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Sadly I had to pull out of the Manchester Marathon. I really wanted to do it, plus I begrudged wasting all the money on entry and parking etc. However I had to make the smart choice for my body. I injured my knee 4 weeks prior to the race, so I could not do any running in this period. My knee was OK walking about, but there was no way of knowing if I could get around a marathon course. If it was a hamstring injury, then I could have strapped it up and took the chance. However knees are not something you want to mess around with, I have lots of things I want to do this summer and hobbling around on crutches is not one of them. So the head ruled the heart on this occasion.
There are of course twinges of regret. In November 2017 when I started my training, I wanted to knock 15 minutes off my marathon PB. Which was a tough but achievable target. I would have missed out on this target anyway in all honestly, for the following reasons:
1) Winter Training – I discovered I do not like Marathon training in the winter. The night runs are boring, as I had to train around the streets of my small town. Then the long weekend runs were often inhibited by snow and ice. It is a much nicer experience training in the summer, for an autumn Marathon. I ll probably do another Marathon when I am 40 in 2020, however it will most certainly be after a summer training block. I actually only did 25 runs in the 24 week training period. This is insufficient. You cannot cheat a marathon, you have to put the training miles in.
2) Knee Injury – the aforementioned injury; 4 weeks out I hurt my Knee in a long training run. Therefore I did zero miles of running in the 4 weeks before the Marathon. That is a pretty excessive taper! Some people may lay the blame of this injury on my barefoot/minimalist running. However I do not believe this was the case. If my running style or shoes were to blame, I would have had varying levels of discomfort throughout the training period. This was not the case, I was totally injury free then I felt my knee go on one specific run. There were no constant niggles or pains, that I was dealing with.
3) Dietary change – When I was on a Traditional Ketogenic Diet, my body seemed to really enjoy long slow training runs and I responded to that. However once I changed to a Paleolithic Ketogenic Diet, my body started to want to lift stuff and do more explosive training. You might think this sounds stupid, but when your diet is giving your body all the building blocks it needs. It will tell you to exercise and how. I almost don’t have an option now, I have to exercise regularly. Even on top of the 2-4 miles of daily dog walks, which still isn’t enough to scratch the exercise itch.
So this now marks the end of what I classed as my winter training. It is now time for my summer training block. I am going to spend this time building muscle, cutting body fat and doing sprint events on the Concept2 Rower. This will be a good experiment, as a lot of people will presume you cannot build muscle or do sprints without Carbs. Yet I will be attempting this on Zero Carbs. I will start my strength training immediatley. However I will have to go through a technique and conditioning phase on the rower, before I start doing the sprint races. I also need to get my weight under 75kg or 11st11, so that I can compete in the Lightweight category. I am currently 78kg or 12st3. I am a natural sprinter, so if I can get under the lightweight limit I should be able to do some damage in the sprint events. The sprint events are the 100m, 1 minute for distance and the 500m.
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When I finished the Bournemouth marathon, I said to the wife the immortal words “never again”.
However I think I have forgotten about the sheer pain and misery I felt between miles 18 to 24. So I am back on the marathon train.
There are 2 types of marathon races that interest me:
Flat road marathons to go PB hunting, with a large number of entrants and supporters.
Scenic marathons, where the location is more important than the time.
With hindsight I was a little disappointed with my Bournemouth marathon time, so I am off PB hunting. Hence my entry into the Manchester Marathon 2018.
This gives me a training Period of the 1st November to the 31st march. I already know I can stumble around a marathon course, so in these 5 months I should be able to build on that. However at the same time this training block will be in the winter. So there me be unforeseen obstacles relating to that.
As with my previous training, this training block will include:
Well I have completed my first marathon, and because it was my first I was guaranteed a PB! I ran it in 04:58:02.
Friday
Drove down from County Durham to Bournemouth. It was a bit of an epic drive, we set off at 9am and didn’t get there until 6pm. We did have a couple of longish stops to walk our dogs though. So we had to set up at our campsite in the dark. It was Luna’s (our new dog) first camp, and she was quite scared to start with but Bambi was really good and showed Luna it was all ok.
Saturday
Heather did the 5k Supernova on Saturday night. So we chilled out at our Tent for most of the day. Heather really enjoyed the race, and I was happy she did it.
Sunday – Race Day
I got up at 6am to get ready and walk the dogs. The campsite was a great location for the start. It was only a 15 minute drive. The start was at the Bournemouth Athletic Stadium. There was plenty of toilets, a café and the baggage area was efficient. All I had for breakfast was 2 KETONE.io bottles of ketogenic sports drink. I had no food. I also had no food or gels throughout the race. Which was important to me.
The actual start area was in Kings Park. This was about a 5 minute walk away. Again plenty of toilets at the start.
Mile 1 – 8
In my head I planned on running 11 minute miles all the way around. 11 minute miles is a pace where I have to slow my natural pace down a little bit. This is hard when you are buzzing in a race environment. I actually ran the first 8 miles at 10 minute mile pace. Faster than I wanted to, but I was feeling great.
Mile 9-16
The pace started to catch up to me. The heat was starting to take its toll, it was midday now and considering it is October it was bloody hot. I was averaging around 11 minute miles now, however it was not because I was setting the pace. It was all I could do.
Mile 17-24
This section was my own personal hell, I was really struggling and running 12-13 minute miles. It was just a constant battle not to start walking. There was a surprising amount of people walking, and I sooo wanted to be one of them.
Mile 25 & 26
Suddenly I had a rush of adrenaline and I felt great and ran the last two miles in under 10 minute miles. I think this is what tricks you into doing more marathon’s because I felt pretty decent crossing the finish line. That’s why it was important to write down how bad I felt between mile 17 to 24!!!
The Route
I enjoyed the route, the start was easy to get to and it finished in the lower gardens in Bournemouth. There was some boring bits running the streets. However some of it was really beautiful. There was a few more hills than I expected but nothing that I didn’t experience in training. Most of the roads were closed off for us, however I presume they weren’t allowed to shut off the promenade sections. So you had to share it with the general public. However to be fair the public were pretty respectful, and there were plenty of marshals throughout the course to help out.
Monday
We had a mega chilled morning, then went for a 3 mile dog walk. This is really good for active recovery. Then had a couple of celebration pints!!! To be fair I wasn’t as stiff as I thought I would be, obviously I could feel it but I wasn’t bed ridden or anything.
Tuesday
Drove home….. booooooo
Conclusion
The over riding emotions were relief and pride. I set out on a journey to run a fat adapted marathon and I achieved it. Ideally I would have like to have ran it maybe 15 minutes quicker but I am really pleased to have broke 5 hours which was what I predicted.
I am taking the rest of October off from running, and will take a couple of weeks to set some new goals. I have a few ideas on areas I could improve on, and I few training tweaks I could do.
Disclaimer:
I am an Ambassador for a Ketogenic Sports Drink called KETONE.io by Limited Labs – use coupon STEVEN for 10% off storewide. I also contribute to their weekly newsletter The Ketogenic Playbook.
I am also an Ambassador for IAMRUNBOX, which produces products to help the run and cycle commute community. You can use my code J13LPU6E for 15% off storewide.
We travelled up to Northumberland on the Friday night after work. We decided to camp at The Railway Inn Campsite in Acklington. The campsite was a good choice as it was 4 miles away from the coast, and a half an hour drive to the race. They also had an onsite pub serving excellent food and local ales.
Day before the race
We spent the Saturday walking around Amble, and the beach at Almouth. I probably did a little more than I should have. However it was meant to be an enjoyable day for the wife and dog too, so I didn’t mind.
Race day breakfast
I did the race food fasted, so all I had pre race was one bottle of Cucumber and Lime KETONE.io by Limited Labs. All I had during the race was water, no gels or Gatorade for me.
Registration
The drive over to Rothbury was fine, and I used the post code provided by run nation. However when I got to the destination it did not look like a car park, then I saw people walking up a hill. So I drove up the hill and saw the registration sign. The staff there said I had the right place originally. The car park was down the side road I saw. The car park itself was pretty rustic lets say, however their was ample space which was good. The registration area was well sign posted, and there was plenty of facilities and staff around. The start line was apparently 500 meters away, but it seemed longer.
The Race
The race was on open roads, so you had to deal with traffic. Which I have never experienced before at an organised race. However the race was on similar country roads that I train on, so it wasn’t a problem. Plus there were plenty of signs, warning cars that pesky runners were about. The race was described as flat for the first half and undulating on the second half. This was underplaying it a little in my eyes. I would describe it as undulating and then pretty hilly. There were two hills of note that were very testing. That being said, the scenery was great. It is a really beautiful part of the county.
Once finished the medal and t-shirt were of good quality. Plus there was plenty of staff around, giving out water etc.
An enjoyable and well organised event.
Conclusion
Even though my time was 8 minutes slower than the Edinburgh Half Marathon, that was largely down to the routes. Edinburgh was very flat, and this was not!
I actually felt I ran this race better, and felt stronger.
Due to the area I train in which resembles the route a little, and perhaps helped by my diet I found that I was really strong on the up hills. Where I would pass a lot of people. However due to my barefoot/sandal running, I was a little inhibited on the downhill’s where I had to take it easy. Especially on the steep downhill’s.
I will rest for a week and move onto my marathon training.
I am an Ambassador for a Ketogenic Sports Drink called KETONE.io by Limited Labs – use coupon STEVEN for 10% off storewide. I also contribute to their weekly newsletter The Ketogenic Playbook.
I am also an Ambassador for IAMRUNBOX, which produces products to help the run and cycle commute community. You can use my code J13LPU6E for 15% off storewide.
You can catch me on:
Instagram @ ketogenicendurance
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Strava Club: Ketogenic Endurance – open to anyone on Strava who likes the Ketogenic Diet or LCHF Diet.
Looking ready in my Skins compression kit and running Shamma running sandals
Looking ready in my Skins compression kit and running Shamma running sandals
Race Time: 01:53:38. Really happy with the time
Friday 26th May – The wife, dog and I did the 3 hour drive up to Edinburgh. We had 3 nights booked at this campsite. We met our friends The Gibson’s here, as Paul was doing the race with me. The campsite was 5 miles outside of Edinburgh, and a mere 5 minute walk from the beach. A great location.
Saturday 27th May – A nice relaxing day, lots of dog walking and chilling. I do like a good drink when camping. Beers and Port are the usual. However I stayed dry, for race preparation.
Sunday 28th May – Race Day
6am – Got up and had a KETONE.io, I had nothing else for breakfast. We then made our way to a local bus stop to catch public transport into town. The buses were regular and pretty cheap. We had a rough idea of where we needed to get off, but it was pretty obvious as there were loads of other runners on the bus. The start line was easy to find, and there were plenty of toilets. I had a bag with a change of clothes. The baggage trucks again were easy to find and efficiently organised by race number.
8am – The race started close to the city centre but not in the main area. Then you started running out of Edinburgh. So you saw none of the city attractions. The first few miles we pretty boring really, just running through streets. My main focus was on avoiding people as the roads were pretty narrow for the amount of people.
Paul and I agreed to try to run just under 9 minute miles to start with. We accomplished this pretty easily, and I had to rein myself in a bit. After 6 miles or so we reached a beach promenade, which was my favourite stretch of the race. I was feeling pretty good so I decided to increase my pace a little. I ran the rest of the race at between 8:30 and 8:45 minute miles.
Nothing much else to report, the route was a bit average to be honest. I especially did not like the last 3 miles, which was an out an back section. So you could see people on the finishing stretch, yet you knew you still had a number of miles left to run.
10:30am. As the race finished no where near Edinburgh. So you had to buy a ticket for an official shuttle bus. To be fair it was organised well. However the buses were about a 15 minute walk from the race finish. Which seemed a bit harsh on the runners. Once in town, we had a couple of pints to dissect our performances and got the bus back to the campsite.
Monday 29th May – Packed up the tent and travelled home.
Conclusion – Very happy with my time, the route was nothing more than average. With a route change, for example if the race finished at the castle it could probably be one of the most famous Half Marathons in the world.
I am an Ambassador for a Ketogenic Sports Drink called #KETONEIO by @ltdlabs – use coupon STEVEN for 10% off storewide. Check out their product range here ltdlabs.com/steven – I also contribute to their weekly newsletter “The Ketogenic Playbook” at https://ltdlabs.com/newsletter/
Race Time – 00:57:59. I was pretty happy with this. I was expecting a time of one hour. However I was for some reason expecting quite a standard 10k. It was only in the car on route that the wife realised that the term “crag” is an old word for “hill”. So I was racing at Cragside House. Which obviously means “house on the side of a hill”. Once she told me this I got a bit of a fear on!!! So to break an hour on a course harder than I was expecting, was pleasing.
Breakfast – 2 Heck Sausages. 97% meat, and less than 1g of Carb. 1 Mug of coffee. 250ml of still water before the race. Probably not a traditional pre race breakfast!!! However I am experimenting with options. Energy wise I was very happy with the race. In fact at the end of the race I was barely out of breath, my pace was mainly affected by the management of my calves.
Parking – It was a one and a half hour drive to the race. Roads were quiet as it was early. There was no need for additional race direction signs, as Cragside is a popular tourist attraction, so there are plenty of signs. Once we got to the site, there were 2 marshals waving you through. This seemed a little unnecessary, as the car parks are ample and well sign posted. However there should have been more marshals in the car park area directing people. As the parking was a little haphazard by people.
Registration – Registration was between 8 and 9am. The registration tent was easy to spot, and there were different tables split alphabetically by surnames. So registration was really quick.
Start Line– The start line was just over a 1 km walk from the start, on the same route as the race so you ran the same 1k stretch at the beginning and at the end. This was a little too far from the race head quarters in my opinion. Especially at how big the Cragside grounds are, I would have expected a route could have been established where the start and finish lines were close together, with no repetition. Although I am guessing the Cragside estate must have put some restrictions on what areas they could use. The start line itself was pretty narrow, however they had clear signs showing you where you should stand in relation to your predicted time.
The Race – It was a tight start as mentioned, and a pretty steep downhill for the first 1k. I am transitioning into barefoot running, and I find steep downhills really hard on my calves and technique. So I took it really easy. As you passed what would be the finish line, it levelled out a bit for the next couple of km. Which included running through the court yard of the house, which was nice. Then the hard yards began. It seemed like the next 5km was mainly uphill. There were a lot of people walking. This actually turned out to be the section I was most proud of. I never walked once, and in fact I was over taking a lot of the runners too. I really felt good aerobically, even though it was still obviously hard. Then the last 2km were on a pretty serious downhill. This was when I struggled the most. I obviously fatigued my calves on the up hill section, and they were really sore on the downhill towards the finish. I had the aerobic capacity and energy to go much faster on the last 2km. However I knew if I did, there was a high risk of picking up a calf injury. This was not worth the extra couple of minutes I could have shaved off my time.
Conclusion – A nice event, and I will certainly do other Run Nation events again. Although it will be unlikely I will do the Cragside 10k again. As there are a lot of other 10k’s available in the North East. The route was pretty and scenic, however you tend to not appreciate it fully when you are running as you get into a zone. However I will definitely go back to Cragside to walk around the grounds, and visit the house.
Race Time – 01:04:47. The race was actually 6.7 miles. So Strava put my 10k (6.2 miles) distance at 00:58:41.
Breakfast – I had two strips of pork belly, with a sliced sweet potato that I then fried in butter. Washed down with 500ml of water.
Parking – It was a 1h45m drive. We arrived into Bamburgh on time. The parking was well sign posted. The 10k was the last race to register so all the other racers would have been parked already. Yet the parking was easy and ample.
Registration – Our time slot was between 9:45 – 10:30am, inside the castle grounds. The registration point was well sign posted and there was plenty of staff about to point you in the right direction. They wrote your number on your hand, attached a timing chip to your wrist, and gave you your number to safety pin to yourself. The only downside here was that the queue for the registration overlapped with the toilets, which meant a bit of congestion.
Meeting – The meeting was at 11am. So there was a bit of waiting about beforehand, and there wasn’t much to do. The meeting was light hearted and informative.
Getting to the Start – After the meeting there was a bit of time for a loo break. Then you were shown to the buses. They drove you to the start in Beadnal. There were toilets at the car park too. They walked you from the car park, to the beach, then about 500m down the beach to the start. Everything went smoothly.
The Race – Wow what a beautiful place to run. I would say for a least 6 miles of the 6.7 miles, you could see the sea or were right next to it. You started off in the soft sand, but everyone soon ran down to the hard sand next to the water. Then you came off the beach and ran through Beadnal, back onto the beach, and then through Seahouses. The next bit of the run was probably the most boring part, a single track path which also had the general public on. However you were soon back onto the beach, and what an amazing beach it is. I am guessing the last 2-2.5miles was on the beach, with Bamburgh castle in the foreground. It was really tough but stunning. The hardest bit of the race was right at the end, you have to come off beach and head through the dunes to the castle. Which is all up hill, and an absolute killer. I would guess 70% of the run was on beaches, and there were a few tricky parts where you were on rocks. I gave my toe a right whacking, I have a lovely bruise on my toe as a souvenir!!!
Conclusion – A great little event. If its on next year, I think I will do the Half or Full Marathon. I was happy with my performance. My average pace was 9:32 minutes per mile. I was close to this pace throughout, and felt comfortable at it. I could have easily done a couple of extra miles. However anytime I tried to increase the pace past this I struggled, and had to come back down to the pace I was comfortable with.
N.B – I wore my Skins Compression Tights for the first time. They were great. I will do a full review of them in due course.
A Runner must run with dreams in his heart – Emil Zatopek
There is a new Strava Club on the block, ready to take over the world!! The head of Ketogenic Endurance (shh… that’s me), voted it the best up and coming club on Strava…. Guess what it is called….. drum roll….. oh yer….. its just…… Ketogenic Endurance.
So get on Strava, go to the Club section and search Ketogenic Endurance.
It is open to anyone, of any ability, who is interested in running on LCHF and/or Ketogenic Diet.
It is a safe place where people can see how people train on low carb food, and how it is a legitimate way to fuel your body whilst exercising. I also promise that if anyone puts a picture up of themselves eating a Bagel after a run, I will throw them out of the group….. You think I am joking don’t you J
Before the race I was just telling myself to take it easy, and just treat it like a normal run out. It was my first parkrun since I started wearing barefoot/minimalist running shoes, so I knew I couldn’t run it at 100% effort. However at the back of my mind, I thought even at 80% effort I could still beat my PB of 00:29:06.
Anyway I imagine with a lot of runners best laid plans, my great plan went out of the window immediately. I got swept away with the runners around me, and set off quicker than I had planned. I was feeling good though, and about a mile in I could see the 25 minute pacer in front of me. That’s when I felt my left calf twinge a bit. So I slowed right down to protect the calf, and basically just jogged around the last two miles.
I felt really disappointed, but it is what it is. It’s all a learning curve. In fact I am going to incorporate more of these Parkrun’s into my training diary, to build up my race experience. So I can learn to stick to my own race, and not get carried away.
Regarding my calf, it was a little sore all Saturday. Then I walked two fells in the Lake District on Sunday, and my calves were ok. I could feel them a bit, but nothing major. So I don’t think I have done any major damage. I am going to miss my Tuesday run, just to be careful. Then hopefully they should be fine for my Thursday run.
I have been suffering from a calf injury for the last 2 weeks. I think I am just about healed, and should be able to run in a couple of days.
It was quite a bad strain or pull. Even after 5 days I was still walking gingerly.
My mam is a Sound Therapist, using sound as a way to heal and relax. She lent me a Otto 128 tuning fork, to help with the injury.
You can use the fork onto energy points for general wellness, but you can also put it directly onto injured muscles to aid recovery.
The way the injury was healing I was expecting to be out for 3 weeks or so, yet I have recovered in two. I noticed a vast improvement in a couple of days. There are some scientific reasons tuning forks may work, which I have attached a link below. However I am not well educated in the field to say why these work, I just know they work….. and that is good enough for me.
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