MDS 2009 - Keith

Monday, March 24, 2008

So, what did you do this weekend?

After much apprehension the big day had finally arrived, the first ever 64-mile Cateran Trail Race, a circuitous route from Blairgowrie up to the Spittal of Glenshee back through Kirkton of Glen Isla/Alyth/Bridge of Cally and then Blairgowrie. This would be the second longest ultra marathon in Scotland.

Woken by the alarm at 0500, I got the last of my kit together, had my breakfast, a large bowl of cereal, then Fiona and I set sail for Blairgowrie, we had arranged to travel in convoy with Jimmy and James who met us as we passed through Birkhill.

On arrival at Blairgowrie, we knew straight away that the weather would have a significant impact on the race. A heavy fall of snow and strong winds had made many of the roads in the area un-passable, even as we were waiting in Blairgowrie town centre cars were skidding and wheel spinning everywhere.

By 0715 we had met the race director who had gathered the 16 or so hardy souls willing to take part in such a ludicrous event. As well as team hotrunning we also met up again with fellow MDS'r Rab Lee, we've already met at the Maggie's Monster Bike and Hike last year and at the Mighty Deerstalker a few weeks ago.
As we listened to the race director he dropped a bombshell, the race was CANCELLED! The roads from Bridge of Cally to Kirkmichael and to the Spittal of Glen Shee were closed, this meant that no support vehicles could shadow us around the route. No support meant no race!
There was a suggestion to shorten the race to a 16 miler, but this was no consolation to me as all I have been thinking about for the last three weeks was bagging a 64-miler. To say I was gutted was an understatement, I could understand the directors position and safety had to be a priority, but all the preparation that had gone in to our build up, reccying the route, arranging support vehicles/time off work/all the prepared food/drink - what a waste!!

Distraught I told Fiona that the race was off and asked her to cancel her pal Debbie who was coming to help us. I then went to the loo as my hydration strategy had been timed to perfection, on my return there were a few new faces in the group of disappointed runners. I noticed that the new faces were questioning the directors decision, and applying a bit of pressure to try and change his mind, after making a couple of phone calls to the roads department and Met Office he came back to us and said, "It's ON!"

Fantastic, we were given our race numbers and assembled at the start line,



The tactics for such an event were to walk all the uphills and trot the downhills and as much of the flat as we could, the difficult thing about this is to try and not go off too fast at the start. We are used to running up to 22 miles now, but if we started at that kind of pace there would be no way of making the finish line.
I was wearing my Garmin 305 GPS + Heart rate monitor, through this I was able to keep a close eye on my heart rate and average pace. We wanted to average 4mph for the entire race inclusive of stops, I also wanted to maintain my heart rate at no more than 155bpm for the duration.

The route was mostly covered by snow to varying degrees of thickness, this would make the going even harder and be a sterner test of our stamina. At the start of the race the weather was amazing, crystal clear skies and only a slight headwind to contend with. I took regular photos with my mobile phone a few of which are below, pictures paint a thousand words!

At the start.

A view from Blairgowrie to Bridge of Cally.

Leaving Bridge of Cally

At Bridge of Cally I stocked up on half a swiss roll and a bottle of chocolate milk mmmmmmmm!

Jimmy en route towards Kirkmichael

It was about this time that Jimmy mentioned that he wasn't feeling the greatest. He mentioned he had heavy legs, with over 50 miles still to go this is not a good sign.

James and Rab on the march towards Kirkmichael

Rab was great company for the duration of the race, similar sense of humour and easy going nature makes it easy to get along in such an event. The going was really good at this stage, James and I felt quite fresh and the scenery was fantastic so plenty to occupy our minds as the miles passed. Between each checkpoint I had at least one energy gel and some jelly babies as well as plenty of low strength electrolyte drink.

The route between Bridge of Cally and Kirkmichael

The route between Bridge of Cally and Kirkmichael.

Jimmy marches towards the foot of the biggest climb of the race.
We knew all about this climb having mountain biked it a couple of weeks ago, however it wasn't blanketed in snow at the time. By this stage Jimmy knew in himself that a big decision was needed.

Half way up the big climb, James and Jimmy in the background.

You can see the route we have travelled snake away from right to left across the foot of the hill.

I make it to the top of the big one!

The three of us at the summit of the highest climb on the route, what a relief some of the snow was waist deep!

From the top of the hill we descended straight down into the Spittal of Glenshee.

James illustrating how deep some of the drifts we had to battle were.

James with Debbie and Fiona our support crew for the first half of the race.

On our arrival at Glenshee I was delighted with my progress, 24 miles covered and feeling very strong, I knew the worst climb was behind us and it was uncharted territory ahead. James was only seconds behind me as was Rab. I did feel gutted for Seamus, by this stage I knew he would go no further, as they say "the wheel had come off", having been there several times in the past I know exactly how he must have felt. What he did however almost took more than continuing on. He took the big decision to stop, he knew he would be slowing us down and with 40 miles still to go the "blood and guts routine" just wouldn't have worked. When we participate in events like this we always want to finish, almost no matter what, our own competitive drive very rarely lets us back down. Because of this Seamus made a brave decision which, was also very much the correct decision given the circumstances and well done to him for that.

At the Spittal of Glenshee checkpoint I approached Fiona and Debbie to get my next grab bag, I was approached by a race marshal who said the race had been cancelled. CANCELLED!!!!!!! No one knows how high my blood pressure rose at that exact moment but I thought I had better let him explain before I twatted him. He said that the competitors were too spread out and that there was insufficient offical support vehicles to continue the race. He also tried to dress it by saying that the Met had issued a weather warning. A WEATHER WARNING, we're in the highlands, that will be where there are weather warnings every other day!! Conscious of not flying off at a tangent I spoke with James and Rab and we decided that we would keep going, supported by Fiona and my mother who had joined us as arranged. I had studied the maps prior to the race and new that we were heading south and were not going to be gathering too much height. I approached the marshal thanked him for all the support they had given, and told him we would be continuing if not part of the official race then as a training run. He just looked at me and we left.

The going from Spittal of Glenshee to Kirkton of Glen Isla was not too bad with a few miles on tarmac road. This unfortunately affected James joints. He started to drop back badly and at one point seriously considered dropping out at the next checkpoint. His last chance was to take a painkiller, after about 30 minutes he was back and feeling chipper as ever, we soon left the roadside and climbed over the hills at the back of Glen Isla, we were all feeling fine at this stage so much so Rab and I also had to endure a pathetic rendition of “My Way” from James “Sinatra” Myles, this was almost as hard going as the race itself!.

This was the checkpoint at Kirkton of Glen Isla. Another pair of dry socks, these were to last 2mins 30 seconds before there were soaked!!

At this checkpoint I was beginning to feel a bit rough we had covered 37 miles with 27 still to go. Then, like the opening of the ark of the covenant my mother produced pure gold.......... ready salted crisps!!!! They didn't touch the sides (as usual!)
As we were becoming very cold we pushed on towards Alyth, by this time it was about 1830 and becoming dark, this meant we had to adorn our head torches, The dark also slowed our progress as in some places the path is not well worn and it is very easy to lose your bearings.

By the time we approached Alyth I was feeling far from fine. Stomach churning and the beginnings of a blister on the balls of each foot. Another packet of crisps and then pushing on again.
There is quite a steep climb out of Alyth, I'm feeling a bit guilty, any early morning dog walkers who expected a picture postcard view when they ascended the hill on Sunday morning also got a good view of what 2 packets of partially digested ready slated crisps and jelly babies look like! In my head was, here we go again! I've been here and got the t-shirt several times and knew I could do pretty much nothing about it. 15 miles left of the route, I was not stopping now.

An unscheduled pit stop where the trail met the road to Bridge Of Cally so I decided to treat my wife and mother to a Technicolor yawn in the road verge. A mouthful of water and I pushed on, it was at this time I told Rab and James to push on as fast as they wanted, I knew the route home and I was holding them up. It is actually equally frustrating for the person who is slowing down as it is for the person being slowed, as such after a bit of encouragement the boys pushed on towards Bridge of Cally. I put my mind in a small room and forgot about everything for the next hour or so.

As I entered Bridge of Cally I asked Fiona for my mp3 player another mouthful of water and just kept going. I had asked Fiona to swap my water bladder, which had electrolyte in it for just a litre and a half bottle of plain water. As I collected my pack at Bridge of Cally I didn't realise til several hundred yards along the path that Fiona had tipped out the electrolyte out of the water bladder and replaced it with water. She meant well, but unfortunately the plain water tasted of the electrolyte as such I just couldn't stomach it. I found my self with 6 miles to go of 64, having had nothing to eat or drink for the previous 9 miles other than 2 mouthfuls of water, with nothing in my stomach and no water to drink. By half way through the last section I resorted to having a handful of snow, which was actually ok. (I made sure not to go near the yellow stuff!)

I plugged myself in to the MP3 and let Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis and Mike Oldfield as well as the driving snow carry me on some bizarre trip across the moorland down towards Blairgowrie.

I used an old technique of breaking the route into sections, I know the route well it was a case of, get across the moorland, get to the farm building, get to the narrow path, get to the top of the hill, get to the t-junction, get to the riverbank, 10 minutes you'll be home!

Finally finished!!

At the end of the race Fiona, my mother, James and the race director were there. The director shook my hand, gave me a t-shirt and a trophy? Apparently only 4 people were in front of me 2 fast boys who came first and second, Rab and James, then me. Only one guy was still on the course. Because of the debacle of cancelling the race etc most folks had dropped out as such I was awarded 3 Male VETERAN!!! This was the last trophy left! I almost raised a smile. Probably the first and only time I will ever place as high as 5th in an ultra-marathon!!

Bottom line - Job done – A huge thanks to Fiona, Debbie and Mum, we couldn’t have done it without you!

Scores on the doors

64 miles - 18 hours 39 mins
Calories burned - 9432
Avg Heart rate - 145
Avg Pace - 3.8mph
Feet of Ascent - 8000

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Nervous times on the Trail!

So three days before the biggest event attempted by hotrunning, nerves are beginning to grow. While we have covered greater distances e.g. the Maggies Bike and Hike this will be the longest distance that we have ever "raced" entirely on foot. 64 miles non stop over some pretty gruelling terrain.

Two weeks ago saw us travelling up to Bridge of Cally and cycling a circuitous route up to the Spittal of Glenshee along the Cateran Trail. From the Spittal we returned to Bridge of Cally on the road. This was a very challenging route mainly due to the weather and route conditions. It was cold windy and very very wet. We spent most of the trail pushing our bikes as it was almost impossible to stay on the bikes due to the mud and torrents of water.

By the time we had finished our reccy we were begining to seriously think about our tactics for the upcoming race. Last weekend I went up to the route in the car and drove around as much as possible to give me an idea of what will be required on the day. We did stop for a light lunch and a cup of coffee but the entire route took about 5 hours to drive around!!

This week has seen extensive pouring over the route maps and purchasing of large volumes of bottled water, chocolate milk, energy gels, and cake.

I think given the conditions and route terrain our objective of averaging 4mph will remain. My hydration will be strictly monitored and will depend on temperature/sweat rates and heart rate.

I'll be carrying a 2.5 litre camelback of SIS electrolyte mix which I'll monitor closely at each checkpoint and note down how much I'm consuming. I'll probably have a 500ml chocolate milk at most checkpoints as well as a large slice of cake, this will maintain my carbohydrate intake throughout the race.

I'll also be carrying several energy gels, enduralyte capsules(electrolyte capsules) and jelly babies.

Our theory will be to travel as light as possible but give ourselves as much flexibilty with our clothing as possible. Our GORE RUNNING kit will really come in to it's own this weekend particularly if it's windy. A couple of spare pairs of socks and trainers will be with the support crew. A big thanks in anticipation to my family and friends for offering their services for the entire race, we couldn't do it without you!!

So, three more sleeps til the start of the race fingers crossed for some decent weather. Met office forecasts - snow, high winds and sub-zero temperatures.........Great preparation for the desert!!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Slow Down and Drink Up!!

After the dust settled over last weekends manic escapdes, this week sees my attention turning to the Cateran Trail Race. The race takes place on 22/23rd of March and is a 64-mile trot around the Cateran Trail which is a circuitous route starting and finishing in Blairgowrie, and which stretches as far north as the Spittal of Glenshee.


For the historian buffs out there.....

The Caterans were marauding cattle thieves who flourished in the more lawless regions of the Highlands from the Middle Ages until the 17th century. More feared than wolves, cateran raiding parties numbered anything from 50 to 500 fierce warriors.

Favouring dark nights, they would descend on richer neighbours when they were off guard. Weddings and other festivities often provided an opportunity for a raid and many revellers would sober up to find their folds empty and their cattle gone.

The caterans raided far and wide but the rich farmlands of Glen Isla and Strathardle were particularly 'favoured'. By custom they would return by a different way from which they came, using ancient drove roads through remote glens.

The race starts at 8am in Blairgowrie and is a "start and don't stop" event.

My sole objective for this race is to finish as comfortably as possible. In events of this length quite simply anything can happen, the aim is to try and consider every possibility and cater for as many as possible.

With my continuing hydration concerns this week, my training has involved keeping a strict pace, almost 3 miles per hour slower than normal, and trying to consume at least 1 litre of fluid each hour. This is significantly more than I would normally get through.

I guess it's all relative, I want to get round the route asap, however without strict discipline from the start, the wheel can come off very quickly indeed.

I catered for the historians, for the exercise geeks out there here is my current hydration plan for an hour of running,

When running more than 1 hour - my heart rate is no more than 160bpm - 1 litre per hour of SIS(science in sport) "Go" electrolyte, lemon and lime flavour.

It is recommended that you try and consume a 6 - 8 % carbohydrate drink mix, this means I use 80gms of "Go" in every litre, "Go" also gives me plenty of electrolytes therefore I shouldn't have a salty episode!!

At this time, and having never seen the route before, my goal would be to average 4mph over the entire 64 miles. This means wobbling round in about 16 hours. However, this weekend will see the team taking a drive to the route for a look at some of the more severe areas.

16 hours = 16 litres of fluid + 16 energy gels + numerous jelly babies and slices of cake!! (every cloud!)

Keith
www.hotrunning.net

Monday, March 3, 2008

The Mighty Deerstalker - MADNESS!!!

So, you enter the Marathon Des Sable - The toughest footrace in the world, you've run marathons, completed 70-mile ultras, your fitness tested 3 times a year showing continual improvements - this means you can run a 5km race followed by a 10km race in one day - right??

All I can say is THANKS RAB!!

As some of you will be aware, the boys are somewhat competitive, therefore when challenged by another MDS'r to compete in both the "Deerstalker" 5km race and the "Mighty Deerstalker" 10km race, in one day then you say OK no problems!

After the previous 48-hours highs and lows of the powerboat auction, on Saturday 1st March 2008, the three of us travelled to the Tweed Valley and to Innerleithen, where the picturesque Traquair House is located. From the grounds of this old Hunting Lodge the races would start and finish.

We arrived in plenty of time and registered for both races. It was at this stage we got our first indication of how crazy it was to run both races - for a few minutes the girls at the registration table refused to believe that anyone would be stupid enough to attempt both, it was pointed out that indeed we were crazy and as our names featured twice on the registration document we indeed would be attempting both!!

Shortly after the registration we met with our mate Rab Lee who is also doing the MDS in 2009 and was the boy responsible for challenging us to do both races. More about him later!!

Maybe I should explain, the races are very much a fun event, and are run in an adventure style format. The 5km race would be a circuit through a nearby forest with various "challenges" to be met en-route. The 10km race would begin with the same 5km route as the first race followed by a further 5km mountain ascent......at night in the pitch black....in fancy dress.....with various "challenges"!!


We had plenty of time to get ready, having spent hours selecting just the right costumes for the event we opted to keep them for the 10km race as such we wore standard running clobber for the 5km.



From the car park you can see the forested hill in the background. This would be the location of the first 5km.

With the 4 MDS monkeys at the start line the gun went off which started a mass stampede straight at a 1.5 meter high pile of hay bales which we had to scale. The tactics for an event like this is to start quite fast then slow down so that you don't get held up at the obstacles later on. As such fleeing down the drive of the lodge and out onto the road the 4 of us were quite close to the front of the pack.

Less than 1/2 a mile down the road a left turn straight up to yer oxters for a river crossing, cold enough to freeze a polar bears love spuds!! Out of the river and straight up the hill and into the forest. It was a good route until we got to the 3 switchbacks, completely off piste and almost vertical 75 meter repetitions up and down the hill in a snake like formation, absolutely soul destroying.

Eventually we neared the top of the hill and a long series of balance beams which I actually enjoyed, giving folks the ability to recover. By this stage Seamus was slightly ahead of the rest of us, myself and Rab were neck and neck with James further back.

You would think coming down the hill would be easy, not a chance, my trainers for this race weren't great, as such I was flying about all over the place, plus the organisers seemed to have a phobia for paths instead opting for the more literal "through the forest" option, out of control and "windmilling" everywhere we careered back down to the road. By the time we were out of the forest, Seamus had a good lead, I found myself next with Rab and James behind me. Realising that the end was looming I was determined not to lose a position, (Me, competitive? - never!!) As I said earlier there were "challenges" to negotiate, well the route still had another couple of surprises, firstly a tunnel filled with manky water up to the chest, followed by another couple of river crossings, as I got back to the grounds of the lodge I could see Seamus finishing the race, as I looked back Rab was almost back with me with James nowhere to be seen.

By this stage I was knackered and really digging deep, just as I thought the worst was over I saw a pair of tunnels, which required to be negotiated before the final sprint for home. By this time Rab had caught up with me and by the time we cleared the tunnels we decided that we would cross the line together (cheers Rab!). We were given our times and positions, I had to look twice 58 minutes and 6th place!! I'd never finished 6th in any race EVER, I was delighted, Seamus was 5th, Rab obviously got the 7th and James came in in 11th position. I should really say that the 5km course is closer to 9km in length, another of the event organisers sadistic jokes!!


The boys on a high after the 5km, a little cold and very wet with medals, my ticket shows my time and 6th position, honest!!

Now, if I thought the 5km was a tough race...........

The hill in the background is the 5km's big brother, take note of the scree field, here shown in the sunlight. This hill would have a fireworks display at the top.

After the 5km we had a couple of hours before the 10km. We met up with another of the MDS forum members Horti, he goes to the desert in 2 weeks!! We thought we were fit running the 5km, Horti had run 10 miles in the morning just as a warm up?!

As I mentioned earlier the Deerstalker is about having a laugh and fancy dress.......

Costumes of choice, Jamsie and I opted for the classic tweed and antlers, while Rab opted for the Soltire soccer hooligan look, Horti was sporting a deerstalker and Seamus wanted to show everybody that he hasn't been trying to grow his hair for nothing!!

Now, as the gun went off for the 10km it was obvious we weren't going to be haring off into the lead. Our legs had taken a pounding on the "5km" race and we were dressed in tweed. Basically for the first 5km see above, exactly the same idea only this time there was a queue for the balance beams. Oh yes and I forgot to mention we all had head torches on as it was dark!!

I had my new off road shoes on for this one and they made a huge difference, I wasn't flying about so much, however the fact you could barely see one foot in front of the other counteracted any benefit I had.

So, we're out of the forested hill and heading back generally towards the grounds of Traquir House, this is when the anti got up’d, firstly we were only half way, remember the fireworks display I mentioned, well the leader of the race sets them off as he/she goes over the top of the big hill, so how demoralising is it when your at the watering station at the bottom of the hill when you start hearing fireworks!! (A great sight though!)

In this race, again Seamus was on fire and well in the lead, Rab was showing his true potential close behind him and James and I were tail gunners. Horti hadn't been seen since the start line, we were hoping he hadn't injured himself so close to the MDS.

Straight after the water station we were introduced to an upstream wade of about 150 meters. This started out ok as we were already soaking but very quickly turned into pain like never before, the cold was unbelievable, it was at this point I realised why god gave me huge legs and size 12 feet, COMING THROUGH!!! No longer happy to be one of a line of runners, I had to get out of there as fast as possible, and did! much to the annoyance of one or two who apparently got a bit splashed, OOPS.

The river wade took us close to the foot of the big hill and immediately resulted in a series of calf cramps, ouch!

I had had no real concept of how steep the hill was but thought it couldn't be too bad as there must have been waking paths around the hill. I was right, there were walking paths all over the hill, we never used any of them. It was only when it actually dawned that I looked about myself, OOOOOOOH S***!! I was in the middle of the scree field with an almost vertical drop to my right and hundreds of meters of loose rocks to my left. Bad enough in daylight, even worse by head-torchlight!

A few hundred meters across it didn't take long to get to the edge of the scree field, it was here I saw one of the most stunning and harrowing sights I've ever seen, a line of lights like those on a Christmas tree moving straight up the edge of the scree field. It looked beautiful until I realised I was going to have to go in the same direction.

Mentally it was one of those moments that separates the men from the boys, my legs were cramping due to the 5km race and cold water and I was at the bottom of a horrendous hill climb, stay or go? First thing in my head was if I bottle this what chance have I in the desert?? Onwards and upwards.

You could only move on all fours, if anybody had fallen they would have wiped out everybody below, it went on and on and on. Eventually, when I got to the top I got a breather as I waited for James to catch up. We trotted along the top of the hill as best as we could, as we could hardly see. I moved ahead of James again and began the descent into the forested area.

Moving through the forest I began to hear some very bizarre sounds as I neared some loud speakers and disco lights planted in the middle of the forest for extra dramatic effect, it worked I thought I was hallucinating!

I continued down until I reached a section so steep that the organisers had fixed a rope which competitors would use to lower themselves into a black abyss(excuse the dramatics, but this is how it felt at the time!). I took my place on the rope with no idea how long it was or what was at the bottom. It wasn't til I was about halfway down the rope I began to wonder exactly how strong was the rope? There must have been 30 folk swinging on it at any one stage, oh well too late now! A bit further down and I lost my footing altogether. I gripped the rope for all my worth and was left dangling and wriggling about like a fish out of water. Panic set in as I struggled to turn onto my front and put my feet on the slope.

I was totally disorientated with nothing below me except certain death!! Imagine my relief when, once I had regained my feet I realised I was 6 inches above the foot of the hill. I let go of the rope and jogged past a marshall who just looked at me and shook his head.... what a fud!

So with the worst behind me it was on with the last 4km of river crossings and tunnel crawls James, who was a bit more selective with his route choice : ), caught up with me and we finished together absolutely destroyed. I was 242 with a time of 2hrs 22 James was just behind one place. Seamus was an incredible 102 in a time of 1 hour 58mins. Rab was just behind him. I'm happy to report that Horti also got round in about 2 hours uninjured, which is a feat in itself.

James had heard one of the other runners at the top of the big hill stating that his GPS system showed 9kms gone. In our calculations that would mean the route was about 15-16kms in total, ho ho ho what a giggle!!!

Unfortunately we have no photo's as tiredness and cold kicked in so it was straight off to the B+B for a shower, change, and food and beer....in that order!

Looking back now, I actually loved the event, would I do it again? Probably but definitely not 2 weeks before the MDS!

So whats next for the boys? In three weeks time we have the Cateran Trail to attempt a cheeky wee 63 mile ultra-marathon around Blairgowrie... Looking forward to it.

The journey continues.

Cheers Folks

Keith
www.hotrunning.net

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Things not quite going to plan!

It is with a great sense of disappointment that we had to announce the cancellation of our powerboat auction. Due to circumstances completely outwith our control the auction was unfortunately terminated only 24 hours after it began. With over 300 "hits" and 1 bid already lodged we were looking great for a positive outcome.

We had a busy time notifying those businesses and friends and family who assisted us with the publicity for the auction and I would personally like to thank all those involved, too many to mention individually. I'd also like to apologise to anybody who has been inconvenienced in anyway as a result of the cancelled auction.

We live and learn and will be back to fight another day.

Thank you all again for your support.

Regards

Keith
www.hotrunning.net