Finding it: Calgary Marathon 50k Ultra

Pre-race

Before the gravitas of the race, the buildup. On friday, I took part in the Forerunner panel at the expo. The photo makes us look like a choir, and we do all sing a great tune.

That evening was the VIP party. Rich was hosting a visiting athlete, Benny, for the race weekend. I surprised him with a word of Swahili I remembered from Reid Coolsaet's blog. Reid was there, though I was a little shy speaking to any of the other elites.

Elite bloggers were there, just time for a group photo before heading off for an early night.

Saturday, and I showed up for the friendship run for my first time. It's a fun way of getting in a pre-race shakedown and building positive vibes for the race. Cool with a light drizzle. 

I was also part of saturday's ForeRunner panel. 

We all love to talk all things running, so it was a blast. A bit of a blur now, the one thing I can remember saying is that the runner I admire most is Haile Gebrsellasie. Aside from his record-breaking career, he shows a love of running that all of us, regardless of ability, can relate to. 

Looking ahead to the race, the hourly forecast showed a big temperature increase by 10am. A heavy sweater, 17 degrees and rising by the end of my first 50k Ultra was a concern. The day would require mental fortitude. 

Race day

The start line vibe was, as usual, palpably all positive. 

It felt like good running weather, though I knew it would be getting warm, and quickly. I had also forgotten the sunblock, facepalm. 

GoPro at the ready, I knew I'd need to switch it on and off several times to last the race. 

Great to capture the army of runners.

Also Rich, never to be seen again (in the race). 

Picture perfect start. 

Vitally, I started off at race pace from the first step instead of the usual adrenaline-fuelled-nutter-sprint. 

First of 3 times along the underpass, a sharp right saw a runner shove a cyclist entering the course. 

Heading into Inglewood and across its historic bridge, due to be replaced in the next couple of years. 

Elvis and a runner taking out the trash, Inglewood 12th St bridge. 

17th avenue saw the half and full/ 50k courses separate. 

More crowded for me than when I do the half, which is considerably faster. 

It was a relief to get to the marathon turning, less concentration needed on road positioning.

Nice to be recognized at km 11. I had noticed feeling warm by this point. Drop the pace a little, adjust that finish time. 1:42 at the half marathon point, and I realized my bandaids had fallen off you-know-where when I started to feel an itch. 

Just before the halfway mark, reached in 2:02, I felt a familiar hamstring twinge. This was my warning to take a walk break within 5k or grind to a long halt with severe cramping. 

Before that, a couple of minor traffic snafus, including wrong lane and hasty reverse.

Then one too many at the next junction. A small orange patch had now taken shape on the front of my singlet. 

The Grind

At the 30k aid station, I took a walk break. Being a slightly less exciting stretch of road, I had the camera off to save on battery power when the low point came. 

My hastily devised plan was to take a walk break every 5k. Coming off the Crowchild overpass and approaching the 32 km sign, my right leg turned to concrete. Painful, unyielding concrete. Don't let the knee bend, stretch it out and start walking I told myself. I tried this more than 3 times, each time my leg tried to fold. 

"Hey, what's happening?" A couple of medics had shown up. "I dehydrate a lot, leg's locked up." I explained how it had happened to me before. My responses were lucid enough that in hindsight I think I was starting to bore them.

"What do you want to do now?" "Wait for this to pass, get walking, and carefully manage things. I can finish." Writing this now, it's a bit surprising I didn't have to have a motivating chat with myself to psyche myself up. I merely issued that statement as if it were as bland as something one says in small claims court, and got moving. 

The Voyage Home

Sponges and cups of water were plentiful at aid stations. Each time I dumped water on my head, my pace quickened until it warmed up again 2 minutes later. 

At the second turnaround, I was slow working out what to do with the wristband (needed to make the cut-off), so I was given a second one. A fitting double souvenir.

The third and final turnaround at about 41k, elated to be putting the distance behind me, albeit slowly. 

And another.

I crossed the full marathon timing mat just under 3:50, to move into uncharted territory. One bonus was that I had thrown so much water on myself that the stain on my singlet had washed away. Result!

With around 5k remaining, I caught up to Ashley, whom together with Rich I've done a couple of relays with (and is also a spin instructor). Moving along at 5:30 pace after the 2nd last aid station, we took a walk break through the final aid station. After taking one of everything (cup of water, energy drink, and sponge), we got moving again. 

Approaching the underpass for the 3rd and final time, Ashley noticed everyone running on the sidewalk instead of the road, so we did the same. What a great idea. 

It was far less of a plunge, but there were still a couple of marathoners in difficulty.  One lady stopped right in front of us, easily avoided as we were hardly running fast. 

Next was a guy who stepped off the sidewalk. The 10cm drop was enough by now to produce a wobble, which was then turned into a controlled fall. "Damn cramp" he said. 

The 49k sign was metres after him. I told Ashley if she wanted to go on ahead for the finish, she could. She pulled ahead, though after a couple hundred metres slowed to a walk. A tap on the arm and she took off again. She ended up winning her age group, and so did Rich. 

2nd from last corner, now within crawling distance. At the very last corner, there was loud cheering from a few people I know which spurred me on. I am most grateful to them and all those who encouraged me, many by name, others spotting my camera or noticing my Canada singlet. It all helps, especially in the last half of a hot race. 

I celebrated all the way down the finish straight, geeing up the crowd. 

I ended up with 4:37:11. While I had been aiming for 30 minutes quicker, I knew at about 1/3 distance that the weather was firmly in charge. From 168 finishers, I was 47th. Top 50 had actually been a loose aim of mine beforehand, so pretty pleased with my placing. 

A massive thanks to all volunteers, all of whom knew that finishers like me would need gentle guidance, such as which recycling bin to throw my cup in. 

Ace photographer Neil found me at the finish, armed with his favourite fisheye lens. 

I like it too! I feel this portrait captures the essence of many runners: deliciously bonkers. 

The sprinkler was frankly heavenly, I let out a big aaahhh, which came out more like "blaaaaauuuuurrrroooohhhh". 

The most trying race I've done by far. The magnitude of what I've done started to sink in even before the finish line, however what strikes me most now is the calmness shown dealing with a near disaster. 

Moving house, still training

I moved house last week. 

There's always that question of what to discard and what to keep. 

Not being able to find things I might need in the first 2 weeks: inevitable. 

As running is what matters most, I labelled the boxes properly. To be sure of not having a mad scramble to find things, I took the race day approach to moving: I prepared a small box containing 3 sets of run clothes, drinks, whey protein, garmin, and Stick. Having it and my shoes placed by the bed meant I was training ready no matter the clutter. 

The sunday before was 34k, managed it ok. Sunday after was fortunately 26k, so wouldn't be too hard to do with moving fatigue. 

Boxes. There are never enough. The wednesday was going to be weights/ core. Finishing packing happened instead. It's lifting. 

Thursday was supposed to be tempo run day, but it was moving day. 

I did the tempo on friday instead. Rather stiff in the hips, I cut it 2k short. After that, I helped get our old place ready for tenant move-in. Cross training of a kind, just way less fun. Saturday would've been weights and core, but more housework beckoned. 

Sunday, stiff as a board, I cranked out that 26k. Monday's cross training was yet more screwdrivers and paint brushes.

Tuesday, back at work. I stand at my desk, and getting back to that from being an amateur contortionist was most welcome. The following day I went to the chiropractor. All kinds of crunching and popping had me actually say "that's good s&!t" out loud at one point. 

Today's (thursday) tempo was excellent. 13k at 4:30 pace. The only few times it felt tough? When I looked at my watch to see I was going too fast. Moving certainly made me lighter.

50k: 5 days to go and marathon 1 year on: how's the toenail?

A badge of honour so say some, my right foot's big toenail ran into trouble at last year's Calgary Marathon. Here it is a couple of weeks later, being inspected by a cat at a bookstore in Seoul, Korea. 

My toe became swollen right after the race, bled underneath the nail and became detached. Advised to leave well alone, I did. The new one has slowly grown behind, and partially over it. 

On the eve of my first 50k exactly a year later, the old nail is just about gone, no longer a double nail. What's waiting for me next? Just like the race itself, it's a mystery. In a race, we all experience many sensations, including discovering something unknown of oneself. 

"No race begins at the startline," as Haile Gebrselassie once said. Toenail trouble or not, it will confirm another of the great man's adages, "running gives you everything". 

Calgary Marathon - race planning

You never forget your first race. My first was the half marathon in Calgary 2009. It was a great day. Here are a few tips to make yours great too. 

A few things I've learned over the years have helped me be more fully race ready at the startline. 

A couple of weeks out, maintain a good amount of stretching and yoga if it's part of your routine. Plenty of sleep will also aid in boosting recovery from workouts. As training load reduces on the lead-in to race day, these 2 things will be of great help in being fresh and flexible for the race. 

Dietary: "carb loading" is quite a big subject on its own. I will just say here to avoid overdoing it. A few extra carbs 2-4 days prior should be fine. 

Study the course so you know exactly what's coming, and which direction the next corner takes. This way, the runner won't run a metre further than needed. I find that the brain doesn't function much on a conscious level during a race, so it's best to pre-load it with course info and race plan. 

Day before: have everything you'll need ready for race day. Pack your bag, put your race clothes in a pile to put on as soon as you're out of bed. Check the hourly weather forecast. Try to dress for the race rather than the startline: in other words, not too warm. While it might be 5 degrees at sunrise, by 10 am it could be 15 degrees and rising. 

Race day, allow plenty of time to get to the start. Early is always better, leave 15 minutes earlier than planned. I wear my race shoes on my way there to allow my feet to get truly settled into them and ensure no hurried re-tying just before the starting horn. 

Biological matters. Every runner has at some point sung the section from Bohemian Rhapsody "let me go!", including myself during my first marathon. To avoid this, I go: as soon as I wake up, after breakfast, just before I leave home, as soon as I arrive at the venue, and once more before the lines start getting long. This is a lot of visits, however it means starting with greater confidence that there's one less thing to worry about. Furthermore, for marathons, most runners will be finishing mid-morning. 

I also try to steer clear of heavy foods the day before. 

Race - have an aim and pace in mind, as it's easy to go too fast, especially at the start. Embrace the day and encouragement from the crowd. It might however be better to ignore anyone who says "nearly there!" unless there's less than 1km left. 

Take onboard fluids with electrolytes regularly, and start early, especially with the longer distances. 

When the going gets tough towards the end, studying the course can come in useful. Memorial Drive may provide difficult moments for many runners. During my first marathon, I broke down that last 10k into sections, telling myself to get to the next bridge - some 1km apart, others a lot closer. 

After finishing, try to avoid sitting down as long as you can. All your leg muscles want to do is contract, remaining on your feet will lessen the effect. This has worked extremely well for me over the years - walking is so much harder if you sir for a while soon after the finish line. 

A decent lunch can be guilt free - if you've run the marathon or ultra, any and all food is good for you (IMO). 

There's nothing like race day, let's go get it. 

Extending the limits

The runs are getting longer and faster, it's getting warmer and windier, and my trousers are getting looser: it must be April. 

While the first week of May is peek training before tapering, for annual participants in the Calgary Marathon it is April that sees the hardest work. 

Training is all about getting in better shape, for race day or otherwise. Going about it the smart way involves runs that challenge you, and get you to go a little further still. Each time you do this, the body adapts that little bit extra. Come race day, your limit is beyond where it used to be. 

Gearing up for a 50k, my extreme endurance ability needs work. Last year I trained using Hanson's method. 6 runs per week left little space for core work, or any other work. It also puts the longest long run at 26k. The point is more about accumulated fatigue. 

This year it's the First/ run less run faster program. The 3 easy runs (out of the total of 6) are replaced with 2 cross training workouts (rowing machine and exercise bike in my case) and a core workout. Each of the 3 runs in the program is a challenge - a truly long run, a tempo, and punishing speed work. The thinking is to work harder on the runs and include one that's closer to race conditions, all while promoting fuller recovery between them (though still working hard on non-run days). 

In each of the 4 marathons I've done, my right hamstring (or both) has seized up. I PB'd last year by 5 minutes due to managing that problem smartly, even though it did still happen. Still, this time around on my way to my first 50k ultra, sundays feature more 30k+ runs than ever before (5 to be exact, along with 2x 29k, 2x 26k, a 27 and 2x tempo half marathons). 

The length of these sunday outings allow me to link together old routes from before I moved house with current ones. From brush, to streetscape, to alpine. I like the sound of "I ran Fish Creek Park in its entirety." 

My legs tend to feel toasted by about 27/ 28k. Changing to a more shuffling style to protect the hamstrings, I've found I can keep going at target race pace. It's at about my fat-burning pace I have found: legs feel awful, but I can keep going. It has often produced a mental image of a steam train fireman shovelling coal as fast as he can. Or buckets of fat. 

Speed runs have me running, or for the first month of the plan flailing and gasping, at higher speeds than ever before. Despite using a gps watch, it's hard to get the right speed. Frequently, I start off too fast. For example, a recent 6x 800m: I'd do the first 500m 20 seconds per km too fast, then cling on. Misjudgments like that make the final intervals hard to complete, but if it's difficult, it's doing you good. 

My tempo runs are less strenuous, though the shorter ones are rather high speed and burn a little at the end.

Amongst all of that, and moving house at the end of this month, I've still found time to make it to a few Calgary Marathon events. Honorary Chair Chandra Crawford, an Olympic gold medallist in cross country skiing is tackling the Half, and has a strong message about perseverance with fun. That is what it is all about - every runner is a case study in the triumph of the human spirit.