| ATACAMA CROSSING TM 2007 Catherine Stearn's Journal |
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February 2007 Entry
I am very relieved to tell you that after all the fretting and worrying, I managed to complete the Thames Path Ultra – my first ultra of 50 miles!
The race started at Reading and went east, along the Thames Path, to Shepperton. All very well organised and we stayed in a hotel at the finish the night before and got a coach to the start on the morning of the race. I was so nervous! Everyone on the coach looked as if they knew what they were doing and in fact did this sort of thing every weekend. I was soon to be joined by another near-hysterical girl – Andreé (Andy) and was somewhat relieved to hear that she had also never done anything like this before, didn’t think she had trained enough and hadn’t run anything longer than a marathon. Funnily enough, about three quarters of the way into the journey, we both remarked that this was taking a long time – God knows what it would be like to run the distance if it took this long on the coach! I’d already freaked myself out earlier in the week when I drove from Manchester to Leeds for a meeting and noticed that it was exactly 50 miles and an hour and a half on the motorway!
The start of the race was in a big field and we all collected our numbers and stood about looking bemused for a while. I managed to meet up with Cindy and Alan – two fellow RacingThePlanet people, doing Gobi and the Atacama respectively. It was when we were on the start ‘line’ that I noticed just how much bigger my pack was than everyone else’s. I mean, I had the same type of pack as a lot of people (Raidlight Sac Adventure), but mine was ridiculously full. Absolutely stuffed to the gunnels in a typical Cat-over-prepared kind of a way. Lord knows what I had in there, I’m trying to remember… I had my new fancy waterproof, even though there was not a single drop of rain forecast anywhere in the whole of the UK for that day. I had loads of clothing as I was being completely indecisive about what to wear. I had a reasonable amount of water, despite us being given it at check points and Ian was going to meet me at certain points so could have given me extra. I had food. Lots of food – sandwiches, cake, chocolate bars, rice krispie cakes, mini cheddars, snack-a-jacks – basically an insane amount of food that I was never going to eat. Quite a lot of it got chucked out at mile 22 when I met Ian. But there were some people there who had hardly anything at all. One guy looked as if he had a knotted handkerchief on his back with maybe one hat and an extra top in it. He was clearly going to be faster than me! Anyway, after a few brief announcements about diversions we would need to take due to flooding, we were off. The slowest start to any race I’d ever done, but understandably so. A little bit of me couldn’t quite believe I was starting at all, what with all the calf problems and the frown on the physio’s face as I told him I was doing it regardless. It felt as if I’d been waiting so long to get going, and now finally we were, and I was very glad about that – bit similar to the feeling of worrying about an exam for weeks, then turning the paper over, reading through the questions and thinking they are actually not too bad and you’re going to give them a go. I think I must be a very anxious person by nature maybe?!
I started very, very cautiously. My legs felt OK, not fantastic, but what I was expecting. The path was pretty muddy and with the heavy-ish pack it was slow going. The plan was (yes, I had a plan, of course I had a plan!) to run the first 10 miles to the first check point, at 12 minute mile pace and then switch to a walk / run ratio. I’m almost embarrassed about the 12 minute mile thing – it is an absolute snail’s pace and it was clear early on that it would be us lot at the back that the poor people on the checkpoints would have to wait in the cold for. I guess the going slowly thing is what is needed, especially when I hadn’t done the training miles, but it was quite counter-intuitive in a ‘race’ to go that slowly.
Check point 1 came into sight at the 2 hour point and we stopped for a while there because we felt that’s what we ‘ought’ to do. I made myself eat a few snacks and off we went again. The scenery was really lovely, the sun was out and at this point we were able to enjoy it. Andy and I implemented the walk / run strategy. I had a 15-minute countdown on my watch so we walked for 2.5 minutes and then ran for 12.5. The ‘walking beep’ sounded and we repeated. Over and over and over again. What I really liked about this method was that it provided structure and allowed us to evenly distribute the walking. 4 beeps per hour, nice bite-sized chunks. Plus, having someone else there gave me the discipline to run again after 2.5 minutes – I fear if I had been by myself I might have cheated a bit. Then there was another beep system going on my Garmin (which I’m very impressed that the batteries lasted all the way to the finish). This was beeping every 5 miles, which was great because it allowed us to divide the race in to 10 stages and we marked ourselves out of 10 at every beep (simple things for simple minds eh?!). So we settled into our rhythm of beeps and continued to the 2nd checkpoint. The slow pace and walking breaks meant that we’d pass people and then they’d pass us again, we’d have a little chat on the way and find out what people were doing there. Everyone was really friendly and there was just a great atmosphere, even with a very spaced out field. As it got even more spread out after 25 miles when we saw other people it was quite an event! Andy and I hardly stopped at the 2nd check point as I was meeting Ian a few miles further on, together with Yvonne, a friend from work who lives near the river and Vicky, my flat mate from when I was living in London. We changed our socks here – what a luxury, although poor Yvonne – I think she was a little bit shocked to see the soggy and muddy state of my feet. I was sitting on the ground sorting them out and I just noticed her looking down at me with a rather bemused, bordering on disgusted, look on her face. Incidentally, I haven’t told you why we had such soggy feet have I? That would be because at about 5 miles we had to run through mid shin-deep water on a flooded field – too much fun!
At this point I also tried to eat properly – I had one of those pasta pot things that you make up with hot water, and a couple of jam sandwiches, kindly donated by Yvonne. Off we went again, this time with Vicky as well, as she is interested in doing a RacingThePlanet event so thought she’d sample a 10 mile stretch of the Thames Path (that makes it sound like a prison sentence doesn’t it?). It was good having an extra person for a while, especially one who has the ability to talk for England about absolutely nothing at all! When we hit 25 miles and the clock said exactly 6 hours, I knew that perhaps we were not going to meet our 12-hour goal and perhaps it was going to be a bit more of a mission than initially anticipated. Oh well. We just mentally readjusted and kept on going.
At checkpoint 3 we changed the walk / run ratio to 3 minutes / 12 minutes. Vicky soon left us to go on a normal person’s Saturday night of beer and comedy club and we prepared ourselves for it to get dark and cold. Strangely enough, I was wanting it to get properly dark, as that would mean it was like a new phase of the race and that we were one stage nearer to the end. It seemed to take ages to get dark and I found it a little bit of a depressing part of the day. We got a little bit lost at one point and weirdly, at that exact point, even though we hadn’t seen anyone for hours and hours, Cindy and a couple of other people turned up who were also lost. We got back on track quickly as it is actually well sign posted. I think we had just had a lapse in concentration and got a bit lazy with looking out for the signs. We were still running and walking at this point, and bizarrely at about 37 miles we both had a second wind – at the same time. Probably we were both still stumbling along in the dark like a pair of Saturday night drunks, but we felt like we were flying along – amazing sensation. We got very talkative and a bit giggly. It was a beautifully still and peaceful night and we could hear owls hooting and the water lapping gently on the banks and not much else. No one else around and we thought it was all quite hilarious that here we were, 2 little girlies who had never run further than a standard marathon, neither of us trained properly, out in the middle of nowhere, having started running about 10 hours earlier, still going, laughing out loud with happiness at how ridiculous this all was. Yes. So this all lasted about 3 miles until we happened upon check point 4, which had chairs. We caught up with Cindy here as well – maximum respect to her for running on her own – we were too scared to separate! And too slow for Cindy to run with. Forced down a sandwich at this point, which wasn’t nice. And a can of coke, which didn’t have any magical properties for me I’m afraid.
After CP4 things went a little bit downhill. Metaphorically speaking that it, if it had been literally downhill we may have got there quicker, ha ha! We got lost again in a park – how hard can it be to run next to a bloody river girls?! Our excuse was that it was so dark the river was too black to see. The trouble is, when you’ve been going that long and are going so slowly, doing even a tiny amount of extra distance is really annoying. Soon after this point, we made the biggest mistake of the day. We decided that we might reward ourselves with a little walking break of a mile. One little mile out of 50 – wouldn’t do any harm would it? Well, yes actually. What would happen is our legs would say thank you very much, and then when we told them to start running again after about 15 minutes, they said no way, you have to be joking. Running wasn’t possible after that. Possibly we had mentally resigned ourselves to walking the last 8 miles of the race and we’d got this idea into our heads and just couldn’t push ourselves to run any more. Walking was so much of an easier option. In fact I’m convinced our problem was mental not physical, which kind of annoys me now as I write because possibly we made more of an ordeal out of it than we needed to. Soon enough we were only a couple of miles from the end. We got cheered on by a random woman who’d come out of her house to see who these people walking at this time of night were. The look on her face when we told her we’d walked from Reading – classic. Gave me a little lift – funny how the smallest things can happen at the exact moment you need them to isn’t it?
Horrendously, about a mile from the end we took another wrong turn and could see the damn hotel but couldn’t get to it, as there was a private bridge we couldn’t cross and we weren’t desperate enough to swim across. This really tortured me so near the end of the race and poor Andy had to put up with my ranting. I was so annoyed with myself, as if I’d looked at the directions we had been given instead of my own map I would have seen where to go. Gutted. It was probably only half a mile of extra distance but at this late stage I was nearly in tears! BIG lesson learnt at this point – you can’t let stuff like that affect you or it can really take the shine off your day (and other people’s – sorry Andy).
Finally, FINALLY, we came to the lane leading to the hotel and finish line. Caught up with 3 other people with better map reading skills than us who had overtaken us while we were dithering, and we all came in together. Fantastic that the race finished at the hotel – we could see the lights of the bar and no bigger incentive could present itself at this point. And the organisers and other finishers didn’t have to wait outside all night for the slow coaches, but could sit in the bar, which meant that there was a natural welcoming committee for us, creating an even better atmosphere.
Going back to the thinking I couldn’t run any more after 42 miles – I definitely know that was a mental thing, because as soon as the hotel came into sight, lo and behold, I could suddenly run again! Got the medal – nice. It said ’50 miles’ on it, which was the most important bit for me! Because it was so late (we’d taken 13 hours and 37 minutes) I just went straight to the bar for a beer, without even having a shower – how lovely! Only had a quick one and very soon I started to get shivery and cold and my bath and bed were calling me. The bath was quite painful as my lower back, where my pack had rubbed on my trouser waistband was bruised and red-raw. I need to get that sorted out in time for August. Not sure if it was the pack or the trousers that were the problem, I’ve worn both in training and didn’t get anything like it. Legs were pretty tired obviously. Plus, 2 massive blisters on the side of each little toe. Not quite sure when they appeared as they weren’t there at the sock-change point at 22 miles. But all in all I felt OK! I was definitely stiff the next day, but not as much as I expected and by Tuesday I felt fine again. I had my first sports massage on Tuesday – lovely. Although the physio made quite a pronouncement when he declared, “Hmmmmm, these legs of yours aren’t really built for marathons.” !!! What?! Oh dear! Apparently I should try 400 or 800 metres. Well, that’s interesting. Not saying he’s wrong, just that it’s a bit late now!
I feel I’ve recovered quite well, and was able to do a 10 mile run a week after and have been back in the gym, getting back to a normal training programme. I definitely slept more the week after the race and ate loads. I certainly feel a sense of achievement at having done the distance, but that lasted about 5 minutes before I realised what a lot of work I still have to do before the big desert adventure in August. I’d still love to have another go at an event like this, as I’m sure I could go faster (I couldn’t possibly go slower now could I?). Supposedly I’m doing another marathon 3 weeks after, but not 100% decided on that yet, as there have been a few niggling problems with legs still and I don’t think the initial problem has been rectified. But I can always decide nearer the time – can’t believe how blasé I’ve become about running a marathon!
As a footnote, I will tell you that the winner of the race did it in an incredible 6 hours 18 minutes! I just can’t get my head round that and it is really quite a privilege to be able to run on the same course as people who can do that. What a difference in abilities and yet we both finished so it just goes to show that events like this really are for everyone.
January 2007 Entry
Geese. They really are nothing more than the hooligans of the bird world. I do a lot of my runs along the river Mersey towpath in south Manchester and there are far too many of them down there. They stand around looking menacing and give you evil glares as you run past. Everything about them is arrogant – the way they stand and swagger, their beady little eyes, their big flapping feet - which don’t actually flap that much because they are too lazy to ever move, their long craning necks. And then there’s their honking. I got honked at my one of these feathered yobs the other day. How dare it! I ran past, not doing any harm to anyone, and it honked at me. It refused to move out of the way and was posturing and swaying in a really aggressive manner while about 30 of its friends all looked on in an equally aggressive manner. Well, I wasn’t going to be honked at by this hooligan, so I honked at it back. I felt quite pleased with myself for standing up for my rights as a citizen and fellow user of the river path, until… it then stood up to its full height and flapped its wings at me and the others started honking too. So I ran away very fast! Bloody things. I think I’m going to start a campaign to ‘Eat More Goose’. ‘Roast Goose - Great all year round, not just at Christmas! Especially good if you’ve just done a 20 mile run!’.
Well, that’s my rant over for the month. I’ve learnt not to honk back at geese now. This incident wasn’t the only embarrassing thing to happen to me on this path unfortunately. I was doing a 25-mile run on Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago. These really do take ages don’t they? I get quite bored towards the end of such long runs especially as there’s nothing new to see (apart from how much the geese seem to be multiplying and taking over). I’d crossed onto the other side of the river on this occasion in an attempt at providing myself with some variety, and because there were less people (and geese). There I was, plodding along in my usual plodding way, eating a jaffa cake bar (essential research for Thames race). I was thinking to myself that I was getting bored of the radio and really fancied listening to a particular song on my MP3 so maybe I’d have to stop, get the thing out of the pocket of my Camelbak and switch it over, which was all a bit too much of a faff at this stage of the proceedings. But then, as if I had miraculously and telepathically communicated my feelings to the radio station, they played the exact song I was after – amazing, as it’s quite an old song that wouldn’t just get played anyway. Well, combine this with the sugar rush from the aforementioned jaffa cake bar and I was overcome with glee! Seeing as everyone else was on the other side of the river I started singing very loudly indeed – “Pride, a deeper love, Pride, a deeper lover, Woa Woa Wooa Woooooaaahhhhhh!” – literally belting it out. And 2 seconds later 3 club runners came from behind to overtake me with bemused looks on their faces and laughing at me. “Morning”, they sniggered. “Er yes. Ummm. Good morning gentlemen.” Don’t mind me. Ooops. Maybe I need to find a new route now?
Actually, I haven’t been down there for over a week now as the rest of the month has been distinctly less gleeful. I couldn’t believe that I got ill again with another chest infection. I missed another long run at the weekend and when I got better I went all out to get back up to speed. I decided to start training twice a day and to try a couple of new classes at the gym to shake things up a bit. I think this is quite important as otherwise you can get stuck in a rut where you can only do one thing well – in my case, run a long way very slowly. So I went to boxing circuits and did lots of skipping. And my calf is now completely knackered. It was hurting to even walk on it and so I reluctantly took myself off the physio who did a lot of very painful massage on it to break down the scar tissue and some ultra sound and told me to sit on my backside all weekend. I was gutted really as I wanted to try a 30 mile run with a pack and food prior to the Thames race in 2 weeks, but he wasn’t having any of it. I have to heat my leg up with a hot water bottle and then stretch it for 20 minutes each day and then have another massage session in a week. Instead of my long run I had to do 2 hours on a cross trainer. Oh my god, how boring! I don’t know about anyone else, but I just find cross trainers awful. Maybe I’m doing it wrong, but I just never feel as if I’ve had a proper work out afterwards.
I’m still going to attempt the Thames race, but I know my own personality and am going to have to work very hard to banish any negative thoughts and worries I have got about not preparing as well as I’d have liked to. I need to remember that I’m not trying to win or get a fast time, I’m only wanting to finish.
As well as having a lovely time at the physio, I’ve also been spending time at the dentist this month. My temporary bit of front tooth that I’d had done after my collision with the pavement back in October came off last week. Well, it didn’t just fall off, I actually cracked it off trying to open a packet of shampoo in the bath – doh! Funny thing was, I’d been feeling as if life consisted only of wearing sports kit or washing sports kit and so decided that Ian and I would go out for a nice meal and could dress up and wear high heels like normal people do (that’s me in the heels, not Ian). So the intention of looking nice was there, but unfortunately I managed to turn myself into a witch with no tooth again! Oh well, I didn’t stop me eating a steak. At least it’s fixed now and it looks loads better than before as it is a proper permanent fixture whereas before it looked like a broken bit of china that had been glued back on.
This time next month I’ll have at least attempted the Thames race. There are a couple of other RTP people doing it so it will be good to meet them. I’ve been looking at the map and it really is a long way! Preparation hasn’t been ideal but I’m still going to give it a go. I’m both very nervous about it but also looking forward to just getting started with it and then getting to the end of another training cycle.
Hope you are all fairing better than me, with a full set of teeth and not being attached my hooligan birds!
December 2006 Entry Christmas is officially over today, all the decorations have come down and everything is starting to look normal again.
Last month I had been struggling to get back into a routine. This month started with me feeling some of the same frustration with lack of consistency but has ended on a more positive note. In previous years, Christmas at work has always been a quiet time as most of my clients are out being wined and dined by their suppliers, but for the last 2 years, Christmas at Royal Mail has been a little different. Now, everyone in a sales, marketing or admin role has to roll their sleeves up and help sort Christmas post – and there is a LOT of it! We had to ‘volunteer’ for 5 shifts in our local sorting office; shift being 6am till 2pm – no luxury 9-5 for us! To be honest, it makes a lot if sense for us to be doing this, as it save such a lot of money as we don’t have to hire so many temps, and we aren’t massively busy in our own jobs at that time of year anyway. Initially I thought I could use the week for running into work with a pack and then back in the afternoon, but a soon realised that this would necessitate me getting up at 3.30am so that idea was soon relegated to the dustbin! Instead I used the gym at the mail centre after the shift had finished – it’s quite good that a lot of our offices have gyms so wherever I am in the country I can usually find somewhere. This was the plan anyway, until I got ill for the first time in 2 years and developed a nasty chest infection. I was already pretty tired from the enforced dose of ‘manual labour’ (bit of a shock to the system after my lovely sedentary job), and so combine this with a hacking cough and I decided to quit gracefully. I’m not good at being ill – I get so impatient. I do have to be a little bit careful with chest infection type things as I’m slightly asthmatic so running through it is not the most sensible strategy as it just takes ages to clear up. Alas, I couldn’t train for nearly a week. The only positive thing to come out of this was that by the time I was better I have never wanted to train more – motivation had reached an all time high and I actually felt much more energised.
So Christmas, which in this country is generally a time of inactivity, lethargy, TV watching, mince-pie eating and professional slobbing out, became a time for me to train my backside off and become re-focussed on my challenge. I rested on Christmas day, but apart from that I got completely back on track. On New Year’s day we got up early, despite mild protest from both camps, and headed over to the Peak District to walk on the High Peak Trail. This is pretty much a straight path on former railway tracks through lovely countryside. As a walk it was a little bit boring, but I’m glad we went as it is a great potential path for some of the longer runs in future. And of course it is the same path of the White Peak marathon I’m doing in May. My long runs are getting better, although it really is impossible to do them on streets now. As you can imagine, being out for 3 or 4 hours (yes, I’m still that slow!), making sure you stay hydrated…. Not really compatible with a main road in town – I don’t want to have a Paula Radcliffe moment! But then from a safety point of view, the towpath along the river Mersey in south Manchester probably isn’t the best place to be when it’s dark, so I have to do my runs at 8am and this really does eat into the day. I can’t wait until it starts to get light again in the early mornings and I can go out at 5 or 6 again, and feel like I have time to do other things at the weekend. That won’t happen until March though which is so depressing! It’s definitely becoming harder to fit training in with everything in. I don’t want to start making excuses for not training as I’m quite a tyrant in that respect – there’s always time to train if you plan properly – but the level of planning required has now reached military proportions. Looking for a new house means that we are often out on Saturdays now, meaning long run gets relegated to Sunday, which was previously the day when I caught up on general chores, which now have to be done during the week etc. etc. It’s even worse if I have meetings in London as I have to remember to take so much stuff with me – I look as if I’m going away for a month. And I always feel sorry for whoever cleans my hotel room as invariably I’ll have gone for a run before leaving in the morning and there is sweaty sports kit stinking out the room – nice! Central London isn’t as bad as I thought it would be for running – those 3 parks we have are really useful aren’t they?! There were so many people biking and running, it was nice to see it actually and made me feel marginally better about the state of the nation’s health. Anyway, add all this to the ever-growing list of things we are ‘supposed’ to do for our wedding, and life is a little hectic at the moment. That’s a good thing though – in all honesty, if someone had told me 18 months ago that I would have these kind of ‘problems’ now I’d have bitten their arm off for them. The only thing that worries me a little bit is what we will do when we get back from Chile – we will have moved into our first house, got married and hopefully completed our toughest challenge, so life could seem a bit empty after all that. Hopefully we can find something else to focus on. We booked out flights and hotels finally, which has made me feel better as it’s very busy already. We have decided to stay out for a week after the race to relax a bit – it is our honeymoon after all. Also, it is Ian’s 30th birthday on 17th August which is when we will be on a super-long flight, so we’ll have to postpone this celebration for a week until we finish – I’m sure he won’t mind remaining in his twenties for a little bit longer. I’m really glad we’ve got this all booked up – just looking at the hotels online made me feel a sense of anticipation. The kit list that has come through made my credit card nervous though! Next month I’ll start looking at kit more seriously and will have hopefully also decided on a charity to raise sponsorship for. I’ve done a bit of reading about ultras this month too – it pretty much scared the hell out of me, and confused me too. I think I’ll feel better about this 50 miler in February once my long runs are up a bit more mileage wise. I’ve shared a couple of emails with Greg, the other Atacama journal writer, and the most useful advice he has given me is that it’s all very well having a plan, but sticking to it too rigidly can get you in trouble, as you’ll probably find in the desert that you’ll have to continually change your strategy with the changing conditions. This will be advice I have to remember as I know I can be prone to over-planning and I lack a little when it comes to adaptability – I get stressed when I’m working off-plan which is something I’ll need to address fairly swiftly I think. Can’t go without a note on New Year’s resolutions…. If you are like me you will be feeling a sense of invasion at the moment towards all the people that have suddenly appeared your gyms! Where do they all come from? There are hundreds of them! All our treadmills have had a 15 minute limit slapped on them at peak times which isn’t really helping. Sure things will calm down next month though. I myself was going to not drink alcohol for the whole of January, but then I came to my senses. There’s something almost spiritual about having done a long run on a winter’s morning and then after having a nice hot bath (I’m sure I should be in a wheelie bin full of ice, but sod that), going to a country pub and having a nice pint of bitter. The decent size of the glass, the delicate frothiness of the head, the lifting the glass up and it catching the winter sun and almost glowing, the smell of it catching you before you put it to your lips, the anticipation of your taste buds, the first sip – pause – swallow, ahhhhhh!! Giving that up would be criminal! Joking aside, I probably could do with laying off the booze a little bit. My tolerance to alcohol seems to have gone right down and it just makes me feel grotty if I have more than 2 glasses of wine. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to be lying about with a hangover. And on a serious note, sometimes I do think I should respect what I’m asking my body to do a bit more. Training has to take the top spot really. I hope you’ve all had a positive start to 2007 and are getting used to talking about the Atacama in terms of ‘this year’ rather than next year – it’s quite scary!
November 2006 Entry So, November – it was all about the marathon. My first ever one! All in all I have to say it was a little bit of an anti-climax, but in a good way. My time was 4:27 in the end which I was quite pleased with as I wasn’t really going for a time and also it was so very hilly. Ian kindly agreed to run with me (he knew the nagging that would ensue if he didn’t wasn’t worth it) and kept me company – I think it would have been really boring otherwise as it was a small field of only 200 and was pretty spread out (well, most people were in front of me, so it felt like we were spread out!). As is in the British national psyche I’ll tell you about the weather - we were very lucky indeed as even though it rained all weekend, it cleared up just before the start and started raining again just after we finished – we even saw a bit of sun – incredible! We started out near the back of the field – the first time ever in a race I’ve not been bothered about getting a good starting position which was quite a refreshing change – much more relaxed. I didn’t really know what to expect so we just kept to 9 or 10 minute mile pace and only slowed up a tiny bit for the hills. It felt far too slow for a race but I wasn’t sure if I was going to hit this dreaded ‘wall; that I’ve heard so much about. After about 8 miles I decided that I’d quite fancy getting a 4:30 time (good to formulate your objectives far in advance Cat, well done), and my half way time indicated that I had a reasonable chance of this even if I slowed up a little towards the end. At about 18 miles we met this guy who had a club vest on from near where I grew up and so I got chatting to him. It transpired that he was 70 years old and this was his 197th marathon! And get this – he didn’t do his first marathon until he was 50 years old – what an absolute legend! He didn’t look 70 at all… obviously all the running has paid off in keeping him fit and healthy. I only hope I can stay motivated enough to keep myself in shape that long. I wish I’d had more of a chance to talk to him but inevitably he was faster than me and I couldn’t keep up! The last 4 miles or so weren’t really that enjoyable, but there was never ever any point that I thought I’d have to stop. My legs were definitely tired and at times felt like they might cramp a bit, although they never did. The main problem was that the boredom had begun to set in – the last 45 minutes just seemed to take AGES. I was getting a bit worried that they would have run out of pasties by the time I’d dragged my sorry backside to the finish line, and I was also sick of the taste of orange sports drink. Every so often I could get rid of this with the jelly babies and jaffa cakes that were on the drinks stations (jaffa cakes – never seen that in a race before – excellent idea!), but I was craving my pasty quite badly. It wasn’t until mile 25 that I realised just how much I’d slowed down as Ian told me that I had 11 minutes to run the last mile if I wanted to get a 4:30. I know that sounds like a long time, but at that stage I was struggling a bit. I must have picked up the pace though as we did last mile with nearly 3 minutes to spare. Most amusing part of the day by far was when I caught Ian out with a cheeky sprint finish and when we looked up the results online they’d put me as finishing one second in front of him! He was NOT pleased. It was a bit naughty of me really considering he’d helped me round the whole way, but you’ve gotta try for a sprint finish and he should have been paying more attention – he knows me well enough to expect this! Luckily there were plenty of pasties for us, but after all this talking up of the pasties, I couldn’t believe that when I had it in my hand finally, I just didn’t fancy it, so donated it to my spectating mother who had well earned it by standing in the cold for so long waiting for us. Bit worrying about the appetite loss – I’ll have to sort that out for next August won’t I? The thing I was most pleased about for this race was the fact that although I was a bit stiff the next day, by the day after that I was absolutely fine and could / should have run again. I thought I wouldn’t be able to walk for a week but I must have made more progress that I’d given myself credit for. The only niggle I’ve got that I’ll have to get checked out is the tendon on the front of my foot, connecting to my shin – it aches on both feet after runs of more than 20 miles. It always goes away again after 3 days of so, and I think it is caused by lazy running style and not flexing my foot properly and just running flat-footed when I’m tired. But what do I know – I’ll go and see someone who actually has some qualifications and stop trying to self diagnose! After the marathon, I do confess I lost focus a lot and didn’t train properly for about a week. My training plan had only gone up to the marathon. It made me realise just how important it is to have a proper plan in place and something written down. I find if it’s not written down, I prevaricate and end up getting caught up with work and other things and then they day is gone all of a sudden. It’s really quite troubling! So, last week I did myself a big spreadsheet with all the months on it and planned in all the races I wanted to do leading up to August and set myself some objectives for each month. Being sent those patches we need to wear and the joining instructions kind of spurred me into action. I mentioned last month that the Thames Meander race in February had been cancelled, but luckily the organisation of this has been taken on by another company (Ambition Events – they also organise Marathon of Britain). It is now called the Thames Path Ultra and is a tiny bit shorter (50 miles instead of 54 – yay!). It is on Saturday 17th February which is a mere 11 weeks away – Oh.My.God. See www.ambitionevents.com/thamespathultra for details. I’m very scared of this distance. When I did my first ever half marathon I remember thinking to myself at the finish, that turning round and running back to the start and doing a full marathon was madness and no surprises that my thought on finishing the marathon ran along similar lines. I imagine that a large part of doing such a distance is the mental side of things and when you get near the finish you run out of energy mentally – you only ever seem to have enough for the distance you set yourself. I might be right in thinking that this kind of philosophy forms the basis of some army training? I.e. you are told to run 20 miles and then when you finish you have to do 10 more, or whatever – that must be really tough to deal with mentally. I’m going to do the Thames race because I’d much rather do an ‘official’ event than try to do something like that off my own back and it’s a chance to meet other mad people who are doing the MdS and similar events which should be interesting. Although it is a bit earlier in the year than I’d like, I know I need to attempt it to see what it is like and how I cope – I don’t want to be learning those kinds of lessons in the Atacama. I have no real idea of how to approach the race but am thinking some kind of run/walk strategy. Maybe 12 minutes / 3 minutes? Or 18/2 – I’ll experiment over the coming months and finalise nearer the time. The fact that I have a strategy is quite unlike me! The whole thing still seems a little bit inconceivable to me really. I’ve had a few ‘what have I done’ moments this week… Other than the delightful Thames Ultra (I’m glad they’ve changed the name – ‘Meander’ was most misleading I think), here are the rest of my plans:
I’m finding that it’s quite hard to strike a balance between committing to organised events so you feel like you’re doing something ‘proper’ and finding enough time to fit them all in. Sometimes it’s easier just to step outside your front door and run. But I did promise myself that this would be an enjoyable process so I think it will be worth making the effort to travel to some of these things as it helps to generate the excitement I think. I’m just getting to the stage now where I’m having to make some sacrifices in the name of training. I knew it would happen sooner or later. Yesterday I declined going to the pub and instead ran home from work with my pack in the cold and rain and dark. Lovely. I did feel better for it as recently I’ve had to give myself a bit of a talking to for the complete lack of discipline I’ve had since the marathon. Hopefully by the end of this week I’ll be back into the swing of things. It’s the routine of it that is so important I’m finding – that way it seems almost normal and just part of the day to have to fit in the training session, whereas if it gets disrupted, it’s harder to adjust and start adding it back in again. Anyway, I tested out a bag on this run home from work. I borrowed Ian’s bag that he used for the MdS. It is a Raidlight Sac Adventure 40 litre (see www.gearmonster.co.uk or www.responsibletravel.itchyfeet.com). It was very spacious and I liked the way it felt so secure on my back with the nice supportive and padded wait straps. It did bruise my lower back a little bit though. I can’t tell if this is because it was slightly too big for me or because I had my laptop in it which is obviously quite hard. Probably the latter. I had wrapped it in a towel but it was still pushing on my back and was a bit unforgiving. Anyway, this bag is now on the ‘definite possible’ list. I certainly need to sort something out before the Thames race. The only other things I know I’m taking are my Ron Hill ‘Hilly Twin Skin’ socks. You can get them in most specialist running shops although Ron Hill also have a website (www.ronhill.co.uk). I have been wearing these for a good few years now and they really do keep my feet blister free. They have a really nice support band running round the arch of the foot that keeps them nice and secure and are double layered. Good value for money too, as they last for ages. I’ve got at least 2 years use out of the first 3 pairs I bought. Winter hasn’t really hit here yet (despite there being a tornado – yes, a tornado – in North West London yesterday). It is still pretty mild, but we have had lots of horrible rain. I got absolutely drenched yesterday 2 miles into my 12 mile run. There was a bit of flooding on the roads and what I thought was a wet road surface turned out to be ankle deep water for 20 meters under a railway bridge – ooops. By the time I’d got one foot completely immersed I thought what the hell, and just ploughed through it all with the excitement of a small child in their first pair of wellies. Sometimes you just have to laugh at these situations – I’ve never ever got so wet on a run before – rain was literally pelting my face so hard I couldn’t see and had to shield my eyes to stop my contact lenses washing off. I thought 2 things at this point – (1) At least I get to test what it is like to run through water – not as bad as I thought, my feet warmed up after only 30 seconds; and (2) I’m glad I’m not in a suit on the way to work – those poor people, they did NOT look amused! One lady was almost in tears, which made it all the more funny for me – that’s really evil isn’t it?! Anyway, 12 miles later and I was happy to get into a warm bath and was glad I had stuck at it – a most invigorating start to the day and it went some way to redressing the balance of me feeling like I’ve been slacking a bit recently. That’s it for November. At the moment the whole race still seems very far away, in terms of both time and also capability really. But I know Christmas will come upon us so fast and then the new year will start at an alarming pace so I know I need to start psyching myself up for it. I’m hoping the plans I’ve made are going to cut it – I’ll confess I don’t really have a clue what I’m doing – just going with what feels adequate and learning along the way. Keep smiling! October 2006 Entry Well, well, well… what an eventful month! Japan was great. I received a proposal of marriage no less! (I accepted by the way.) So, the Atacama is now going to be our honeymoon believe it or not – I wonder if we can get the ‘honeymoon tent’? People really think we’ve lost it now when we tell them. Before, they kind of tried to talk us out of doing it, but now they just pause, and kind of sigh, and you can see they’ve given up all hope of getting through to me. So, getting married in Cornwall on 28th July, having 3 days in a nice hotel and then I guess we’ll be straight back and doing final preparations for the race.
Less fun this month was the rather spectacular fall I had which resulted in me smashing my face into a London pavement. I was out very early doing my 12 mile mid-pace run. I was going really slowly and it wasn’t really happening that morning for me. I was just feeling a bit sluggish but needing to get home reasonably quickly or I’d be late for my 9am meeting. Anyway, there on the pavement was one of those tape things that is used to tie up bundles of newspapers. I saw it. I didn’t bother to run round it. I came a cropper! Went down like a sack of spuds. Basically like having your ankles tied together while running. Lord knows how I did it, I must have been standing on it with one foot and the other got caught in it or something. The first half of the fall was me thinking, “Oh no, I’ve fallen over in the street, how embarrassing”. Then the second stage was half a second later with my face slamming into the ground. One third of my front tooth stayed in the pavement, my lip was sticking out a mile with swelling, I’d hit my forehead really hard, grazed my head, eye, nose, lip and chin. Whoops. I was on a main road, so people had stopped by then to get out of their cars and see if I was OK (see, Londoners are friendly!) and I was whimpering like a pathetic little girl telling them my tooth had broken and kind of trying to find it on the pavement in the dark (it was still only 7am), as if some miracle dentist would be able to super-glue it back on… What a calamity! In the end a lovely builder bloke asked me if I wanted a lift home and I took him up on his kind offer rather than wait around for a taxi (I was less than a mile away from home, and at this point was considering jogging the rest of the way home rather than go to a hospital as someone had suggested – there was no way I was going to a hospital!). Anyway, got home, had a bath, and went round to the doctors to get myself checked out as I really had whacked my head pretty hard. Everything seemed fine and my pulse had returned to normal and blood pressure fine. I’d also been to the dentist who said they could sort my tooth out after the weekend and the swelling had gone down on my lip, so only 4 days to walk around looking terrible. Funnily enough he asked me if I’d broken my nose, and so did the doctor and I had to explain to them that no, I just had a bit of a wonky nose to start with – I think they were a bit more embarrassed than me at that point! So, I was feeling OK at this point. Had taken the day off work, but was thinking about doing a little bit at home, and about 4 hours after it all happened I had some sort of ‘funny turn’ and nearly passed out, something I’ve never ever done in my life. Most people have said that it was delayed shock, and maybe this was the case, but I personally think it was down to the fact that I’d run 11 miles and not had breakfast before or after and it was now 11am and I was starving. So gulped down the rest of my glucose drink and had a lie down and some pasta a bit later on. The next day I felt back to normal again, although the face looked worse as it had started to scab. I had to go and see the vicar that night about getting married which was a little awkward to say the least! A week later and you can hardly see anything, apart from my slight black eye that seems to be refusing to go away. It’s just on my eyelid, so I’ve taken to wearing green eye shadow on the other one to even it up and it’s not too bad! All in all, not a pleasant experience although I’m counting my lucky stars now that I didn’t damage my knees or ankles or anything. Aside from a massive bruise on my right knee I seem to have escaped any serious injury that would stop me training and simply have a case of wounded pride. I did rest for 3 days afterwards so missed my long run at the weekend, but seem to be back into the swing of things now and have 3 clear weeks before the Cornish marathon.
So, to be honest, training has been a bit disrupted this month. I did nothing in Japan aside from a 5 mile jog (really slowly because I forgot to take my inhaler) and a swim, but the rest probably did me good and I was raring to go when I got back (a bit too raring some might say!). I did 15 miles on the day after I got back without any serious problems and then back up to 18 for the next 2 weeks, hopefully 21 next weekend and then a little taper before Cornwall. I’m getting a bit worried that I’m not going to make the 5 hour cut-off time as it is so hilly apparently, but hopefully I’ll just visualise the pasty at the end and that will keep me going – I hope they have enough for the people that are last! I’m sure this is the kind of race that is for ‘proper’ runners and they don’t have real slow-bies like me doing it, but what the hell, someone has to bring up the rear… I’m trying to persuade Ian to run it with me, but I fear he may lose the will to live going that slowly! I feel more sorry for the people watching as I’m expecting it to be cold and probably raining on the day, especially on Bodmin Moor, which we have to run over. It’s really started to get into miserable weather territory here. Not cold yet but just the lack of daylight which I find so incredibly depressing. The clocks went back this weekend so that means it’s better to run in the mornings for a couple more weeks before it just gets dark all the time outside of 9-5. I guess that’s where the commitment starts to come in eh?
No other news really – sorry, not very useful in terms of training tips other than don’t be an idiot and fall over as pavements are quite hard!
I’ve heard the Thames Meander race I wanted to do in February is cancelled this year as the organiser doesn’t have time to organise it which is a crying shame – I was really looking forward to it as well. So, if anyone knows of any other 45-55 mile events in the UK that fit in with Atacama timescales, let me know please – catherinestearn@yahoo.co.uk Thanks.
September 2006 Entry Another month of training gone. I’m feeling much more confident now. I remember when I first started my ‘long run’ was only 10 miles. And it was an effort to get round to be honest. Now my long run has reached 20 miles and I’m loving it! To take the month in order… First thing I did was get some new shoes. One of last year’s competitors who did a journal (Jo Brain) was sponsored by a company called Pro-Feet. They make insoles to correct any ‘deficiencies’ you may have that could lead to injury. I came out with the most comfortable pair of trainers I’ve ever worn and the insoles make me feel so much more stable. Worth a visit if you’re in London – they are in Fulham. See www.profeet.co.uk for details. Pretty expensive though – ouch! Next, my long walk is up to 26 miles. I found the best website – www.thames-path.org.uk - it’s basically a step by step, mile by mile guide to walking the path along the river Thames from Greenwich in south east London right to its source in the Cotswolds – all 150 miles of it. I just went from Richmond to Staines. It was really lovely and at one point, you have to cross over the river but there is no bridge, so you ring this big brass bell and a man comes over in his boat to take you to the other side. You’re only allowed to ring the bell on the hour, quarter past, half past and quarter to, not at any other time please! I love it! All for £1.50 too. Some of the Thames path is the route of the Thames Meander race that I’m thinking of doing in February, so I guess it did me no harm to get a bit familiar with it. I say ‘thinking about’ doing… I know I have to do it really – just to psychologically know that I can cover 50+ miles on foot. Ian says he doesn’t know if he can be bothered with it – he knows he can do it as he did this last year and then finished the MdS. He says doing that distance is horrible! I’m pleased that my long runs are now up to 20 miles and I’m managing to keep a steady pace all the way round which is a big improvement for me. The only thing I’ve found this month is that I’m getting super-tired. I really feel like I need a rest. If I think about it, it’s not surprising as I’ve gone from doing not much at all to 40 or 50 miles a week in 2 and a half months. I’m going to Japan for 2 weeks to see Ian as he has just finished his 3 months working out there to will get a rest then. I think mentally I need a rest too and a little bit of time to reflect on initial progress and think about what to do after Cornish marathon. August 2006 Entry I’ve completed one full month of training now and it feels like a lot more. Not in a bad way, just in that I’m now fully into the routine. I bought a couple of packs. Neither of which are serious contenders but I just fancied buying one as it made me feel like I was taking it a bit more seriously! One was only £20, the other £60. And the £20 is much more comfortable! The £60 one is good for walking size-wise, but not really at all suitable for running as it is just too big on my back. Maybe I’ve got a short back or something but it just swamped me – the bottom of it was too low and the top too high. I read a great book called ‘Not Normal Behaviour’ by Stuart Staples. Very funny indeed. It’s about a guy who trains for his first iron man. Typically British under-stated humour – classic. I especially liked his little mantra that he recited to himself when things got hard – “Two choices – Stop. Or carry on.” Sounds simple when you put it like that, eh?! Rest of the month was a mixed bag. I‘ve been training for the St Levan 10K race in Cornwall on 11th August. It’s on a Friday evening and is basically the village festival sports day and sponsored by the local pub. It’s really friendly and great atmosphere, very picturesque. I’ve been doing one speed / intervals session a week on the treadmill to prepare, but in a way it seems a bit pointless to be doing this when I have such a bigger goal. Nevertheless I’m trying hard to maintain my philosophy of this whole experience being about enjoyment, plus, it’ll be a nice weekend away and it’s not going to do me any harm is it? So this was the good part of the month – I did the race in under 50 minutes in the end which I was pleased with because (1) it was about 3 minutes faster than last year, (2) I’d gone out the weekend before in a BIG way so hadn’t done myself any favours with good nutrition or staying off the booze and (3) it was super-hilly so that’s not a bad time for me (best is 47:45). The downside of the month was my long runs. One of them I did in Manchester, but under-estimated the distance by 3 miles so had to add an extra loop on at the end which made me lose the will to live! I’d been out a couple of nights before on the beers and not slept properly which was also stupid. I do really try to be committed and sensible, but it was a work-thing which doesn’t happen very often and sometimes there is quite a bit of pressure to have ‘just one more’ – I need to develop stronger will power without a doubt! I’ve also found that I’ve been fading really badly towards the end of these runs. I just don’t seem to be able to keep going after 14 miles. I do keep going but it’s much slower and it hurts a little. Anyway, I think I have rectified the problem now by getting some proper energy drink to put in my Camel Bak instead of just water – doh! And some protein recovery stuff for when I get in. It seems to make a difference. At this point I can hear the collective sighs of all you seasoned pros out there despairing at my naivety! The longest I walked this month was 21.5 miles, which is the furthest my legs have ever carried me. It was fine, lovely to see new bits of London again. Although I got a bit bored at the end and losing my patience with the slowness of it all so started to run for the last 2 or 3 miles. It was weird – doing this made me feel like I had a fresh pair of legs – walking and running seem to use completely different muscle groups. Walking actually tires me out more – I fell straight to sleep when I got in – I’m not doing my social life any favours here! The main thing I learnt this month was: I don’t like disruption to my training plan. I missed a couple of sessions because I was busy at work. I managed to convince myself that I could lower my stress levels by working late and at the weekends to clear stuff but all I found was that doing this made me more stressed overall as I was worried I wasn’t making progress with the training. I think maybe I’m becoming obsessed?! Finally this month I started running with a pack. I just thought I needed to see what it was like. So I went and bought a 5kg sack of rice and wrapped it in a towel and off we go. Tilda (Basmati Rice) is now my new training partner! It was a lot harder running with this than I thought. I could really feel it in my legs. It made me wonder if I lost 5kg of body-weight if running would be easier but I’m sure it doesn’t work like that. I know I’ll have to increase my weight and distance in the future, but for now 5kg and 5 miles is enough – I’ve just substituted my intervals session that I was doing for the 10K and put this in its place. July 2006 Entry Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to get a bonus at the end of the year. The only problem is, when you receive it the day after you turn 30. I’ve been feeling for a while now that I needed a new challenge. This together with the bonus and seeing a tiny little article in Runners World magazine about a race called ‘The Atacama Crossing’ means that I am about to dedicate the next 12 months of my life to doing something most people I come across think is ridiculous. I guess the seed had been sown when my boyfriend (Ian) did the MdS earlier this year. I didn’t think he was crazy for doing it, but I certainly didn’t think that something like that was within my own capabilities or that of most ‘normal’ people. But following the race online each day, reading the reports about it, seeing the photos… it did make me think what an amazing adventure something like that would be. I’d recently read Mike Stroud’s book, ‘Survival of the Fittest’ and been quite inspired by his assertion that any human being in half decent shape is capable of remarkable things and amazing feats of endurance. After all, in evolutionary terms it’s only been the blink of an eye that we’ve been so sedentary. Plus, I wondered what it would be like to train really well for a long time, just curious to see what I’m capable of, what will happen to my body, what can I achieve if I really put my mind to it. I guess it is a bit of a jump to go from having done a couple of years of half marathons to the Atacama. My fate was sealed when I mentioned to one of my friends that I was thinking of doing it – at that stage I wasn’t really being serious. And I was a bit drunk. Kate looked at me with absolute incredulity and literally laughed in my face – “You can’t do that!” she declared. “Why not?” I asked. “You’re far too little! And it’s for boys. And nutters. Don’t be so silly!”. Well… absolutely the worst thing to say to me. I checked the website the next day. Originally I wanted to do the 2008 event, as it would give me just under 2 years to train, which I thought was sensible given that I’d never even done one marathon, let along 6 in 7 days. But Mary and Ian both convinced me that if I wanted to do it I should go for it in 12 months – you never know what can happen in life in 2 years time, so if you’ve got a goal you should just go for it. So, putting my cautious streak aside, I entered that day after my 30th – Happy Birthday to Me! At this point I’d accepted that this was something I’d be doing on my own. Ian had said that there was no way he was doing anything like this again after MdS and while there were a couple of people at work who were interested – being interested and actually entering are quite different. Anyway, Ian was going to volunteer for the Atacama, but I think in the end he realised watching me run past him would be too annoying, so he signed up as well! Sucker. So, training day 1 – 1st July 2006. Ian is in Japan for 3 months for work so I’ve got plenty of time on my hands. I bought a big fold out A-Z map of London and got busy finding routes to places I’ve never been too, even though I’ve lived here my whole life. I decide to head over the Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park for a long walk, rather than a run. 18 miles later and I’m back home feeling tired but not too bad, and wondering how I’ve managed to live here 30 years and not go to Richmond Park – it SO nice! Basically the countryside in London. Richmond Park has lots of deer and also a flock of bright green parakeets! Really, the walking is a bit of a luxury though and I know I’ll have to run next time. I resolve to do a proper training plan during the week. I’ve done the plan. I’m scared! Firstly, I’ll have to work up to doing a marathon as a basic entry-level criteria really. I can’t do London as that’s not until April, so Cornwall it is, as my parents live down there and there’s a marathon in November. It’s only a small one (300 field). There is a five hour cut-off time which I’m a bit worried about because it is also extremely hilly. We don’t really have proper hills in London so it’ll be good experience I suppose. Best of all, you get a Cornish Pasty at the end with your medal which is all the incentive I need. So, my plan at this point only goes up till November. After that, I’m thinking about the following other events:
Getting towards an actual training plan, I’ve read quite a lot of stuff online about endurance events and to be honest it’s made me a bit confused! I think I’ve read too much and have been a bit overwhelmed by it all, so to try and simplify things I’ve come up with a list of basics I think this race will be about:
So, plan is, to work up to marathon fitness in November and then try and sustain it whilst building strength as well. Up till November my sessions will look something like this:
The Cornish Marathon will be my first ‘challenge within a challenge’. Today I realised just how much of a challenge it would be. I did my long run in Cornwall as I was staying with my parents for the weekend. 13 miles of hills, hills and more hills. It wasn’t great. I had to walk up a couple of the hills in the second half. It took AGES and I was knackered when I got home. We’re also having somewhat of a heat-wave here in the UK ant the moment which didn’t make it any easier, despite going out early to try and avoid the worst of it. The whole thing was a bit of a reality check – I’ve got such a massive task ahead of me and it will be very hard. All quite sobering. So, I’m not sure what’s going to happen over the next 12 months, but I’m glad to have something to work towards and am looking forward to finding out how I cope with it all and looking forward to going to what sounds like an amazing place.
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 ABOUT CATHERINE STEARN Hometown:
To finish. Not bothered about position. Vertically would be nice.
Love running, love travelling – this combines both. Felt like I needed a new challenge in life. Human Race section of Runners World UK magazine featuring one of last year’s competitors.
I’ve been running for about 4 years now and have completed various 10Ks and half marathons. So far I have not even done a marathon – this is due in November 2006 in Cornwall. I love hiking and trekking and have been lucky enough to have done this in Borneo, Nepal, Thailand and Tanzania where I climbed Kilimanjaro. After watching my boyfriend prepare for the Marathon Des Sables in April 2006 and following his progress online I began to wonder if I was capable of something like this – it didn’t take a great deal of convincing for me to give it a go, so Atacama here we come! Equipment List for the Atacama Crossing TBA |
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