TNF Endurance Challenge Championship Season Finale

The main chase pack with the eventual contenders soon after dawn. Photo from the TNFEC Facebook page.

Yesterday was the big 50-mile showdown of the year in San Francisco, courtesy of The North Face. We had almost the entire team there for TNF Endurance Challenge Championship and runners came from all around the globe to see who was the fastest (and to win some prize money, ideally).

Marin County is the perfect race course and hosts numerous great races, including the Miwok 100k. And on top of that we had summer-like weather for the area which led to a beautiful red sunrise, views of the Golden Gate Bridge, blah, blah. Basically it would have been great for a fun run, but I think everyone just ran so hard we probably appreciated it most after the race.

irunfar covered the race in detail before, during and after and posted a round-up of results here. No doubt it was a whole load of fun for everyone and there's only so many races where you get to race such a quality field, so everyone was visibly buzzing at the prospect.

In advance of the race it looked like any number of men could take the title if they ran a perfect race and probably around five women had a shot at the win in the ladies' race. But one thing was certain - nobody would be near the front if they only had an ok day, or even a good day.

As most people thought, it started off with a huge pack of maybe 25 men together at a fast pace against a gusty wind, plus the lead women stuck very close together as well. However, two of the Salomon guys flew off even faster, Gregory Vollet and Christophe Malarde, although they later dropped. The pack just flew along and within an hour I had dropped a couple of minutes off the pace from choosing to run a more sensible pace...although still pushing hard (I had a 5:24 mile in there).

Sunrise came and the headlamps were dropped off at Muir Beach aid station, 12.7 miles into the race. A flatter section followed and we could see each other properly now. That was a nice change as I'm not an experienced night runner and my headlamp was like a floodlight so when I ran behind anyone wearing white I got blinded by the reflected shine - Lizzy Hawker unintentionally dazzled me a couple of times (in more ways than one!) as she surged along at the front of the women.

Jason Loutitt from TNF Canada ran up the long, gentle climb to the Cardiac aid station at 18 miles just ahead of me then I latched on to have someone to talk to for a while. It was kind of surreal to be running this race since I found that each runner I approached turned from being a skinny anonymous guy to someone I either knew or had heard of and admired. It made Western States seem relatively uncompetitive even though there were a few notable exceptions from the start list who I won't list out (but Bryon Powell did here).

By the 22.8 mile turnaround the leaders had spread out slightly but there were still a lot of guys looking strong, as well as a few who looked burnt out. I was 11 minutes off the lead and knew I'd have to kick it up a notch to have a chance. I tried but couldn't speed up as planned so suspected I'd be in for a hard day and was right. I've spent the whole year trying to fit my training around a race calendar I selected without much concern for recovery and it's kept me the wrong side of the fine line every runner tries to maintain, although I had a longer rest before this race to try to correct that. Lesson learned for 2012, but I still had almost 30 miles to push through and if I blew up then a whole load of guys would take advantage and zoom past. It's pressure, but it's a hell of a lot of fun and one of the biggest draws of racing for me and many others. Just because the day wasn't going to plan, it merely meant moving the bullseye to doing as well as I could.

I can generally judge my fitness off my marathon times and at the moment I'd struggle to go much below 2:45 (as shown by the 1:21 half marathon as Elvis which wasn't particularly comfortable six days earlier) so knew I was lacking pace compared to the guys I had to race. In comparison, back in February when I felt great I reckon I'd have run under 2:30.

So each part of the course was now broken down into running aid station to aid station, based on running bits of it in other races and vague snap-shots in my memory from looking at the course map. Then I was concentrating so much on power-hiking up from Stinson Beach aid station (mile 28.2 at sea level) that I found myself on a path with no markers. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen a marker but had recently seen a couple of runners ahead, so wasn't sure if I'd gone wrong. Then a couple of minutes later I see the markers coming from the side as my path reconnected with the correct path. Not a good sign and it mentally knocked me off whack so much that I thought I'd have to disqualify myself for not running the course (I mentioned this to people at the end but my Garmin showed I basically ran parallel to the course for about 5 minutes and may have even added a minuscule amount of distance).

The rest of the day was bright and the wind had died down to make for perfect running conditions and barely any mud. I had no idea what position I was in but at least I was moving up the field gradually as some of the early leaders faded back. It's hard to see talented guys having a bad day but on the trail isn't the time for too much sympathy as it's a race after all and there's always post-race to dissect the day in detail. All you can do is try to avoid bonking yourself, managing nutrition, liquids and pace. But as I passed super fast youngsters, Matt Flaherty and Jordan McDougal (my new team-mate who I only met just before the race) at Cardiac 2 (32.9 miles), I could tell I was hitting the carnage amongst some of the genuine contenders.

Around 25 miles in. Photo from Drymax Socks.

Black and white always looks better even though I was barely moving. Photo from Brett Rivers.

After a few more miles and catching a couple more 50-milers amongst the 50k runners who were now running the same route to the finish, the remaining climbs and descents were smaller and less technical with less than 1,000ft each time. The pace had slowed down at just the point that it should have been increasing  and nobody looked comfortable.

Miles went by without injury or incident but I felt rough until around the 38.9 mile aid station. At least I was moving through the field and nobody passed me until new TNF team member, Mike Foote, caught me at Muir Beach 2 (42.6 miles) and looked really strong as he powered uphill. At the same point we caught Mike Wardian who had a rare bad day and felt sick.

On the final climb after Tennessee Valley 2 (45.5 miles) my efforts were rewarded by catching a couple more guys but then I heard grunting behind me and saw Anna Frost and her pacer moving up the hill. She was as unstoppable as a glacier, but considerably faster and seemed to be red-lining even though she didn't look like she was going to need to slow down. My power-hike/run combo up the hill lost me a little time but I was with her at the high point and with just three miles of downhill and flat to the finish. I wondered what had happened to Lizzy Hawker, who'd led earlier and looked unbeatable, but later found out she'd had to drop due to an achilles pain.

Anna was on a mission and even a 5:20 mile downhill from me barely gapped her. Although I obviously wanted to avoid being chicked, my main focus was to chase down any remaining men who were just ahead but there were only marathoners and 50k runners within reach. I virtually collapsed on the finish, knowing I couldn't have tried harder on the day. 6:55 was my time but Anna was just a minute behind, running one of the most impressive 50-mile trail runs I'm aware of to beat the world's best female trail ultra runners. But maybe not as impressive as a blood-stained Mike Wolfe who crushed the course record and the competition in 6:19 to place him in strong contention for Ultra Runner of the Year. Amazing stuff, although I can't help thinking that there seems to be a TNF policy to have the whole team named Mike.

Mike Wolfe after his win. Photo from TNFEC's Facebook page.

Also, don't miss this video from the Endurables covering the race at the front:



Or this video from Salomon covering their athletes at the race:



irunfar covers the whole event in more detail and shows off the variety of great performances out there in Marin, but I'll also mention Ellie Greenwood who added this race on at the last minute because it looked fun even though her season was meant to be over...and still almost won, running 7:07 for 2nd and 16th overall. Full results are here. And congratulations to everyone who ran. A truly great day and inspiring to everyone there.

So goodbye to the 2011 season. It's been fun and exciting for me as a runner and a fan, but there's some improvement to target for 2012.

Return of Elvis

Seattle marathon 2009

After a few weeks off running and plenty off racing, I tried a 5k last week and hated it. Annoyingly it was a PB, but only because the course was short and my actual speed was barely above marathon PB pace.

Luckily I have stuff that does interest me more coming right up. Firstly, there's the Seattle Half Marathon in a week where I'll be returning to the course where I last got the Elvis marathon Guinness World Record (2:42). Just half the distance this time, but faster and for charity. As with earlier in the year, I'm trying to help out the Starfish Greathearts Foundation, who help AIDS orphans in Africa. If you'd like to help me support this worthy cause, donations in the UK can be given here or other nationalities can donate here.

Given this time of year is Thanksgiving (for 330m people, anyway), it's a good time to remember how lucky most of us are and how much we take for granted, so please help the charity out if you're amused by or like my odd efforts to raise awareness.

After taking that race fairly easy, I have the final big showdown of the year at The North Face Endurance Challenge Final. This is shaping up to be a seriously competitive 50 miler, probably the best field I've ever heard of in a trail 50 (better than last year - check out some of the top names from all over the world on this list). Should be really fun to hang out with the world's best and be part of such a speedy field in one of my favorite places to run - Marin.

Enjoy the 'holiday season' as they say over here in the US and good luck with your races or off season fun.

Also, if you're thinking of a Christmas present for a runner, I have a couple of spots left for coaching and it's an ideal present for a distance runner which could help make their 2012 season the best yet. More details here.

2010 was fun

Now I've run my last race for the year, I thought I'd quickly sum up some of the highlights.

Last weekend I was meant to run the PCTR Rodeo Beach 50k, but about halfway through (when walking up yet another hill), I realised that my legs just weren't trained well enough for the hills and finishing would have just left me a bit crippled during the week. So I stopped at 30k having got some good flat and downhill practice in and having realised that zero hill training outside of races is a bad idea and will be remedied.

So, what were the best bits of 2010 (I'm going to exclude my wedding and stick to races or the list would be too long, too personal and even less interesting for anyone except myself)?

Well, it was basically a successful year. The main target was to break 6h at Comrades, and 6h01m may seem like a failure, but I ran near to a perfect race on the day and am very happy with how I kept shifting to a higher gear to finish strongly. I want to keep a streak going there for as long as possible since I love it, so it's a shame it takes about 40 hours to get to.

My next biggest highlight would be the number of really enjoyable runs I had, with several great events that felt easy and had me smiling the whole way through (not even a hint of a grimace). In particular, Two Oceans, Boston and Miwok spring to mind.

One thing I didn't expect on moving to the Bay Area was to find a gem of a race series in the Pacific Coast Trail Runs. These always have a great atmosphere for beginners to elites, as well as showcasing some spectacular scenery. I've been able to meet the local running community through these runs and I definitely like it.

There are too many other races to mention, but Western States was the other main event for the year. It was both a great experience and slightly overhyped but there's no doubt that the battle at the front of the men's race was something which will go down in history. I'm really looking forward to running it in 2011, possibly even more than 2010, especially now I know what I'm letting myself in for.

I've got a lot of great memories from 2010 on the trails and roads so I hope 2011 can live up to it. Unless I get injured, it should. A few other recommendations for ultrarunners are below, since these produced moments which brought home what a cool sport ultrarunning is:

1. Do some kind of Fat/Mad/Bad Ass race in the New Year. There are loads around and are so relaxed and so a perfect way to start 2011.

2. Finishing up the Eiffel Tower made the Eco Trail de Paris really worth entering. I think there'll be plenty of Serpie vests at the 2011 version.

3. Run one of the South African major ultras at some point in your life. Two Oceans is prettier and has the bonus of a trip to beautiful Cape Town, but Comrades is the daddy. Bigger, harder, older and basically more epic. I'm so glad I got to do both this year, however, it's too far to fit them both in every year so I'll have to wait for another chance to run Two Oceans again. And when I do, I'll be really excited about it. There's something special about a country that venerates ultrarunning above shorter distances.

4. Do a triple marathon or other multi-day race since there's no better way to get an instant 'we're all in it together' atmosphere. In the UK, the VOTwo events are perfect (Jurassic Coast and Atlantic Coast come highly recommended). But the best one has to be the Transalpine 8-dayer (and so I'd love to try the Trans Rockies 6-dayer too) and I'm gutted to have missed it this year. Luckily for Californians, Tahoe has options with PCTR organising some new stuff (including a 2-dayer) as well as the classic Tahoe triple on the roads. Or there's the numerous Marathon des Sables-type events in deserts around the world. But in general, these are some of the best events around and don't need to break the bank (except the desert races).

5. Run in the Marin Headlands. There are so many races there and many are extremely competitive, especially Miwok 100k and TNF Endurance Challenge Championship 50-miler. PCTR has loads of runs there too, and these have the benefit of not requiring lotteries to enter (like Miwok) and not always being in December (like TNFEC). On a clear day, there's probably nowhere I'd rather do a training run and even in the rain, it's hard not to smile even on the umpteenth huge hill.

Merry Christmas and good luck in 2011 with whatever your running goals are.

North Face Challenge Final 50k - San Francisco

Golden Gate Bridge on the drive to the race the night before.

Yesterday was a fun race and certainly lived up to its billing as the most competitive trail 50 miler around (possibly ever?). I only saw it from the perspective of the 50k, which meant I had an extra two hours in bed and got to see all the leaders come in. I'd hoped to really focus on this race and run the main event, but training over the last few months has involved being overtrained and not spending much time at all on trails, so dropping down to the 50k was the only sensible option. Not ideal to miss such an enjoyable and exciting challenge, but there's always next year.

Great races all around with full 50-mile results here: http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=47613 and 50k results here: http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=47614 There was also a marathon and the following day had several shorter races, making for a huge event.

I won't go through the full details of the longer race, but it was wet and muddy with around 10,000-11,000ft of climb over the Marin Headlands and with almost the first two hours in the pre-dawn darkness. Not too cold, but some wind, especially on the higher points. It was won impressively by Miguel Heras of Spain in 6h47m for the men and Anna Frost of New Zealand in 7h45m for the ladies. So many top runners turned up and a whole load of other great racers were entered but had to DNS. irunfar covered the race with plenty of interviews and analysis at http://www.irunfar.com/2010/12/the-north-face-endurance-challenge-championship-results.html

Anyway, I can describe the 50k better, given that's what I ran. It covered most of the same course, starting at 7am, just after sunrise. I've seen most of the course before in recent races (Miwok 100k, Headlands 50 miler and the Stinson Beach 50k...and that's just races I've run, never mind all the others around there which I've had to put on my 'to do' list instead). The number of races is a good indication of how perfect those trails are for runners and the photos below show some views when it's not overcast or muddy (afraid I didn't take my camera for this one).

The trails actually started with a mile on the road so everyone charged off at a fast pace. Then it went straight uphill for the first climb (see the profile below). I led until a couple of minutes into this hill, determined to run this whole race hard, as a substitute for the 50 miler, but I was forced to walk/jog up the hill due to a lack of hill training recently and heavy legs so the leaders were out of sight when I started going downhill on the other side. They all looked like strong climbers so I realised that if I was going to have any chance, I'd have to make up for my weak-feeling legs and poor climbing by hammering the downhills and going hard on the flats too. But at least my legs were well-trained for those types of running, so I considered that there was a chance I could stay in touch with them. Although I aimed to use the tactics that led to the adage that trail races are 'won on the uphills and lost on the downhills', it seemed possible...hopefully.

At the start of the day, I'd thought that breaking four hours would be possible if my legs hadn't lost too much of the climbing training from the build-up to Western States. But with the time I was bound to lose from power-walking so much, I now had no idea what to aim for and could only focus on the man in front.

The climbs through to the Muir Beach checkpoint at 8.2 miles were relatively small so I managed to catch up to second on a particularly muddy descent since he didn't seem to have trail shoes on. Then I came through the aid station just behind first and had a couple of miles of chatting with him on a flatter section. His name was Paul Terranova and he'd flown in from Texas so even the 50k was drawing in competitors from all over.

Then we reached the bottom of the biggest climb, a 1,500ft ascent to Pantoll then to Bootjack aid station at 14.0 miles. I told him to overtake me as I'd be climbing slowly, and he gradually pulled ahead until he went out of sight again. By the time I got to the aid station he was two minutes ahead, so I hoped that I'd at least get within view on the slightly more technical trails down to the Old Inn aid station at 19.1 miles (actually 20.1 miles on the Garmin, which tends to underestimate by about 1-5% on these types of trails). Luckily, I was able to catch him almost immediately, finding myself really enjoying jumping over the rocks and roots through the forest. This is always the best part of trail racing for me, not just because it's the fastest, but because galloping over rocks and roots is pure fun.

I could tell that the rest of the race was likely to be a game of leap-frog with Paul going ahead on the climbs and me catching up on the downhills. And that's how it was for the next few miles. However, he looked so strong on each climb that he wasn't visible almost immediately after he'd pass me. So I had to stick to the aim of racing each downhill like I was in a much shorter race. But with two thirds of the race completed, it seemed to be working and my legs weren't feeling bad from the extra pounding from the higher effort level. Looking back, it's amusing how I went from feeling completely confident in winning when I reached the bottom of a hill to having no hope again when I got passed much quicker than I expected on the next ascent.

One thing I had heard about this race series is that the course markings are not always the best and many fast runners had had their races derailed by getting lost. So far I'd not had a problem but there had been occasional turns where it had been ambiguous, so I had to keep my focus and concentrate at each junction to not miss anything.

After the longest flat section of the race to get back to Muir Beach, I couldn't see Paul behind and knew I'd be going back up the really slippery, muddy hill which had been difficult enough to run down originally. Even if I'd felt able to run uphill, it was like walking on banana skins so I was crawling up. But I don't see how anyone else would go much faster unless they'd opted for really spiky trail shoes.

There were just two big climbs left to the finish, a 900ft one up then down to Tennessee Valley, followed by a 600ft one up to the final checkpoint. Both of these were slow powerwalks with little running, but it was a surprise to not be overtaken on either. I still focused on running the downhills as fast as I could and was happy to be able to maintain around my 5k pace without it feeling bad (however, that's not the case a day later...). From the last aid station I remembered that it was only 2.7 miles to the finish, all of it downhill then a flat last mile. So it looked like this 50k course would be a bit over a mile long on the Garmin, meaning maybe a little more than that due to it's typical error from experience.

The day was still overcast but it wasn't raining at this point and the trail was wider and very easy to run down. I was looking forward to finishing and to having had a successful day, but there was a final twist to come. After over two miles from the final aid station I could see the road which the race had started on, but the route back to it had a sign blocking the way with a large 'X' and stating 'Wrong Way'. So I didn't turn back on towards the road and kept going on the same route as before, looking out for the route to the finish line.

The trail split into two with course markings for every one of the race distances, but with pink arrows showing 'Marathon Loop 1' and 'Marathon Loop 2' as my only options. Neither of these sounded like a finish line but Loop 2 was perhaps the marathon route to the finish and it just hadn't been marked properly (I'd expected more ambiguity so this didn't definitely mean it wasn't the right way). But the trail then started winding uphill and each corner just revealed more trail heading upwards. Eventually I decided that I must have missed the proper turning and started running back. I should have finished ages before this so thought I must have lost first place and wasn't in a good mood. From higher up I saw the Loop 1-2 split and saw Paul choose Loop 2 as well, then I saw a race official sprinting after him so knew that I was around a quarter of a mile behind him and that it was unlikely I'd catch him.

He turned at the 'Wrong Turn' sign, so must have been told to ignore it by the race official and I followed, very glad I'd doubled back on myself. But I was exhausted and frustrated to have probably lost at the the due to bad trail marking. Since the 50k was likely to be the first race of the day to finish, we were the only two to get past this point before a race official made sure everyone else was directed correctly. Would have been a real shame if the 50-mile leaders (who came though not long after) had faced this issue as the major prize money ($10,000 for first) should not be decided by mistakes which aren't the fault of the runners.

Using the magic of the information on my Garmin, I saw that I'd run an extra 2.7 miles due to missing this turn and estimate that Paul probably went a quarter of a mile down the wrong route to add half a mile to his distance. So we hit the road with both of us looking fatigued and he now only had a 50m lead. After putting so much energy in I wasn't going to give up without a fight, but I'd been mentally drained by the thought of losing my lead and having much more running left than expected. I really hoped he didn't have a strong sprint left and I caught him relatively quickly, expecting him to react and try to drop me.

That last half mile was very hard since I went all out but had nothing left in the fuel tank for a sprint. When I turned the last corner and saw the finish line I barely had any adrenaline left to become elated, but I knew I'd just managed to hold on to the lead. 4h48m was way slower than I'd hoped for and the erroneous course marking took the sheen off the day to some extent, but only slightly. However, it didn't change the positions at all, just making the gaps between runners much, much smaller, so no harm was done.

Soon after Paul and I finished, Miguel Heras came through for the 50-mile win and I was surprised since I didn't recognise him (although I had heard the name). I don't think I was the only one, given that anyone who's an unknown quantity (i.e hasn't raced anything major in the US before) tends to be off most people's radar. Both he and fellow Spaniard Kilian Journet (his training buddy and Salomon team-mate, I believe) prove that having a beard and long hair isn't essential for ultra trail success. That's lucky for me since I couldn't grow a decent beard even if I wanted to (and my wife might divorce me if I did, anyway).

It was fun to get to watch the results of the main event unfold and the post-event celebrations were well-organised with a strong sense of occasion and plenty of food and drink. I enjoyed talking to loads of runners, many of whom I'd heard of but not met before. Plus there were several of my new PCTR team-mates in the 50-miler, so it was a great opportunity to meet them too. They all had strong runs too, so were generally happy with how it had unfolded, even if their positions were lower than in an average race due to the ridiculously fast field.

I can't wait until next year to do the main event and there is undoubtedly a great buzz surrounding it. Plus it's good that it's only two weeks to go until I get another opportunity to run around these great trails again, at the PCTR Rodeo Beach 50k. Am looking forward to seeing plenty of friendly faces there and maybe some sunnier skies.

Build up to the North Face Endurance Challenge Championship 50 miler

Having not written anything for a while, I thought I'd post given all the excitement over this weekend's big 50 mile race north of San Francisco in the Marin Headlands. There are so many races around those hills so it's certainly a good, tough course. It'll be a crazy race with so many really quick guys there from all over the world, even with many big names dropping out. Excellent coverage is at irunfar, profiling the men's and women's races and updating all the time for any drop outs. http://www.irunfar.com/

I'd really been looking forward to it as it's always more fun to race the best guys than have a weaker field and there aren't many ultras around the world that can guarantee really great, deep fields. To my mind it's only Western States, UTMB and this race for trail runs, although there's a second tier of races with plenty of fast guys.

Unfortunately, I've decided to wimp out and drop down to the 50k. A combination of the overtraining since July (I definitely shouldn't have raced that half marathon 2 weeks after WS), not getting out on the trails except at occasional races plus me still feeling worn down now made me think that I'd end up crawling through the 50 miles. Such a comparison to May when I felt fine doing stuff like the Miwok 100k, while the last few 50ks I've run have left me with sore calves and limping around for a few days, even though I tried to run them steadily and felt like I was holding back a bit.

Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised in the 50k and have a bit of energy to get round in a reasonable time. But I'm also fully focusing on Comrades, which is only six months away, so I need my road speed to improve. That's meant that I'm doing 2-3 hard speed sessions a week, but I've never really done much speed work and endurance has always been my strength instead, with my 10k and half marathon speeds being barely quicker than my marathon pace (compare a 35:18 10k to 36:10 per 10k in my best marathon).

I've run hard 5ks on the treadmill and a couple of 10k races recently, but I'm still a long way off where I need to be - 16:19 for 5k and a 34:38 10k, both of which left me feeling near a heart attack. I think I've been making the mistake of doing these speed sessions too hard, which is partly due to many of them being on treadmills and me being stubborn. So when I set myself a goal I generally manage to stop myself hitting the controls to slow it down, which turns me into a hyperventilating, noisy runner and I virtually fall off the treadmill. It's not fun, but I kept telling myself no pain, no gain.

Now I see the error in that - I've heard from all sources that you should feel like you can do one more rep at the end of a speed session, so when I can barely stand up at the end, it's just making it impossible to recover quickly enough for the next hard session (even the recovery jog feels hard). I'm going to try to fix it and still have just over six weeks until the Phoenix marathon, which needs to be quick. Then lots of miles, lots of hills and lots of 90% race efforts until Comrades.

The next six months should be great with some fantastic runs coming up. In particular, I'll be doing and/or helping out at most of the Pacific Coast Trail Runs, which now have a huge number of races in their calendar. And I have the honour of joining their inaugral race team, too, which should be fun and be a great chance to get more involved with the local running community.