Tango History Highway Ultramarathon

I’ve had time to digest MDS and decided the first step in training is an ultra-marathon.  Ultras vary in distance, but essentially anything longer than a marathon.  Best prep for the 84km/ 52mi stage 4 of MDS will be to race the distance (or longer) in the lead-up.

A brief internet search, and I’m in luck, The Tango History Highway Ultra, 100km/ 63mi run in Kansai area of Japan near where I’ll be living!  A perfect way to get to know my new area and prep for MDS.

hard to follow but that's a lot of climbing starting at 60km!

How to train for 100km?  Great question.  I'm starting with this training plan taken from the internet and will modify given I won’t be ready for a 3hr session in wk 1.

Les Marathon des Sables

Take one crazy Frenchman, a thousand adventurers, mix'm with six marathons, seven days and toss in a desert, what do you get?  The Marathon des Sables (Marathon of the Sands, MDS or Sahara Marathon).

Considered by many to be the toughest footrace on earth, MDS is a self-supported run covering 240km/ 150mi (about 6 marathons) over 7 days in the Moroccan Sahara. 

now that's my idea of a good time!

Alan, my Ironman UK training partner, turns 40 in a few years and wants to take on an extreme event to ensure he’s in better shape than ever (which is saying a lot b/c he is pretty fit now).  What better to prove mental and physical fitness than a 7 day jaunt through the desert?

Runners apply through their country of citizenship with each country granted a specific number of slots.  Given the lottery system, there is no guarantee we could run together in any given year, so we decided to start applying straight away.

Shortly after applying, I find I've been given a slot for the 28^th running of the MDS in April 2013!  Excited? YES!  Nervous, scared, anxious? YOU BET!

self supported, max bag weight of 10kg/ 22lb 

A bit more on the race.  Self supported means runners carry everything they need for the 7 days (run kit, sleep kit, food with cooking tools, etc) except water, which is provided by the organizers at various checkpoints.  The course varies from year to year, but will be circa 240km/ 150mi in 6 stages over 7 days generally split as follows:

- Days 1-3/ Stages 1-3, roughly 32km/ 20mi each

- Days 4-5/ Stage 4, double marathon 84km/ 52mi

- Day 6/ Stage 5, marathon 42km/ 26mi

- Day 7/ Stage 6, half-marathon 21km/ 13mi

bivouacs for racers to sleep

Nights are spent in bivouacs put up by organizers with everything else (“pillows”, “sleeping mats”, etc) brought and carried by competitors.

Beyond this, I’m in the dark.  Still a year away, plenty of time for research and questions.  Here's a few links if you'd like to read about the 2012 race.

- 2012 MDS site

- Friend of a friend who ran 2012

- Random blog from a UK runner

Oh yeah, Alan didn’t get a spot for 2013 but is trying through a charity.

Kobe, Japan!

Long time coming and happy to end the suspense, I’ve accepted a job in Kobe, Japan!  I’ll be moving in the middle of the year and hope to end training uncertainty and get back to a structured plan.

Kobe is Japan's 5th largest city with about 1.5 million people.  Located 430km west of Tokyo, Kobe is a port and industrial city.

Why Kobe?  Well, I've wanted to live in Asia since I was 17, my partner is Japanese so that narrowed the search and I accepted a job teaching English with Gaba Corp (primarily business English) who placed me in Kobe.


Maybe most important, Asics calls Kobe it's home, so I may consider switching from Brooks (much debate to be had).

Whole Foods Market Breakfast Run

Been looking forward to this for some time, love Kingston by the river and hoping to push my limits beyond Ballbuster.

A more organized morning this race, a couple friends and I arrived 30mins early, queued to check our bags and off to the start.  A wave start (sub 2hr women first, then sub-2 men, then everyone else) I took off at the front of the first group of men, and wow, what a pace.  A couple hundred meters in, my lungs were gasping, but people were blowing by, so the natural instinct was to keep up.  1km in and beeps from everywhere, a chorus of Garmins indicating 1k done.  I looked down to see the first km was sub 4min, well ahead of my 4.06/km target, ‘ok, slow it down, maintain your pace.’

2 to 10kms – Settling into my pace, most of the others did the same.  Heading west along the Thames Path, I was taking in the sun and focusing on technique.  Around km 6, a woman came past slightly faster, so in the spirit of chasing pain, I pushed a little more to stay with her.  Trailing her for 3km, I figured it was my turn to do some of the work, so I built to almost full-out sprint and coasted past before settling back down.  500m down the road, I came to regret that.  ‘Side stich, ahhh!  You idiot, this could all go downhill!  Stay positive, ease up slightly, yes, let her by, recover and back at it.’

11 to 15 – The last 2k of the first lap (1^st of 2) were spent at a slower pace, breathing deep and holding my side praying I could overcome the stitch.  Hit the half way mark, ‘ok, walk the aid station, take one drink now, one to go, 20sec walk and build back.’  Following the plan, I was into lap 2 building back up and not far from the target pace.   Crossing the bridge and heading west again, I caught a few guys that passed while I was struggling and stuck with them.

16 to 21 – A solid 5km from the pain in my side, it was time to step it up.  I was no longer following a pace, simply running down those ahead of me one at a time, whatever pace that needs, I’ll run it.

22 to 26 – In a back and forth with a couple guys and admittedly struggling to keep the pace, it was time to dedicate each of the last 5kms to others.  First my friends who came to the race with me (without whom I may not have been there), then my brother (still teaching me life lessons), one for Chrissie Wellington (someone who goes beyond her limits and provides motivation), one to my parents (who have provided me more than I could ever ask) and finally for my partner (supports me every day, every decision, every mood-swing and all with a smile).

Crossing the line, 1.45.18.  ‘Wow, I actually did it, amazing.’  A few seconds passed, ‘probably could have pushed harder, didn’t track down true pain yet.  Well, enjoy this today, work on improvements tomorrow.’

Takeaways –

Positive

- ran through a side-stitch, recovered and still hit the target at 1.45

- mentally remained confident throughout

Improvements

- more interval training, can’t afford a side-stitch every time I surge in a race