Part 2 of Preparing For An Ultramarathon (Part 1) will follow shortly. In the meantime, I just wanted to share some of the following with you. It's certainly been a busy couple of weeks as far as new experiences go!
So, the main news is that, as of last night, I am officially on the starters list for the 95 mile West Highland Way Race. I didn't expect to hear until at least the middle of this week so it came as a surprise to get the email last night. After a day in which we had the first snow of the year, the first Christmas meal of the year, and put the Christmas tree up, it has to be said that Christmas did indeed come early! On top of my own good news, it appears that all of the friends that I have made over the past couple of years while running in Scottish Ultra Marathon Series events have also made it on to the official starters list. Great news!
I am also now on my 35th consecutive day of running, something I have never even come close to before, and other than a slight niggle in the right knee, all is well with the body (and mind!). I have probably just jinxed my efforts now but I will hopefully make it to the 31st December having successfully managed to run for 65 consecutive days. In case you are wondering, yes, that does include Christmas day!
Why am I doing this? After my final race of 2010, the Loch Ness Marathon, my running kind of lost direction and, as a result, much of the progress and race fitness that I had built up over the year was all but lost by the time the first ultra came around in March 2011. Determined not to repeat this, I decided to run every day in November as part of my Movember fundraising efforts and to run every day in December as part of the Marcothon.
(Talking of Movember, thanks to the sterling efforts of my work colleagues, our team looks set to make just short of £2000 to add to the amazing worldwide total of over £60 million! The moustache is now long gone and it is still weird not to have any facial hair... funny how used to something you can get in such a short space of time!)
It has certainly worked and I have to say that I am loving the challenge of a daily run. I did worry that I would dread the daily run, especially as I tend to run in the early evening when I return home from work, but this has thankfully not proved to be the case.
A couple of weeks ago I went on my first proper night run with the headtorch. After the confines of the treadmill, necessitated by a bout of ill health, it was great to get outdoors again. At least it was for all of 5 minutes when I went flying as I tripped on a tree root. Two weeks later and the bruising on my right leg, from the knee down to and around the back of the ankle is as yellow and as impressive as ever. It was perhaps a bit ambitious to head out the door, straight into the forest, on a pitch black night for my first outside run in weeks but hey, isn't hindsight great lol!
Exactly a week later I went for a night run along the old railway line. The blackness of the night was something else and, stopping to turn off the head torch, I appreciated just how easily I could get out of town... not a light to be seen. My intended run was, however, cut short. As I ran along the track, trance music on, with nothing but the light from my headtorch to illuminate the way, I was totally oblivious to what was about to happen. From out of nowhere, I was suddenly aware of the underbelly of an owl flying right at my head. Illuminated by the head torch, the belly of the owl was amazingly white and dazzling. It was all I could do to duck out of the way in time. I ripped the headphones from my ears and stayed low. From the circling and swooping above my head it was obvious that my presence was not desired and, as such, I took 'flight' back along the track towards home. Safely back at home, looking at the Garmin, I was hardly surprised to see a considerable negative split on the nights run! It sounds daft looking back but, at the time, it was a scary situation. The owl seemed huge... perhaps just as a result of the total contrast between the feathers of the owl and the darkness that surrounded it. Suffice to say, when I next venture along the line at that time of night, I might just leave the headphones off so that I can hopefully avoid a repeat of the situation.
Last bit of news. Thanks to my Movember running efforts, I surpassed last years running mileage total of 1250 miles. 2,500 miles in 2 years. Who would have thought! Certainly not me and as little as 3 years ago I would have questioned the sanity of anyone running that many miles in a year - funny how things change! With 7 ultras planned for 2012, including the 95 mile West Highland Way Race, I can only wonder what my mileage will be this time next year!
Back soon with part 2 of Preparing For An Ultramarathon :o)
Read more from jonmackintosh's blog here!
Cards on the table I'm not a fan of headphones as it makes a large proportion of runners unaware of their surroundings). Wise move on thinking about forgetting them next time as if the owl was threatened you're more likely to have heard it's displeasure before it kicked off if you'd been music free. Night running I wouldn't dream of wearing headphones as your ears help to make up for the restricted vision (e.g. outside of the head torch range). That said, with no music, a few grouse have scared the bejeebers out of me as they don't react until you're about 6 feet from them when they explode into the air in a mass of squawking and feathers.
Did you get any devil's eyes from the sheep (it only makes sense when you've seen it at night).
Hello and thanks for the comment.
Totally know where you are coming from re headphones though I have to admit to being a fan of the trance tunes when I am out training. I don't listen to music in races though.
The owl incident was very weird... don't get why it felt threatened at all and have run that route so many times in the past without incident. On the plus side, the incident did highlight to me just how remote it was... only a few miles out the line and up the road from where I live but, at the same time, if anything were to happen no one would be any the wiser as to whereabout on the route I was. As you say, best to err on the side of caution, especially when other senses are disadvantaged.
Have had the grouse experience before... they fairly leave it to the last minute before fleeing and, on the line, they tend to fly in front of me for ages rather than just get the extra height to get them up and over the embankments at the side!
With regard to the sheep, will need to watch out for that one. Had the owl not shortened my run I would have run past fields filled with sheep. Will watch out for that for sure lol!
Cheers
J :o)
..on a complete aside do you run with identification on you? I never used to then we had an interesting debate on here with a medic about (on the just in case/hopefully never ever needed) it's always handy to have ID on you. Also letting someone know your route? Although it's not happened for a while me and RTS sometimes blast into The Peaks for a nightrun. The chances of us both coming a cropper are slim but Mrs DaftB always knows the area we're running in. More importantly if I go for a late run around here, I often just make up the route as I go along but she's aware of the area I'm in.
The sheep's eyes await!
I love my countryside runs but I too have been surprised by the odd piece of wildlife. Good work on your 1250 miles this year and good luck on surpassing that next year!
Thanks Dan, much appreciated. Got to love the wildlife, even if it is at night and gives me a shock! If it was the daytime I would be delighted to see it... in fact, would go so far as to say that some of the things I have seen, from foxes, frogs and herons through to herds of deer, can actually make a run. After all, that's part of the attraction, getting out there and reconnecting with nature.
I do run with identification on me... or at least I do when I have my running pack on, which has one of those ID tags attached. However, as your point made me realise, that's going to be sod all use when I am out for short winter runs at night when it's just me and a handheld water bottle :o)
The chances of anyone actually coming along the old railway line at night would be pretty slim so all the more reason to let someone know where I am heading. The wife would generally know that I head for the line and favour North as my route of choice but it wouldn't do any harm to leave a note.
As you say, sometimes things change (diggers & tractors blocking the path, owls! etc etc) but better that someone at least has an idea of where you are.