Commonwealth Championships 2011

After the ULTRArace 100 at the end of June my recovery included no running at all for four days followed by ten days easing back into training for my most important race of the year. A few short races followed in July and August which were very enjoyable in the warmth of the long summer evenings (either side of a short spell of bad weather).

A week or so of bad weather in July/August (British summer of course) meant that I missed a long run or two. I know, bad weather shouldn’t put me off and rain doesn’t usually but after spending ten hours or more continually running in the rain at the ULTRArace 100 I needed a break.

After that slight hiccup the rest of my training leading to the Commonwealth Championships went very well indeed. The training seemed almost too easy at times – even the crash training week didn’t seem difficult. But still I trusted that my training had the right blend of endurance, speed, strength and speed endurance from running, lifting weights, stretching and cycling.

It wasn’t until 20^th August that I found out exactly who else had been selected to represent England in the Commonwealth Championships. Nine or ten days later the team hotel was confirmed. From that time onwards emails were flying backwards and forwards between team management and runners – injury, kit and travel were just three of the topics discussed.

Another period of bad weather in mid September had me scampering for the weather forecasts, not so much for rain or low temperatures but to check on the exceptionally windy weather we were having. Remnants of hurricanes from across the Atlantic. Most people who know me (and those who read my blog) will also know that wind is by far my least favourite weather. I can manage with rain, snow and low temperatures – but I often struggle in the wind. I was fit, healthy and in very good shape though.

And then, three days before the race I received an email asking for a volunteer to speak and possibly answer a few questions at the pre race press conference. As I would be arriving in Llandudno at lunchtime the day before the race I figured it would fill some time nicely so I put my name forward.

The morning before the race was spent travelling by train to Llandudno. I had been there three times previously so I knew the area quite well and was looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with the Great Orme. On arrival I walked to the St George’s Hotel for the press conference and there I met a few running friends, team managers, etc. John Pares, Richard Brown, Jen Salter, Dave Annandale and Richard Quennell were among those I spoke to here before and after the press conference.

photo by Al Tye

The press conference itself went well and, as expected, I had to give my account of the missing half-mile (800m) in my last race. Luckily it’s all water under the bridge now and I often laugh to myself about what happened in the race jointly organised by Jen Salter (who was also here to answer a few questions from the press as part of the Welsh 24 hr team).

photo by Al Tye

me with Karen Hathaway and Richard Quennell

After all that had ended I was taken outside by a film crew from Channel 4 and interviewed by the shore. The reporter here referred to me as ‘one of the favourites for tomorrow’s race’. Nice of him but I knew I wouldn’t win, in my own mind I expected John Pares and Jo Blake to finish with gold and silver. Myself, along with a few others would have to be content with a fight for bronze. That’s not quite how it turned out though.

Eventually I was able to take my bags to the team hotel and then, a short while later, I went for a walk around town specifically to take a look at the course. There I met Pauline Walker and her sister Fiona Rennie (Scottish runner and her sister/crew person) and we all agreed it was going to be windy during the race. Dave Annandale, who was race director here (as he was in Keswick, 2009), had already told me that when he was here yesterday his dog was literally blown away by the strength of the wind.

Back at the hotel the England team meeting was spent exchanging information and collecting various pieces of kit from England Athletics which, for one reason or another, hadn’t arrived in time. Graham Doke used this time to present all the runners with a red rose, which I thought was a nice gesture. Well, Eleanor did the actual presenting but Graham bought them. This was followed by a delicious meal of pasta and fruit salad. Lots of it too which was great. I feel that a large meal in good company is a good and enjoyable way to prepare on the evening before a 24 hour race.

On the morning of the race we all had a large, late breakfast (with plenty of coffee) before making our way slowly along Gloddaeth Avenue to the start area. Arrived with well over an hour to go and spent the time relaxing and talking to other runners, crew members, reporters and film crews from Channel 4. All the while it was impossible not to notice the wind – a cool one from the south west, and strong too. It was going to be a difficult race.

photo by Fiona Rennie

Once the race got underway I spent a lap or too getting the feel for the pace and how the wind would effect things. Basically the first 400m of each lap was with a tailwind, then there was 500m into a headwind followed by 100m with a tailwind again. It didn’t take me long to realise that running into the headwind made me feel cool and the tailwind made me feel warm. Very strange to have such a temperature difference every three minutes or so. The first hour seemed quite hard as I settled into the rhythm of things but I was pleased to chalk up 12.1 km, perfect pacing to achieve my target.

photo by Al Tye

The next few hours seemed to get easier and after a while I decided that I could manage without the long sleeves I had been wearing. There’s no way I could have managed with just a vest and shorts like some of the runners though. Short sleeves seemed a bit cold at first though but after a little while it wasn’t a problem as the temperatures were now at their peak for the day (21 Celsius, 70 Fahrenheit). 11.0 km in the second hour, 10.9 in the third and 11.1 in the fourth. By now I was about 300m ahead of my schedule but I wasn’t aware of that, I was just concentrating on running each lap at the correct pace. Obviously I was running slightly too quickly.

The next few hours were uneventful except for a time round about dusk when the film crew from Channel 4 came alongside me on their motorcycle and asked why I was running so quickly. I knew I was running well but I was feeling good and still keeping to my schedule so all I could think of by way of reply was: "But I am slowing down, just like everyone else. I guess I'm just slowing down less."

photo by Gwynfor Jones

For this to happen it must have been obvious that I was running quicker than most other people. I did pass John Pares and David Kennedy a couple of times here though but I didn’t think much of that as we all have our own schedules and there was still two thirds of the race to go. Then came a pivotal time in the race for me. Memories of the hours between 8.00pm and 11.00pm will stay with me for a long, long time. It began with a feeling that I was getting hotter and hotter. Usually in this race I had been alternating between warm and cool depending on which direction I was running, but now I wasn’t getting the cool element – just warmer and warmer. Eventually I told the England crew that I was too hot. They were all wearing fleeces and other warm clothes so I guess they thought me slightly mad at that stage. Anyway, after a cold drink some cold water was poured over my head and arms and I set off again, feeling a bit better.

I always have to be careful about feeling hot or cold because the chemotherapy I underwent for testicular and lung cancer in the 1990s has left my internal thermostat not working properly.

Also during the evening my left shoulder was beginning to ache. This has always been a weak spot but I’ve done lots of strength work over the last twelve months specifically for that problem and for the time being I was confident it wouldn’t get much worse.

A few laps later I began to feel excessively hot then very cold then very hot again – all within five to ten minutes. Strange things were happening here and it wasn’t because of my age !!! At the same time I was aware that it was becoming increasingly difficult to stick to my pacing schedule. And the pain in my shoulder was slowly beginning to get unbearable. In the ninth hour I ran 9.3 km and 9.6 in the tenth (my target was 10.5 in both). I decided that when I next took a walking break I would have a shoulder massage and take some ibuprofen to help with this pain. But when I slowed down, at the start of the eleventh hour, to begin my hourly ten-minute walking break, I suddenly felt very weak and staggered badly – I just about made it safely to Eleanor who managed to get a chair before I collapsed.

One of the problems is that the crews are only allowed to help the athletes at their allocated places and not stray onto the course by more than one metre. So, in theory, if I had fallen over 5 or 10 metres before the England camp they wouldn’t have been able to come and collect me.

Eleanor got the painkillers out while Graham Doke set to work on my shoulders. That massage was very painful and it seems that the excessive tension in my shoulders and neck was caused by poor posture which in turn was caused by running into the wind for more than ten hours. The head wind caused my shoulders to tense very badly but the tailwind didn’t relax them fully and the cumulative effects over many hours proved catastrophic. I also vaguely remember that Graham was slightly concerned about me not being able to breathe deeply (something about oxygen and nutrients not being transported efficiently …). I think this page on the website of www.sportsinjuryclinic.net explains things better than I could.

Eventually I was allowed back onto the circuit to complete a 31-minute lap. Lap times for the remainder of that hour were all over the place and I guess I was lucky to manage 5.5 km. Looking now at the lap times I can see that I must have recovered remarkably well in the next hour as I covered 10.4 km. That was exactly to plan but overall I was about 2.5 km down after two poor hours and an atrocious one.

Hours thirteen, fourteen and fifteen saw a gradual deterioration in my running speed. I can’t say why this happened but throughout this time I was trying very hard to relax my shoulders and upper back, especially when running into the wind. Richard Brown (England team manager) had given me some exercises to do whilst running and I was religiously doing them every ten minutes or so. My shoulder wasn’t causing me many problems now but that could have been because I had only run 9.2 km the thirteenth hour followed by 9.1 km, 7.4 km and 8.0 km.

photo by Al Tye

Toward the end of this period I also remember coming to a decision about the remainder of my race. I had by now realised that my personal targets were out of reach so I decided that I would push on as best I could to help the team in our quest for medals. Especially as Richard had just informed me that it was very, very close between the England men and the New Zealand men – we were leading by less than one kilometre.

Which took me to the seventeenth hour. I wasn’t forcing the pace but had been feeling better during the previous hour so I pushed on slightly – but then the shoulder was getting worse again. I completed 8.4 km in that hour before I needed more work on my shoulder. This time the work wasn’t as extensive and before I set off again Graham told me that it was almost certain that I would need more massage before the end of the race. Something to think about then.

Then it was time to start working hard again. In the eighteenth hour, which began with the message, I covered 6.5 km. Then I upped the pace and covered 7.1 km as the light returned to warm the morning air. This was followed by 9.0 km in the twentieth hour as Richard continued urging us on and reminding us how little separated ourselves from New Zealand.

I was beginning to have my doubts though – I was regularly passing the New Zealand runners (Wayne Botha, Bryan MacCorkindale, Matt Bixley and Alexander McKenzie) so it seemed very odd that were we still only a single kilometre in the lead. I increasingly believed that I was not being told the whole truth, and that probably applied to the other English men too (Pat Robbins, Richard Quennell and Matt Giles). Those tactics do generally work for me though; the England team management was adopting the right strategy to get the best out of me.

The last four hours were extremely hard work and by now my shoulder was beginning to ache again but I tried hard to relax when running into the wind and keep on with the exercises Richard had recommended. I knew though that I would need more massage before the end of the race. I remember at one point turning to one of the New Zealand runners (Bryan MacCorkindale I think) and saying something along the lines of: "can we just shake hands and call it a draw for the team gold ?"

photo by Dave Carver

In those final four hours I ran 8.4 km, 7.9 km, 8.5 km and 8.3 km. My final massage was at just less than two hours before the end so I’m very pleased that I managed 8.5 km in that hour. The low figure immediately before that was most probably due to a toilet stop or two – and/or a lack of concentration because of the shoulder pain.

photo by John Kynaston

Lizzy Hawker and John Pares

And then it was over, the hooter sounded and I dropped my beanbag to indicate where I had finished before staggering the short distance to the England camp where I lay on the floor, for ten minutes or so, with my feet on a chair. All around me there was activity – people packing away clothes and unused food, throwing away lots of rubbish, congratulating one another, and examining blistered feet and other broken body parts. Eventually everyone headed back to the hotel but I decided to walk the short distance across town as moving would be better for me than sitting in a car. Sam was assigned the task of walking with me and she was a great help as we plodded slowly and carefully along Gloddaeth Avenue (with a tail wind thankfully).

photo by Al Tye

Sam with Karen Hathaway's daughter

After only a few minutes I suddenly craved ice cream. No idea why as I’ve never craved anything during or after a race before. There was a problem though – neither of us had any money (I was still in my sweat sodden racing gear). I knew we would pass a few shops but without cash it would be useless. Thankfully Sam had an idea. She decided to leave me outside a shop (holding onto some ironwork) while she went to ask for some freebies. The first place refused but she was persistent and the next likely place we came across was a café on Mostyn Street. She went inside leaving me holding onto a table, the waitress came out and took one look at me and decided to take pity on a poor defenceless soul who had just ran for 24 hours straight !!! Three scoops of vanilla ice cream swiftly followed. Wonderful, thanks for doing that Sam.

Back at the hotel I showered and put on some decent clothes before texting Fay to let her know details of my performance and painful shoulder. I tried, at least twice, but kept falling asleep before finishing the message. I gave up and went out for a walk – phoning home whilst moving. I have found over the past few years that recovery is much quicker if I can keep moving, little and often. Naturally I slept well that night and, over breakfast the next day, I began to have mixed feelings about the race. On the one hand I was disappointed not to achieve my target of 150 miles (241.4 km), but on the other hand I was very happy to have a team gold medal.

The weather on the day after the race was turning out to be hot and sunny (but still windy) and in the afternoon I decided, on the spur of the moment, to go for a run around the Great Orme. I stuck to the road and it was good to be alone with my thoughts for a while. A couple of other people out walking recognised me and I stopped for a brief chat but otherwise it was just me and the scenery, which was fantastic. A brief stop at the café situated at half way for a warm drink and a pee just added to the experience but the blood in the toilet came as an unexpected shock. All in all a really enjoyable 5.8 miles (9.4 km).

A couple of hours later we all headed down to the St George’s Hotel for the presentation ceremony for all the events – 24 hr race, mountain race, 55 km trail race. Twelve medal ceremonies in all. This naturally involved lots of standing and sitting for the National Anthems and this wasn’t too good for the quads. Receiving my team gold was a highlight though. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay and chat to the other athletes from around the world as we had a meal booked at a local Italian restaurant. The next few hours were spent swapping stories from the race (and from previous races – and previous decades even) and generally having a good time without too much alcohol to spoil things.

photo by Richard Brown

photo by John Kynaston

The following morning, before breakfast I went for a long walk along the shore as the sun was rising. A wonderfully peaceful time – easily my favourite time of day, I do most of my running in the early morning light. Came across Richard Brown who had the same idea but he was now on his way back to the hotel as he had to leave early for his journey home.

My journey home was uneventful and I arrived home safe and well except for a still painful left shoulder and upper back.

Apart from my own achievements (or lack of …) the memory which will probably stay with me longest is that of my England team-mate Lizzy Hawker who ran magnificently in her first 24 hour race to beat the World Best Performance by over 3 km. In those windy conditions that was truly great and it was a privilege to be a witness to that amazing run. What she was doing regularly brought a tear to my eye in the last few hours.

photo by Gwynfor Jones

Lizzy Hawker

With the benefit of hindsight I should have known the wind would affect my overall distance and I should revised my target downward by about 10 km. I know I was fitter than last year when I ran 238 km.

Finally I must thank: FOR GOODNESS SHAKES for all the help with recovery between training sessions, not very palatable after ten or more hours of running though. ALAN YOUNG for the advice and wise words. FAY and KEIR for looking after me at home when I need looking after and bringing me down to earth when I need that too. DAVE ANNANDALE for course organisation in obviously difficult circumstances. JOHN KYNASTON for taking the time to support and cheer me on, especially as he was there to help the Scottish runners. All the ENGLAND TEAM, MANAGERS AND CREW for being such a fantastic bunch and making everything so enjoyable – even when it wasn’t.