Ouch

Not the words you want to hear 10 days before you depart for the Arctic!!!

Had a minor altercation with a moving car, the car in question not only failed to indicate but also cut right infront of the oncoming car before nearly running me over as it cut across the junction, some fancy footwork meant that i avoided the Hollywood style 'rolling over the bonnet' scenario but i do seem to have re-strained my troublesome groin muscle (catchingly known as the adductor longus muscle) .....some suitable colorful language was directed in his general direction but he seemed totally unaware of the chaos he had just caused.

I have a week or so of rest now so I'm not overly concerned but it has resulted in me canceling my trip to Lincoln University on Friday were i was going to help with their research into ultra running, this involved a full fitness assessment (heart rates, VO2 levels, lactate levels etc.) this would have not only been beneficial to them but also very interesting for me, hopefully this is something we can schedule at a later date....

All fingers and thumbs

Everything becomes very difficult in the Arctic if your fingers are numb, you can't do jackets up, you can't get you stove going, you can't do the zip up on your sleeping bag all these things could quite quickly become life threatening, so I have got myself a selection of gloves that should see me alright in chilly, windy, cold and very cold conditions...

But, then i heard Mimi (last years winner) say how numb her hands had got, and also the reports of the rival race this year and the temps dropping to -50, i decided that a pair of gloves that covered the very very very cold might be in order....

Enter the Marmot Expedition Mitt.....

It's like wearing 2 sleeping bags on your arms, the cuffs almost reach my elbow and they are soooo warm, probably not the sort of things you could wear down to the supermarket as you would get some odd looks, but in the Arctic they should work a treat and if they don't I think you can safely assume I’m in trouble......

Questions Part1

Everybody genuinely seems quite interested in what I’m going to do, here are answers to some of the questions.

Race distance:-
352 miles!! (that’s 13.5 back to back marathons) in 7 days

Location:-
Yukon Territory Canada (North West) the start is 26 miles south of the Arctic circle and continue until we hit the Arctic ocean (which will be frozen!) at Tuktoyaktuk

Temperature:-
The average temp for this time of year is -30, the rival race which was held a week ago and is held in a more southerly (warmer) location had temps of -50(!!) on the first day

Footwear:-
Having spoken to numerous people who have raced in this sort of location it appears that trainers(!) are the way to go, they need to be a couple of size larger than normal so accommodate the 3+ pairs of sock i will wear to keep my feet warm, my trainers of choice are Salomon XT Wings...

Daylight:-
During the race we are expected to have 15 hours of day light, it goes from day light to darkness in just 15 minutes, and due to the lack of residual light from towns/cities etc. when its dark it is really dark.

Stove:-
Nobody has actually asked me this, but seeing that i tested it at the weekend i thought i would share my finding, my stove boils 1liter of cold water in 5 minutes, and a quarter bottle of fuel lasts for about 1hour, these figures will be effected by the severe cold, but it is important that i don't run out of fuel, cos no fuel means no hot what and no hot water means no hot food and that means i go hungry and that is not an option!!!

Water:-
Due to the severity of the conditions the race organiser will provide some water at some of the checkpoints, but between checkpoints water will have to be carried and you will have to find ways to stop it from freezing, any extra water you will have to get by melting snow

Sleeping bag:-
A very warm sleeping bag (rated to -35) plus a fleece liner which should take me down to -40, if it is colder then it will a case of layering up the clothes until you are warm enough to grab a few hours sleep

Where do you sleep:-
In the snow off the trail/road not using a tent, but using a bivvy bag which is just a big water proof/breathable bag that you put your sleeping bag and 2 sleeping mats and yourself inside and then just lie down on the snow!!

Wacky Racers

While out biking on Saturday their was a discussion about the quickest route from Waltham Abbey to Debden, Jay insisted that the road would be quicker, i thought the tow path back to Chingford and then by road to Debden would be the quicker (and safer) route, the only way to answer this question was to have a race.....

Being of a mildly competitive nature i went for it, flat out all the way to Debden, a couple of kamikaze manoeuvres on the 2 mini roundabouts in Loughton and some aggressive use of the pavement when cars or traffic lights got in the way....

But it wasn't enough, Jay beat me by 2 minutes!!! i had lost to a slightly (!) overweight bloke on a town bike, the shame of it all.....

Now as i said I'm not a competitive person (much) so the very first thing i did when i got home was to gps measure the 2 routes!! Jay's was 6.1 miles and mine was 9.6 miles!! so although i had lost by 2 minutes i had cycled 3.5 miles further so that helped to alleviate some of the shame.....

'Back' to basics.....

Well my back was quite stiff at the begining of the week, but as with most of my recent injuries i just went out and ran 10 miles 3 nights on the trot and now it's fine!!

I think you body get used to doing a 70-100+ miles a week and when you start to reduce (or to use the proper term taper) the mileage it get a bit confused and this confusion is presented in form of niggly little injuries......which only goes to prove that being lazy is not good for you....

Restfull weekend of sorts......

Well after last weekend's 80 miles this is the first weekend of my taper, when i start to reduce the mileage so that i'm rested and ready to take on the Arctic, that said a rest in my book envolved a 20 mile cycle on the saturday and 37 mile cycle on the sunday!!

Back was a little sore towards the end of both rides so will take it easy over the next couple of days, that said it only hurts when i sit down so maybe some light jogging and a few hours infront of the heat lamp will be the answer.

Shouldn’t I be tired??

Well the weekends combined 80 miles of racing has given me 2 things

A minor (but annoying) back ache in the morning that goes away later in the day only to return the next morning........

The ability to run like linford christie, to get the legs turning over after the weekends activities i've done a short 5 mile loop each night and frankly the turn of speed and my ability keep going at that speed is startling, one of my post Arctic goals is to do some speed work and finally do a 3hr marathon but at this rate Haile Gebrselassie better watch out!!!!!

Random thought:- confidence is a wonderfull thing........

A Sunday stroll

Some brisk walking, a little running saw the 40 miles completed in 9hrs today, walked the entire distance with Gary Grey someone who i had bumped into at the MDS last year, this morning he was up to for going home but i sort of convinced him to at least do the first bit and see how it went, 40 miles later we were at the finish!! hats off to him, his feet and ankles were shot, he was exhusted but he kept at it.......

Felt fine at the end, infact better than yesterday which is not bad considering that that was two back to back 40 miles races...

Bring on the Arctic.....

Lean mean running machine...

Well i might be getting a little carried away.....

6:40 for 40 miles in todays Town to Tring race, felt good up to about 30 miles, things got tough for a couple of miles but then bumped into Jo 'killers' Kilkenny and ran the last 7 miles with her, we will ignore the fact that she tried to out sprint me at the finish line, needless to say i was having none of that....

Now some food and a rest before i do the whole thing again this time from Tring to Town....yep another 40 miles tomorrow....