:04:47 and 4^th place

Sun 26 3mile – walk/jog on the beach

Mon 27 5 mile – Elings park

Tue 28 0 - rest

Wed 29 7 miles Inspiration plus 4 track session

Thu 1 0 - rest

Fri 2 7 miles – jesusita to inspiration pt. with Roch and Steve

Total 76 miles and 13500ft

Sat 3 28 miles on Santa Cruz island 3500ft

Sun 4 10 miles on Santa Cruz to Smugglers via ridge– 2500ft

Mon 5 38 miles and 5300ft (backbone trail part 1)

Tue 30 miles and 3000ft (Backbone trail part 2)

Wed 7 miles on the shorefront with Steve and Deanna

Thu 0 - rest

Fri 0 - rest

Total 113 miles and 14,300ft

Ray Miller 50 Mile

Butt-crack rock - the place to absolve y our sins (apparently)

My first big race of the year – the Ray Miler 50mile – named after the long time campground warden at Point Mugu State Park, this was the inaugural event. The nature of the terrain suited me well with over 11,000ft ascent and nearly all on single-track (rather than fire/jeep roads). I wish I had more or better photos because it truly is a beautiful area, bordering the Pacific Ocean and dominated by the huge bulk of Sandstone Peak.

The 6am race start meant a very early alarm call at 03.50 for the 1 hour drive down there but, on arrival, everything was being handled very efficiently and they had even remembered to provide lighting in the portaloos so that saved a “shot in the dark”. It really wasn’t quite light enough at 6am so I carried a handheld torch (flashlight for US readers!) knowing I could ditch this at the first aid station at mile 6. The 50k event and 50 mile event started at the same time so I was forewarned not to attempt to run off with the 50k'ers but that was totally academic – I may be feeling relatively fit at the moment but there was no way I could have hung with the leading pack. I settled into somewhere around 15^th place and just tried to relax into it.

For the first 3 hours low cloud kept the temperatures much lower than I had expected. The Guadeloupe loop was bike free at that time of the morning and the Coyote Trail had been trimmed of some of the more vigorous growth over the trail. Coming into the aid station at mile 19 was a little surreal as a flock of around 50 parrots screeched overhead. At this point I started to move up a little through the field – just now and again I would catch someone which feels so much better as the race progresses than being caught. At mile 21 the routes diverge with the 50 mile having a large out-and-back over the biggest climb of the day. I had run all of this in training but I had not run the top part of the out and back from the Yerba Buena aid station. I knew it was supposed to be 6.2 miles for the round trip but it was one of those trails that twists and turns, loops back on itself and never really seems to be getting anywhere. Around this time, as my body ran out of the stored glycogen and switched to fat burning, I was fading. I knew I had two people within reach in front of me but I didn’t seem to be closing and then, when I turned around, I saw I had a whole host of people behind me including the top 4 or 5 women all within a few minutes. Back through Yerba Buena and it was time to make some changes, ditch the shirt, add some music, gag down some Perpetuum and accept that I would have to walk much of the climb back up. The figure in front seemed to be swaying a little and, sure enough, although I felt as if I was going slow, I overhauled him and saw another figure in front – Tom Nielsen who I first met at Hardrock back in 1997, he has been running as long as I have – every so often I caught glimpses but I wasn’t catching him. On ups I was a little stronger; on downs he pulled it back. Still, by this time I was recovering nicely (so I thought) and going at a decent pace. At least that’s what I thought until Amy Sproston kindly asked if she could squeeze by on the trail and proceeded to descend like Rob Jebb in a hurry. This galvanized me a little; I cranked up the descending speed, caught back up, started a conversation and, as so often happens in these long races, drew energy from the encounter so that when we slammed into the bottom of the next climb I was able to muster a steady jog all the way up. Half way, Tom hoved into view again and I also overhauled him before the top. Right, don’t look back, eat, drink then max effort all the way to the next aid station about 3 miles away.

Up to the top of that was the biggest climb of the day

It worked well and I knew the following section provided a great opportunity to check gaps as the trail climbs in a series of zig zags up the hillside. Run the lower climb and look back – anyone there? – yes, but it’s not Tom or Amy, it’s Jimmy Dean; running strongly on the uphill and clearly having a flying finish. OK, that means I have to run this entire climb except the final 100metres to the dirt road at the top and then all of the dirt road. Underworld makes this possible and thank goodness I was not wearing a heart rate monitor. OK, finally, top of Ray Miller Trail, its 2.2 miles to the finish from here and I am NOT going to let anyone pass me on this downhill.

Offical results now posted and I was 8:04 and 47 seconds for 4th place overall. My pre race target has been 8:15 based on an optimistic calculation from 2 training runs on the course so I am delighted with the time but a little humbled by how much faster the first 3 guys ran and how well Amy ran to finish only around 5 minutes down. All-in-all though a solid start to the season with steady pacing, good eating and drinking, no injuries and only a little stiffness today after a 3 mile beach walk to work out some of those toxins.

100 Miles

It’s a long time since I ran 100 miles. In fact it was January 2008 when I last completed 100 miles in a single push and the fact that I have not managed to complete the distance since at either Hardrock or San Diego is easily explained by the other fact which is that I am pretty certain I have not completed that distance in a single training week since early 2008 either.

Essentially it was foolish arrogance that made me think I could toe the line on those events and compete in a meaningful way. So, i’ve been learning, again, the hard way that endurance is sufficiently tough to acquire that only the most determined will get there. I doesn’t matter if the alarm clock goes off at 5.30 on a Saturday morning and I don’t think it even matters if someone is paying you to do it (I don’t know but I am pretty sure that someone like Killian would confirm this) you have to love it and want it and that is all that matters.

Sandstone mountain beckons at around mile 22 of the Ray Miller 50 mile

Now I am doubly delighted to report that both my soul and my body decided that a 100 mile week was due. The two longer runs on the Ray Miller 50 course were fun and gave me the opportunity to see new trails, the 15 miler in the East Bay of San Francisco was certainly a grind towards the end and I fully enjoyed lying inverted for 30 mins or so with my feet in the air at the end but, yes, it was worth it and it makes me feel very positive for my first real race of the year – the Ray Miller 50 miler in 2 weeks time. What is even better is that after 26 on Thursday and the grinding 16 on Friday I tackled the return half of the Sonoma 50 on Saturday (25 miles). A cooler day plus just the right amount of mud, stream crossings and rocks to make an Englishman feel at home and encouraged me to push a little harder especially in the last hour or so.

OK – off to a track session in an hour or so and then the tough(ish) 16 miles and 4700ft out and back from the local trailhead tomorrow or Friday. Fingers crossed that things continue to go well as I have an entry in for the Fellsman now – the 50^th year and, above all, a chance for me to make sure that my Fellsman history does not start and end with a DNF. Having dropped out at mile 38 in my teens I really do not want last year’s drop at mile 11 to be the end of it.

Good luck to all those running in the HPM, in a slightly warped way I am jealous of missing the mini adventure that event offers each year and I also have a feeling that this is going to be a year of fast times, maybe even record times!!

• Sat 28 18.5 miles and 3000ft (group run at Figueroa – 2 steady)
• Sun 29 9.5 miles and 1500ft (Jesusita to Pools – 3)
• Mon 30 0
• Tue 31 16 miles and 4700ft +6 track (both harder -4)
• Wed 1 0
• Thu 2 6 miles and 1000ft Elings (steady 3)
• Fri 3 0

Total 58 miles and around 10200ft

• Sat 4 31 and 5000ft – Ray 50 course (steady 3) then 9 hash (slow 2)
• Sun 5 Rest
• Mon 6 9 and 2000 Jesusita to Pools (fast 4)
• Tue 7 10 miles road with Robert (steady 2)
• Wed 8 0
• Thu 9 26 and 5500ft Backbone trail part of Ray 50 (3)
• Fri 10 15 and 2500ft Steam Trains to Wildcap loop (2-3)

Total 100 miles and around 15000ft

Having FUN!

Pleased to say that some reasonable training is continuing and that I am having fun doing it. In fact more than fun – I ran a race, climbed a mountain, did some speed work and a long heat training session as well as firming up my race calendar for the first half of the year, deciding to offer coaching and discussing a film project. Read on for details of that little lot.

So, the race to start with. Two loops of our local park – lots of short little ups and downs, in fact its literally less than 10 mins walk from the front door and it’s where I sometimes do hill reps. A fairly low key local race but billed as the Santa Barbara cross country championships. Previously they have had a 3 and 6 mile event. This year they added the 2-loop 12 mile version as well for all of us distance aficionados. Long time since I raced 12 miles; a veritable sprint that reminded me all too clearly of the Trig Points race I used to run on the first weekend of the year. That was 15 miles with about 1500 ft of ascent this was 12 miles and those with the technology reported it at nearly 2500ft of ascent. I was pretty happy to pull up from about 5^th at halfway to 2^nd overall although I think one person ahead of me got lost and the speed, although very hard work, felt good. Slightly nauseous afterwards and very stiff the next day – racing like the old times!!

Actually the next day did not provide complete respite because we were in Palm Springs for a little vacation and yours truly had spotted a little trail called Cactus to Clouds that the online forums debate as having possibly the most vertical of any single trail in the USA. The start is at 400ft and the top, the summit of San Jacinto is at 10,800 odd. Lynn was game for the 6am start and so we plodded and sweated our way up. We reached snow at about 8000ft and the top of the aerial tramway a short time later. This accesses the upland part of the mountain which are like a rolling plateau. Up there it was bitterly cold. Not too much snow but icy and with a stiff 30mph plus wind so we reached the notch at just under 10,000ft and decided to head back to the tram for a swift descent that saved much knee pounding. It was a great day with amazing views, over 9000ft of vertical to add to the log and sowed seeds of an idea related to the fastest known time from desert to summit and back – this would be a 32 mile outing with 10,400 ft vertical up and down. Winter usually makes the top a challenge and summer certainly makes the lower elevations a challenge as Palm Springs in the summer is an oven.

Climbing from the desert

To a very different climate at 10,000ft

The heat training came this week when, having stashed a gallon of water, I decided to tackle the route of the 35 mile/10,500ft 9-Trails again. This time the thermometer reached 80, I drank all my water and had to work hard to keep the momentum but a hell of a good days training and, once again, I felt reasonably OK the next day. A good tired feeling but no injuries and no DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) that happens when you are untrained.

The 9-Trails route: 35 miles, 10,500ft and 80 degrees

Entries now confirmed for all my spring races – Ray Miller 50 mile, Chukanut 50k, Somona 50 mile, Miwok 100km and the San Diego 100 mile so that’s great and I also have the possibility to do the Fellsman. I may never win that wonderful event again but I really do not want to go out on a DNF which is what happened last year after I tore my hamstring so I would be excited to toe the start line on the 50^th anniversary of the event. A 50 mile 2 weeks before and a 100km the weekend after will be a challenge but, if I get through that lot then surely I will be in good shape for San Diego.

...and finally, I have decided to offer Endurance Coaching. It may take a week or two to pull together the website and so on but I figure that 23 years of hard won experience in running Ultras, racing around the world and tackling some big challenges does give me a lot of knowledge and a wealth of opportunity to help others avoid some of the dafter mistakes I have made over the years. Intention is to offer assistance to anyone who wants to run long and to do this mostly as a telephone and online service covering goal setting, creation of a training plan and all those other things – hydration, nutrition, race strategy, kit and so on that go into Ultra-running.

In case you think that all sounds a bit too much then have a look at this and laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq8lJEJr3xk

Other than that, get out there and enjoy your running.

Training Log:

Sat 14 Jan 6 miles Elings Park

Sun 15 Jan 12 mile race Elings Park. 2^nd place. 1hr 24 mins

Mon 16 Jan 18 miles and 9,000ft. Cactus to Clouds – Mt. San Jacinto

Tue 17 Jan Speed session – 6.5 miles (hill reps plus 3 miles at 6:10 pace)

Wed 18 Jan Rest Day

Thu 19 Jan 16 miles Jesusita to Gibraltar

Fri 20 Jan 6 miles Elings

Week: 64.5 miles, around 16,500ft

Sat 21 Jan 7 miles Inspiration plus 3 miles hash

Sun 22 Jan 21 miles (romero, Blue Canyon, Forbush, Camiono, Romero)

Mon 23 Jan 6 miles fast (beach)

Tue 24 Jan Rest Day

Wed 25 Jan Rest Day

Thu 26 Jan 35 miles – 9 trails

Fri 27 Jan Rest Day

Week: 72 miles, around 16,000ft

Fortnightly running log

I plan to post my running log here every 2 weeks - not to show off or invite ridicule (depending on how it's going) but mainly to keep myself honest and to motivate myself.

I've never been too fussed about keeping training logs but I notice that most of the people I run with these days seem to know where they are, how fast they are climbing, what minutes per mile they are covering, how far they have been, how many calories they have used and whether their chakras are aligned. They also frequently post pictures of the runs we have been on before I can even get home and log onto the computer.

On that basis, simply recording what I did shouldn't be too onerous...So, here goes:

Sat	31	Dec	44m	Pt. Mugu State Park. Ray Miller Trail
Sun	1	Jan	7m	Pt Mugu State Park. Ray Miller Trail
Mon	2	Jan	Rest	Rest Day
Tue	3	Jan	16m	Jesusita to Gibraltar Road and back
Wed	4	Jan	7m	Inspiration Point
Thu	5	Jan	5m	Elings Park
Fri	6	Jan	15m	East Bay. Steam Trains to Wildcat loop
Total		93 miles, around 15,000ft

Sat	7	Jan	87m bike	Cycle San Francisco to Pt. Reyes and back
Sun	8	Jan	9m	Marin Headlands
Mon	9	Jan	Rest	Rest Day
Tue	10	Jan	4m	Track session (stair repeats and 800metres) 6 sets
Wed	11	Jan	35m	Santa Barbara 9 trails course
Thu	12	Jan	8m	Romero Canyon night run
Fri	13	Jan	Rest	Rest Day
Total		56 miles, around 13,000ft and 87 bike miles