Why I Run!..

It's cold!!!!

While I was doing my training camp by the sea, I felt a little lost in what I was doing. So much of the place was really dull and boring. It wasn’t a place I enjoyed running. This really got me thinking about what I wanted from a run. And deep down what I wanted was to run in New Zealand’s Arthurs Pass, the Port Hills or at least away from the “normal” world of cars, roads and lots of people on a single trail.

Where I used to live in Germany I normally ran on forest roads. Single trail doesn’t really exist. As a result I always run with my Ipod and enjoy it. I normally listen to Podcasts and find the time running a good time to get information. 

The trial, only animals where before me.

When we moved to Waldshut-Tiengen I thought I would have lots more forest to run in and it would be fantastic. When, in fact, it has been similar to Miltenberg, lots of forest road and little single track. Still I have found a couple of short single trails here and love them. 

My wife had mentioned a trail that she said was near us that she wanted to do in summer, so I quizzed her on it and set off to find it. I was really happy to see just how close it was to home. Normally I don’t like driving to somewhere for training. I like to get out the door and just go, yet I so needed some space I knew I must get into the hills. Anyway, the start of the Schluchtensteig was only 25km from home. So on Saturday 23^rd February, I packed up to do the first 20km of the 119km walk-way. It would be 40km for me as I was going out and back. I read some of the information on the walk and thought…. 40km should be 4 to 4 1/4 hours max. 

It was a cold day on Saturday -4 when I left home with a little snow in the air and I was going up higher than at home = colder. I drove to the start and started running, and it was cold. The start was off and on road and small trails. Then the track went up and onto single track. Man I was loving it… then suddenly I realized my Ipod was frustrating me, so off it went. And suddenly I was in heaven, single track, the only sounds were my footsteps, my breathing and the river below. Sheer magic.

High Point.

This made me think about why I run or enjoy running. When I was a cyclist I hated running…. I didn’t even really want to walk too far. Now I enjoy running and I really started to think why. I came to these conclusions. I love to compete in races, yet that is the end of a process and I pick races that interest me in the place they are or the event. Yet I think the true nub of the matter is I love being in the wilderness and moving though it at pace. I get so see so much so quickly and test myself. All this in such wonderful and lonely places! It is AWESOME!

Me at the high point.... Great view of clouds and mist.

Running on the single track was like food for my soul. I was tired and cold yet happy. And when I say moving though the wilderness at pace that is very relative, The 40km had over a 1000 meter of climbing and took me over 5hours 20minutes. Only about 20km was good single track, yet it was a good place to start and I will be looking for a hell of a lot more over the next few weeks!

So what is your reason for running? Or Riding? Or doing any sport! I would love to hear the reasons!

Cam

Training camps.

This is a big lake. Covered in ice.

Training camps are a really great way of getting lots of volume in training. They can really put a bang into your training and lift you out of a bit of a hollow. Yet they can put you in a big hole if you don’t get it right before and after! 

Key points I find important with training camps

      1. Hit the camp fresh

      2. Know your limits

        3. Recover well out of the camp

These are 3 really simple things to remember – but what a difference they make!

My wife had a course to attend in the north of Germany in a coastal place called Timmendorfer Strand, and she wanted me to go with her. I thought this would be a great chance to have a small “training camp” by myself and rack up a few good kms. 

I made this plan before we went and before I looked at where it was. I must say not the ideal place for me to train…. And the weather was a little against me. 

There was not many trails to run on and the few there are were covered in ice and hard frozen snow. This made running slower and harder than I would have liked. Germans also love putting as much road or paved road down as possible. Still I headed out to try and get the km’s. Oh, and the temperature was a wonderful warm -3 to 1 degrees, plus wind chill. 

Waves! First 3 days sea was like dead flat.

I got out and ran, it was cold yet ok, I racked up over 120km running and 25km walking (we were about 1-2km from everything and had to walk to get food and drinks). And this in 4 days of training. 

In the past whenever I did a training camp it was always with other people and that is fantastic, everyone brings so much to a group and the whole process is so much easier and nicer. Doing this alone I realized just how much difference that makes. This added to the cold weather was tough, yet I believe that the time on my feet will have done me some real good.

So for the future, doing more of these focused training camps can have real benefits. If you are heading to an organised camp, make sure you are in a group that will push you, yet not kill you.  If you are doing one by yourself then try and get a couple of friends to do it with you. Also really remember to plan your goals you have for the camp before you go. 

Cam.

Rodgau 50km Ultra Marathon

My good friend Joachim had told me about his race. He made it sound so inviting…. “It is 10x round a 5km course and it is always bloody cold!”. People that know me know just how much I love the cold…. Not. Anyway as the weather had been really warm, only -1 I thought it would be great and should be fun. I would use the event as some nice training and it is always great to get a good 50km under your belt nice and early. 

As the time got closer to the event it also got colder! Rodgau seemed to get slammed with cold and snow. The weather predicted -7 for race day! I had a couple of easy days leading up to the event and because I was going to ran as part of a 3 person team,  I wanted to run well. The weather is what scared me, and I don’t like the cold. 

The night before the race was great I met Joachim for a fast beer (maybe I wouldn’t recommend this before an “A” race) and talked about the next day. In the morning I met  Joachim and we headed off to the race.  It was a wonderful -5 with a lot of ice and snow. The car park was dangerous and a number of runners fell over just getting their numbers. 

Once we got to the start we realized just how hard the day was going to be. It was bloody cold and the 5km loop had a lot of snow on it, made up from 1.5km road and 3.5 off road farm track. The 1.5km road was clear of snow and you could run at a good pace. Of course after the first 500m on the road was the only aid station, so that meant by getting a drink or food you would waste that nice part of the course. Then the 3.5km was on snow.  Not nice hard compact snow.  No, 3-6cm of non-grip  snow.  They had every km marked which was great! And my Garmin was agreeing most of the time with where the markers were. 

So the run down - I had wanted to do an average of 5min/km and run a consistent pace for the race. I was running a little faster than this and feeling good for the first 25km. I had hoped that a hard paced track would form and in a couple of short places it did, but the problem became passing people. I started too far back in the field and passing on the snow was hard, and after the start of my 3^rd lap I started to lap runners. It took a lot of energy to run past in the deepest snow, and even harder when people were running in groups. Still it was a great work out. The second half got hard! The track was more mushed up and I was passing runners more often. I found it harder and harder to keep my speed up in the snow and then taking on food and drinks I lost some time on the road section. I found in the snow trying to run faster just meant losing even more grip and not ending up much faster. On the road I was easily under 4:50min/km pace, just in the snow conditions I couldn’t keep my efficiency high enough. Still from my fastest lap to my slowest I lost about 3.5mins, which was in the snow and walking while drinking in the aid station. 

I had aimed for a 4:10:00 and feel that with my current condition I could have been faster than that if the course wasn’t snowy. I think I lost at least 10mins in the snow over the 50km. And I think from most runners there they would have agreed with that sort of time loss. So I did 4:14:31 (netto) and for the day was happy with that. That made 5:05ish min/km. I am happy with the way my training is shaping up and with it being so very cold was very pleased to have a nice HOT shower at the end. I came 49^th overall, 12^th in my age group and we were 3^rd in the team event. 734 started the event and only 449 finished. That shows just how hard the conditions were. The Team was from the ELT Grossheubach and was made up of Ulrich Amborn, Joachim Kempf and Me. Well done boys!

The Organizers did a great job! Everything was marked and they did their best on a very cold hard day! The helpers were fantastic and to stand in that cold all day, I have so much respect for them.

I am sure I will be on the start line again next year! It was a good race!