Running requires so much effort. Why can’t it be easy?
You enter your first 5k, but no one tells you about having to put in so many training runs, amounting in much greater collective distance than the actual event. But we do it because its claimed to make it easier. Then we push it a bit further, going for a 10k and so on. Join a club or make running buddies and it soon spirals out of control. Next thing you know the rest of your family and “normal” friends label you a nutter.
Guess this is what happened to me, though my brother is as much to blame as any running buddies. His progression to ultras has rubbed off and a few years ago, after working my way up to half marathon races I decided to skip the marathon stage and just go for the ultra. It sounded better in my head and sure if Phil can do them why can’t I. Nothing to do with brotherly rivalry, honest.
And sure if you’re going for an ultra why not do the double marathon, and through the Mournes too for extra fun. So a few years ago I entered and completed the 26 Extreme 52 mile Mourne Way Ultra.
Then came lockdown. I thought great, loads of running time. Then came a stress fracture. I thought, no way I’m going to sit in the house and do nothing for 8 weeks. What else does Phil do I could copy? Oh yes, he cycles. Move forward and the return to work a few months later and I decided to avoid driving the 16.6 miles each way to Jordanstown uni and cycle it. A year later and I’d covered over 5000 miles of cycling. Even managed a 150 miles trip from home, round Lough Neagh and back home again. Now I’d cycling buddies. Even for my commute, though that was even better as we’d stop in Belfast on the way to work for coffee!
About time I got back to running. Thinking again about ultras a came across the Kerry Way Ultra. With no plans to enter it in 2022, or even sure if I would even I thought it worth keeping my options open at least.
Like most ultra, they rightly require suitable experience to qualify for entry.
This brings me back to the Mourne Way Ultra. Successfully completing it in 2022 will qualify me to enter the Kerry Way in 2023. As I said, keeping my options open.
So how do you train for an ultra? Flippin loads of running, that’s what. To be honest running had taken a bit of a back seat to cycling. I also knew from the start of lockdown to take it slow and not risk another stress fracture. Slowly but surely the running started increasing leading to contemplating a running commute.
After a bit of planning and calculating I figured if I left my house around 5:30 am I could be in work for 8am leaving plenty of time before starting work at 8:45. Rather than having to then run home again after work I decided to drive into work one day a week and bring in my bike, allowing me to run in the next day and cycle home.
What had been an experiment became a weekly habit. And my wife relabelling me a nutter.
I then thought, 16.6 miles is quite a bit shorter than 52 miles. I know during the week I was collectively doing up to 70km but I wanted a longer run to test myself.
How about a longer route to work? What about a full marathon? Some more number crunching and route planning meant leaving home at around 4:30am. So decision made. Told my wife I was running to work as normal, just left out the fact I was doing it a bit different.
4:10 am and up I get as quietly as possible, grabbed my gear and headed out. Problem with such an
early start is it’s back to head torch running, not helped by the fact the first few miles was on trails.
To be honest, my confidence came into question and I worried about not getting to work on time so I cut out a little bit of the route around Helen’s Bay and Grey Point. Should have trusted my maths and fitness. Arrived at work at 7:30 with just over 2 miles short of the marathon. No way I was giving up that easy so spent the next while running round the sports pitches and car park, arriving finally at the sports centre just as my watch hit 42.2 km. Then it vibrated and flashed up “New marathon PD 3:18”
My calculations hadn’t panned for that! Being honest, my total time was 3:29 but that included a couple of toilet stops. I’ll take the Garmin PB time.
And yes, I had to cycle home later but that wasn’t actually as bad as I’d thought. Definitely has given
me a huge confidence boost for 11th June and the Mourne Way Ultra.
Oh and, even though I had tried to be quiet leaving, my wife had stirred and noticed it was dark when I left. Once I told her why she has promoted me to “totally bonkers”.
