Pacifica 9.3k Sharpener Before WS100

Last proper run before WS yesterday, apart from a few light jogs. I was planning on running the half marathon at the PCTR Pacifica race, which I'd done back in January too, but opted instead for the shortest race of the day (9.3km) and to use it as a slightly harder effort but short enough to not cause much damage to the legs.

Perfect, sunny weather started us off and it just got warmer and brighter as the day progressed, which should have made the 50k runners struggle a little. But all I wanted was a confidence boost that my legs would be ok and that I can climb and descend well enough to run WS well a week later. +/-1,200ft in two hills with a quarter of a mile on the flat in between them, means it's a good speed test so I was happy to lead from start to finish and win by over three minutes in 39:47.

After the disappointment of Comrades this year I needed this and it's a good sign, especially how easy the downhills felt...WS is a downhill course after all. There's only so much a short race can tell you about ultra form but the important thing was to feel that the overtraining was over. It probably is, so now there's just the really easy part of the taper left and a load more sauna sessions.

It looks like most of the men at WS will be showing up fit and ready so anything could happen on the day and I'd say there's probably around eight guys who could plausibly win, but if I was putting money on it then I'd say the winner will be one of Kilian Journet, Geoff Roes or Nick Clark. One thing's for certain, that whoever wins will have to hold off very hot competition and probably do the best run of their life. I also think the top 10 will be much less spread out than last year.

The women's field is very strong too and there's several women who are dominant in the shorter ultras versus some 100 mile specialists. I won't make a prediction, although I think I could call the lead pack at Foresthill (62 miles). But that's not important unless they keep it up for another 38 miles.

irunfar has a great prediction contest for the race as well as interviews with a lot of the male (US and foreign) and female (interview 1 and 2) contenders.

Also, on race day the runners can be followed on the live webcast site here. Twitter will undoubtedly have a million updates too, with the tag #WS100 (I assume).

Other random ultra stuff:

It's certainly ultra season now with the San Diego 100 last weekend (nice work, everyone, especially fellow PCTR team-mate, Larissa Polischuck, with her first 100 mile finish). There's a lot of other races too, but today is the start of the longest one out there - the LANY race covering 3,200 miles coast to coast from LA to NYC. One of my friends from London, James Adams, is running this and the stages average 45 miles per day through to late August. He will be blogging about it in painfully graphic detail here (if you know him, you know what I mean). Good luck, mate!

Fundraising


All my major races this year are dedicated to helping the Starfish Greathearts Foundation, which includes Western States. They support children who have been orphaned or made vulnerable by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Southern Africa.

Given the extremely high rates of infection in South Africa and around parts of the Comrades course plus the many orphans resulting from this, I thought it'd be a great idea to help out. Therefore I've set up a justgiving site for UK residents who wish to donate at: http://www.justgiving.com/sharmanian/ as well as a donation website for anyone wanting to donate in dollars at: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/comradesTNF/comradesmarathon. Both these links also have more information about the work the charity does. Any donation is extremely welcome. Thanks.

PCTR Tilden Trail 50k

Lake Anza and the reservoir, Tilden Park

SF and the Bay Bridge

Mt Diablo

SF and the GG Bridge

After dropping out of the last three PCTR ultras I've entered for various reasons on the theme of injury or lack of  recovery, I decided it'd be nice to finish one this time. And since I recently moved to the East Bay, it's convenient that the next available one was the brand new Tilden Trail 50k in Berkeley (only half an hour from home).

6,100ft of climbing on what I expected to be dry trails after a scorcher or a week with highs around 80+ degrees F. However, much of the lower trail network was shaded and the previous weeks of torrential rain had left it boggy and slippery.

That didn't make it any less fun, although I did lose both (road) shoes in one section on lap two of four (with the last loop being different) and had to walk through the mud to retrieve them. And once up to the highest section there were blue skies and perfect views of Mt Diablo as well as most of the Bay Area, with a great vista of SF.

After several months where I've been meaning to get my a@% in gear and run more trails uphill, I think I've finally got a start on the road to uphill fitness so the aim was to not walk too much. Oh, and to not pull either of my calves again. I think I managed it and probably had a running motion for maybe 4,500ft of the total ascent and a decent power walk for the rest.

As always, Sarah and Michael of PCTR put on a great event and were kind enough to leave the hardest climb to the last 400ft of ascent. I didn't ache during the race, felt recovered from last weekend's race and seem to fine the following day too. So all in all it was a 'sensible' way to train and get in a long, hilly run. Plus the 50k was fairly small with just 25 entrants so I was able to win too, in 4h19m.

Next up is American River 50 miler in a week and it looks like the elite field has thinned slightly (Chikara Omine out with a broken foot and Anton K has, I think, opted to give himself more time to get ready for the bigger, longer races of the summer). However, there's still a lot of guys who would generally win anything they turn up to, so a famous race like this will bring out the best in them. Should be fun.

I also just found out that the official rock of California is Serpentinite, which is particularly apt given my London club is Serpentine RC.

How long does it take to recover from a 100 miler?

The French Trail, which was missed today due to the weather.

How long is a piece of string? Well, all I know is that three weeks isn't enough for me to be back to 100%, although I did feel fairly good yesterday doing a marathon pace 5k within a longer run.

However, today I thought I'd see how my legs felt post RR100 by running the PCTR Redwood Park 50k. Not racing, but instead getting in a decent-paced long run with all the benefits of aid stations, organization and an incentive to get out of bed earlier than if I'd tried to do it all on my own.

So I lined up with everyone else in the 50k, 30k and 20k races (the 10k option starts off in a different direction but the three longer races followed the same loops as the 50k) in the cold and clear skies. There was a winter storm overnight, but the snow was restricted to higher altitudes than the 500-1,500ft elevations of the race, so we just had mud and a slight course alteration during the middle 10k loop.

But even a minute into the race I could feel my legs weren't fresh at all. So I decided to see how it felt and not go too fast, but just enjoy the scenery (which is great through Redwood Park). Seemed like a good idea until I got caught up running in a small pack and accidentally went through the end of the first 20k lap in 50k CR pace.

Over the middle 10k loop (before the repeated 20k loop to finish) I slid around in the mud, especially on the climbs, and found myself running completely on my own. I felt a lethargy in my legs which was obviously a hangover from the 100-miler and it wasn't dissipating. And even though I could run at a decent speed it didn't seem like a good idea to wreck my body with an ultra. 

So instead, at the end of that loop I decided to call it a day and just have a decent 30k run and allow my body to recover much more effectively. I think it did about 2:17 for that distance, which was a few minutes ahead of the 30k winner and the rest of the 50k runners, so wasn't exactly the easy jog I'd planned on anyway.

A DNF is never positive, but I'd not aimed to race anyway and the whole point was to get a training run in. Whether that's 30k or 50k, it had to be dictated by the good old 'listening to the body' tactic. A shame, but I learnt my lesson after racing too soon after Western States and hope I can have more intelligent recovery now and avoid the overtraining I ended up with last year...mind you, I need to run a reasonably fast marathon next week in Napa then Way Too Cool a week later at full effort. Will have to play that all by ear.

Today was a good day for a trail run and the full results will be posted here soon: http://www.pctrailruns.com/event.aspx?dtid=4646

PCTR Pacifica 21k

View of Pacifica from 1/3 of the way up

Pacifica and San Francisco in the background

Really lucky today with amazing weather again for a PCTR race. No rain in the preceding week and bright sun with temperatures up to around 70 degrees Fahrenheit by the finish (in January! I knew there was a reason I came to California).

I opted for the half marathon, not sure how I'd feel after racing hard last weekend, and felt surprisingly good. It's a fairly tough course, with over a 1,600ft climb up Mt Montara, then back, followed by two smaller climbs of about 400ft and 800ft. There were also 30k, 50k and 9k (without the mountain) options, but the other courses basically involved duplicating parts of the 21k route, so I got to see everything

My aim was to try to avoid walking at all and to hammer the downhills, given I've had a chance to start hill training, but still have a long way to go. And I'd been challenged to a race by Will Gotthardt, so expected him to lead on each climb, then to play catch-up on each downhill.

Instead, I was in a pack of four (including Will and Leigh Schmitt, and Leigh was running the 50k) to the top of the mountain then ran on my own for the last bit of the climb and back down. There were dust-free views for miles out to see and towards San Francisco, although I was starting to feel the climb by the point these got really spectacular. Luckily, I have some photos from hiking there a few weeks ago.

After that I really went for it on the downhill and felt good on the funnelled single track which was still full of people on the way up. After that the track got wider for a really fast running surface and I went about as fast as I ever have, comfortably running sub 5-minute mile pace (never thought I'd be able to say that...even if it was downhill) and getting closer to 4:30s nearer the bottom. This made it hard on the thighs for the switchbacks given each involved braking completely to do a 180, but I didn't have 50k to pace for, so it was worth the effort.

Then the 400ft climb came along, which I'd expected to be easier, yet I ended up walking several times even though it wasn't steep. The first climb had sapped my uphill fitness. I cruised down the other side to catch my breath and dreaded the final ascent ahead.

Luckily I could see a fair way back on the course when I started that last hill and couldn't see Will, so I thought I'd be safe as long as I didn't walk too much. In the end I did jog most of it at a crawl, but still had to walk many times for short sections. Not because it was steep, just because climbing is still feeling very hard, but hopefully runs like this will change that soon.

The last two hills didn't have the vistas for miles and miles, but were still in pretty sections of parkland. And the final downhill was wide enough track to race at a high intensity (10 minutes for the last two miles...technically a PB, especially given the switchbacks taking pace off every now and then), passing 9k runners, some of whom I'm sure I scared the crap out of  (especially the ones with earphones).

I'd hoped to get somewhere close to the CR of 1:32, which would have required some sensational downhilling to make up for the time I lose on each climb. So 1:34:52 was a real confidence booster. Will came in in 1:40 and Leigh won the 50k (I think...but haven't seen confirmation), with fellow PCTR Team member Caren Spore breaking yet another CR in the 30k.

I think my flat and downhill running is better than ever, so if I can just sort out the uphill stuff with a few months of intensive training then I reckon I could be in for a great season. It'll also make these races so much more enjoyable - currently I'm struggling so much uphill that it feels much less fun than it should...or did last summer.

But overall a great day out in the Bay Area and lots of people to meet at the finish. Michael Popov (PCTR management) was there looking ridiculously fresh for 1 week after the HURT 100 in Hawaii and he had nothing but good things to say about that race. So it just confirmed that I want to enter the lottery for that beast for 2012. It'll even keep my wife happy to have an excuse to go to Hawaii again :)

Angel Island 8k then the Phoenix marathon

2011 has started well so far. The first thing was a trip to Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay with Amy. I opted for the shortest distance in the PCTR race there as part of a taper before the Phoenix marathon on the following weekend. The PCTR 8k was excellent and there were plenty of others running the 16k and 25k races, which started just before.

Really glad I showed up to this, since it's beautiful and we were really lucky to get perfect weather, even if it was a bit cold. It's basically an 800ft climb then an 800ft descent and had great views along most of the way (although I only really enjoyed them after the race). I wanted to see if I could run uphill yet and found that I can't really, but at least I didn't have to walk, just go slowly. And I almost managed to get the course record, so that would have been a nice bonus, but maybe that's something for next year since I missed it by four seconds, running 33:17. And since I've mentioned it, I have an excuse to include some photos of it, since I don't have any from the next race.

Then I continued the taper with the aim of breaking 2:30 at Phoenix, something that I've wanted to do for a while but I haven't managed to turn up to a marathon start line feeling fresh for ages (all these races may have something to do with it...).

The conditions were almost perfect in Phoenix - not hot and maybe just a bit too much wind, although it was calm really. I started off at 2:30 pace (5:43/mile) but after 2 miles of trying that, I could see I didn't have it in me on the day. Just not enough pace yet.

I got into a pack after a few miles and tried to draft as much as possible, especially as they pushed the pace up. Somehow I stayed with them as they started clocking miles splits bang on 2:30 pace and at halfway (1:15:43, although the mat was maybe 100m before the half way sign and basically next to the 13 mile marker) I wondered how long I could stick with them, thinking every extra mile was money in the bank. Given I'm generally good at not dropping much speed even when exhausted, this seemed like a better plan than trying to do an even pace to the end. But very soon afterwards the pack broke up and I found myself pushing on with just one other guy, Matthew, who was a bit older but seemed very steady and strong. Again I just wanted to hang off his coat-tails for as long as possible, but he slowed too, so I had to go it alone for the remaining 11 miles or so.

I'd altered my target from 2:30 since I'd really put in a hard effort to halfway and couldn't see how I'd do the second half even faster. Instead, I wanted to get as far below 2:35 as possible, so kept slogging away at a high intensity. In the last few miles I kept going through stronger and weaker patches and was caught at around 22 miles by a masters runner, who seemed very comfortable.

I kept on his shoulder, hanging on once again (this is not a fun tactic at all and I'd much rather feel good myself and push the pace, but it worked this time round) until the final mile when we turned a corner, he went wide and I decided to sprint on to the finish alone and try to out-pace him.

Luckily for me, he'd tired himself trying to drop me so I broke free and could see one more guy ahead, who seemed way too far away to be catchable. But by 26 miles I got to him then flashed past without him reacting, which surprised me. I later looked up his result and he'd run the first half in 1:11, so had bonked badly to let me catch up.

I was exhausted, but was on for my second fastest time so didn't want to give in at all, particularly with two guys only feet behind. Then the finish was a big relief, and the other two finished just seconds behind after a great battle for positions (the 1:11 guy just stayed ahead of the masters guy). And as another surprise I was in the top 10, with a respectable 7th in 2:33:34 (four minutes behind 6th, who ran the time I wanted - 2:29).

The biggest positive was that I didn't give up, so it was a great training run, both physically and mentally, for the ultra season. But now I need to find another marathon in the Autumn to race for a personal best.

The marathon was part of the Rock 'n' Roll series, but was better than the San Jose half marathon, just. Still overly expensive and with several issues (listed below), which seem to apply to all their races, but there aren't many fast courses to choose from in January and this was fairly close to home, plus Gebrselassie got the half marathon WR here a few years ago.

These are the simple things they could do to improve it:

1. Accurate mile marking - although the total distance was correct, some mile markers were well off, like the even paced miles I did at the start which gave me a 6:30 mile followed by a 5:00 mile off their markers.
2. When there's tens of thousands of runners, corrals are great, but what's the point when the times aren't verified? As I picked up my number, an overweight lady also picked up her number which started her in the first pen. Odds are she wasn't running a sub 3h marathon (or sub 5h judging by her size).
3. The bands along the course are generally bad and the speakers are so loud that as you run past you're blasted off the street - I can't see how this is appealing to many people (at least not after experiencing it).

But I did like the expo this time round since there were plenty of freebies and great running celebs. I got Meb Keflegzighi's autograph and any chance to meet world class elites is always a pleasure. Then I even bumped into Blue, who ran the 2009 Tahoe Triple and is the RD for the Malibu marathon, which he was promoting.

I doubt I'll return to these R 'n' R races since they aren't good value for money, but I had a good time pushing myself and enjoyed meeting people before, during and after the race. It was also interesting to see Josh Cox go for the 50k WR by running the marathon then on to a track to finish off the distance. He already had the American Record at 2:47 but he broke that and just missed the WR by seven seconds, in 2:43:45, after winning the marathon too. Wonder if he'll give Comrades another go after it not going to plan for him last year.

Heading over to Angel Island

View of the Golden Gate Bridge



Downtown San Francisco and Alcatraz



SF and Alcatraz again

View NW of the island - Tiburon and Marin County

Nice trail for a run

The ferry port on the island

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.

Stinson Beach 50k

Stinson Beach soon after dawn.

Yet another Pacific Coast Trail Run this weekend and it was harder than expected, as it usually is. I always sign up before the course details and elevation profile are available, so I only found out recently that the Stinson Beach 50k has a decently hilly 7,000ft of climbing (plus options of 25k and 12k showing off the course, too). But that's a good thing since the only trail running I'm getting currently is the races I turn up to, so the harder they are, the better work out I get.

I'd decided to DNS at the flat Helen Klein 50 miler the previous weekend since my calves had felt strained after the Silicon Valley Marathon on the weekend before that. Instead, I'd decided that it would be a really great idea to do lots of speed work, so I'd squeezed in a hard session (including a 5k treadmill PB) 3 times in the six days before Stinson. The fact I wasn't broken on the start line suggested that my overtraining is out my system and I can get back to business as usual.

So, at the start it looked like being a beautiful day in Marin and I'd even enjoyed the early drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, despite the fact I'd have preferred a bit more sleep. Looking around I could see several guys in sponsored kit and I'd been told that a few fast runners would be showing up, but I didn't know them by sight, so guessed I'd only find out when they shot off up the first climb. The field was certainly more talented than at an average ultra, and this was obviously influenced by the North Face Challenge 50 Mile Final being around Marin just three weeks later with a whopping $10k first prize.

However, I didn't want to get drawn into the racing given I know my uphill running is relatively weak right now, plus I wanted to keep training hard during the following week. After having such enjoyable runs at Miwok and other races in the build up to Western States, I'd imagined I could still do this type of race and feel relaxed throughout, but when you stop training on trails, that fitness does fade a bit.

So I was a bit disappointed to have to walk so much of the uphills on lap one (of two), but the legs did seem to wake up better for the second attempt on each hill. The scenery was great, as it always is around those trails and this is about the fourth race I've done in the region, all of which have been a joy to run (and tough). The next few weeks have more of the same, with the Quad Dipsea following much of the same course, then the North Face 50 and Rodeo Beach races both using combinations of the same trails networks. I think I should move to Marin...

Start line of the 50k.

Great views of Marin.

Dipsea trail steps.

The views at the top of each climb were breath-taking and I made sure I brought my camera to remember it better. It was kind of surreal to be running on a section I'd remember from the Miwok 100k, then something from a different race given that I don't have a proper map in my head of how the trails link up. But it did bring back good memories as well as creating great new ones.

I also managed to chat to a load of people during and after the race, reinforcing what a great social community ultra-running creates. When you put a load of people together to do something they love and throw in a picture-postcard back-drop, it's generally going to produce positive vibes. And the organisation was flawless as ever (I've still not managed to do one wrong turn in a PCT race).

In the end I finished second in 4h38m, so was really happy with that. It had taken more effort than I'd planned and been tougher on the uphills, in particular. But I finished uninjured with a good hill session in the legs and feeling more part of the local ultra community than when I started.

Mt Diablo 50k - great views and big climbs

View from Mt Diablo.

Another Pacific Coast Trail Run this weekend, again near Oakland. This time an even hillier one and I hadn't realised just how hilly the Mt Diablo 50k was until I checked out the profile a few days before (8,900ft of climb by going up and down Mt Diablo twice). I think I'm right in saying that Mt Diablo is the highest point in the mountains surrounding the Bay Area, too.

Plus the fact the best times on the course were by some very fast guys and yet only one person had broken five hours. Five hours? For a 50k CR? Hmmm...looked like it might take a while, especially since I've not been able to train much and wanted to 'take it easy' so I could get back to training mid-week.

The event also includes a single loop of the course (25k) and a slightly different course for 8k, the latter starting 15 minutes after the longer runs. So the single and double loopers started off together and went straight uphill, which was almost non-stop from around 600ft to the summit at 3,849ft.

Start line.

I'd hoped to run most of it, but the race was basically a long hike followed by a fast downhill, then the same again. And the second lap certainly felt like a harder hike, particularly when I got my nutrition wrong by not eating enough or taking in any salt. I cramped a bit near the top, but the views made it worthwhile.

On the way up.

The Observatory at the top of Mt Diablo.

Time to turn back and go down...then do it all again.

The checkpoint half-way up.

What a great course and what perfect training for the mountain ultras. Well organised and very friendly too, like all the PCT runs. I ended up taking a bit less time than I'd expected (5:09 and 1st) even with the slow crawl up to the top each time. But the long run back was such easy running, even if it left me with sore legs for the next day.

Got two more of the PCT runs this year so am looking forward to them too. This run will help get me back in shape for the North Face 50 miler final in San Fran at the start of December too, which has over 10,000ft of ascent.

Oh, and Will - if you read this, drop me an email at sharmanian@hotmail.com as it'd be good to sort out some training runs like we discussed after the race.

Learning to DNF - Redwood 50k v2

I think the smartest running decision I've made was to DNF Rocky Raccoon this February. I can now appreciate that much more now I really see what it feels like to be overtrained.

I thought I'd give the Redwood 50k a go this weekend even though I know I should be resting. Even though resting should only include very easy jogs every few days, I somehow thought a 50k on medium trails would be possible if I just took it easy. Maybe I'd even win since it's not generally a competitive race so nine minute miling generally is enough.

Since I've always been able to run a lot of races without too many negative effects, I thought the same would apply after my first 100 miler, but I should have allowed a bit more time to recover after Western States. I only had one weekend off before racing again, which was basically stupid. Even when I aim to run a race easily, I often push a bit too hard and that was the case then. I ran a half at full effort when feeling sore, then a 50-miler the next weekend at a reasonable effort, followed by all out at the San Francisco marathon (tired again) and then the next weekend was the Skyline 50k, which I ended up running hard towards the end when feeling tired again.

The Lore of Running by Tim Noakes  has been very useful in understanding the physiology behind running and overtraining in particular. To most people, what I just tried to do was obviously too much, but I've got away with a lot so was willing to try it. I'll be more conservative in future, but only slightly. One thing which I've always gone by is I race according to how I feel and I've managed to avoid overtraining that way, but only just. A 100-miler needs a little more respect than a weekend off racing and I'll bear that in mind next time. Although, in fairness, I only ran the half because I felt ok to run, even though I shouldn't have raced it for the unnecessary win.

Anyway, I decided to drop after the 20k loop of the 50k today to allow for the recovery I obviously need. I ran the same course in May the day after a harder 50k and the week after the Miwok 100k yet it felt easy then. Today I went at the same speed (slow) but it felt noticeably harder. And that was after easy running for the two weeks since the Santa Rosa marathon (which also has a slight effect on my tiredness still).

Overall it's difficult to work out exactly what screwed me up, but the cumulative effect of so many hard efforts covers it overall. So after three miles today I just decided to jog, cruise in and call it a day at 12 miles instead of 31. I won;t run again until the Lake Tahoe triple on Friday and will see how I feel there since I really don't want to give up on that, since it's so fun. Mind you, I was really enjoying jogging through the fog and rain at Redwood Park today. I also really wanted to keep going since it's such a pretty course, but I had to drop to make sure I'd start fixing my heart and legs.

So now I know that five more days off running won't heal me, according to Noakes. Six weeks is required or more. So maybe I'll have to drop next weekend again, but I really hope not. I have to go for the really important races (the North Face 50 mile final in December then the Phoenix marathon in January) in a few months and if that means not running for six weeks then I'll do that, but someone may need to use a strait jacket to help me restrain myself.