Training Log Archive: GaryHouse

EQUINOX 24hr Race

Didn't sleep as well as usual before a race waking at 5am and not being able to sleep again until 7am for another hour.

Good Breakfast

Had rained pretty heavily over night and started up again at around 0900 so I stayed at the house until 11 rather than 10.....no point in getting cold and standing around in the tent.

Started in the rain but was due to clear in an house or two and the first few laps just went by really easy with no issue

First four laps
55
57
56
57

It was now 4pm and the sun had come out...for whatever reason I had a headache and although still running fine I just wasn't able to enjoy it as much.

I took a few mins at the tent just to eat some pasta, cheese etc and then moved on

next few....

66
63
63
64

Now 8 laps in and 8 hours in I had kept to schedule but the times had slipped mainly due to some parts of the course being completely chopped up with mud having rained so much early on, it was drying out a bit but was very sticky and slippy for about 1km.....my headache had got worse and I decided I had to try some paracetamol.

I don't really get headaches and I never really take pain killers in races, especially not this early in 24 hours.

Anyway it was only 1 and I carried on......

Maybe I should have taken it earlier because for the next half a lap it got worse before pretty much clearing completely by the end of the lap.

that lap (9) took 77 mins though and that wasn't a good sign as my legs and body felt OK.....a few normal aches but just dealing with the headache for a few hours had took its tole I think

The new problem I seemed to have was drowsiness......I THINK I stayed on top of my fuel and had eaten plenty and stayed hydrated but over the next few hours I just couldn't do anything to stop it

I was still running OK but just had no GO or energy when it came to pushing on when I have in the past.....

Between around 1am and 3am it became a bit a real battle just to stay awake....never had this before and maybe we can chat about it to try and find the cause but maybe it just wasn't my day

I only found out what place I was in at half way (third) and the only thing keeping me going was that I knew the two ahead stood a good chance of blowing up....

The 21 laps had gone out the window but I knew if I just kept going I could still podium.

At 3am one of my friends ran a lap with me who was in the team and he said apparently I fell in to him "asleep" while running.......what a farce. I don't think I said two words to him in the 1hr 54 minutes it took to get around!! (20 minutes of this at the tent)

The next lap was even worse.......i was stumbling and can't remember anything apart from leaning on a fence and getting fucking electrocuted!!

No signs or anything just an electric fence for horses just off the track.....getting back to the tent and telling my support that I had no choice but to go to sleep because not even that shock woke me up

Ive never slept in a race before but you mentioned it in the phone call that Scott Jurek had so I thought sod it.....if it works for him I have no choice anyway. Maybe I should have tried it earlier.....

Everyone told me NOT to get in the tent but if I had gone out for another lap I would probably still be out there now.....I said to wake me after 20 minutes and it will either work or I will stay there for hours.

They did what I said and I climbed out - stuck some more layers on and started to walk......for the first time it was my legs not wanting to run but that was going to happen after being curled up for 20 minutes.

I walked a KM then took a layer off to walk faster......then by 5k I was running again and the drowsiness was not like it was.

Add the fact that the sun was coming up I was now moving again....

That lap(15) took 2hr 26 with sleep and walking.........I decided that I would go and do one more to make it 100 miles then spend the rest of the morning eating and supporting the others.

I had zero motivation to to run 106 miles instead of 100 just to finish 4th or worse....

So the 16th lap took 1 hr 50....I ran a bit....chatted with people on the course and generally had a bit of fun thinking I wanted to end on a fun one . ......only to get back to the news that I was in third place?!?!

Not only that but 1st place (the same guy who blew last year) had done the same thing and was in his campervan crying because his knee was shot......to be honest he runs like its a marathon so not surprised...

Second place had also pulled out and was in a heap in the medical tent.

this left me with 2.5 hours to do one more lap and start another.

18 laps would win and I had done 16.

This was a weird situation as last year I was running sub 70 mins for lap 19/20 at this time to win and now I only had to crawl around to win (assuming 4th wasn't going faster)

I sat down at the tent and had some good hot food because now the night had just left me with zero energy.....legs felt ok but just could not get going with running.

I remembered that my poles were in the car so i thought I would take them out and maybe they would help.....last two laps were

1:56 and then 1:14 just to make sure nobody could catch me.

The run and distance was very disappointing but the win and more importantly the battle to just keep moving made up for it.

180km in 24 hours is not what I wanted but I always think its such a long time for stuff to go wrong you can't nail it EVERY time.

i know this is a long report but if I don't write it all down now I will forget.

POSITIVES

- Not a single blister and my feet were wet from lap 1
- I didn't DNF
- I only have tiredness and a little inflammation in joints to recover from....no injuries to speak of

NEGATIVES

- Not sure where the headache and severe drowsiness came from
- Not the distance I wanted
- The socks I won are too small (there was other prizes)

Was due to have a 30 minute steady run but had poor night sleep with Winter waking up a few times (this never happens usually)

I decided to just walk the dog before getting picked up by friends at 10:30 to travel down and maybe have a run on the course when we got there.

Weather was fine when we left but had forecast cooler weather later on and I was feeling like the head cold hadn't completely gone.

I felt pretty tired all day if im honest, the kind of tired you feel when you have been fighting off a bit of sickness although I hadn't felt to bad at all....

Didn't run when we got there, a mixture of tiredness and trying to stay warm getting the tent up meant I was happy to just go for some food and then the house for an early night.

Easy with the dog

- I had woken up yesterday (Wednesday) with a bit of a head cold. Today it was worse with me having to blow my nose every 5 minutes

Didn't feel rough apart from that but not ideal before the weekend.

It cleared by the afternoon though and felt fine

Group Trail Run - no issues

Easy with the dog - no issue

plan had 60 steady with speed variations but had more work on than usual for a Monday so missed that session rather than go in to the weekend tired.

This was a guided trail run for a new client straight up and down a pretty technical trail, some walking/talking involved.

Muddy and wet under foot but nice fresh temperature - no issues

Easy group run before technique session

80' Specifc Endurance


Combined the session with a guided run with some more experienced clients on a 10 mile run while my other coach led a shorter route.

Pace was set by them which suited me and was just along the canal on bright sunny morning...fingers crossed for similar weather next week.

Went a little over time but we had a walk break and toilet stop when a few struggled a little.

Good relaxed run and feeling fit.