IAU World 100km Championships 2018, Sveti Martin na Muri, Croatia

The 2018 IAU World 100km Championships - my 6th appearance in a Great Britain vest, but sadly not one of my better races.  I'll start where I left off on my previous blog post, with a hamstring tear back in April.  I gave the injury the necessary time to heal before resuming easy running, but it wasn't until June that I was really able to start training properly.  When the Great Britain team for the 100km was announced in June I was over the moon to be selected, but knew I would be hard pressed to be back to my best shape by September when I was about a month behind where I would have liked to have been.  However, I was proud to be representing my country again, and was determined to give it my best shot.

 

I built my mileage up nicely over the summer months, managing a few 90+ mile weeks - not easy when combined with a particularly stressful time at work.  I was also experiencing some nerve pain in the balls of both feet, which at times made running almost unbearable, but I had to keep on pushing though the pain as time was so short.  I had several sessions with my physio, Mark Buckingham, and podiatrist, Steve Avil, to try and sort the problem out and eventually resorted to wearing an old pair of orthotic insoles, which helped, but didn't completely resolve the issue.  I also had a time earlier in the year where I felt very fatigued and heavy-legged, so much so that my runs were literally more of a shuffle.  I had various blood tests and have had several visits to the Sports Medicine clinic at the QE Hospital in Birmingham.  It was diagnosed as a non-specific 'systemic issue' which affected my TSH thyroid levels.  Thankfully it seems to be resolving itself now and my blood tests are almost back to normal, but I'm still seeing the Sports Med. doctor to monitor things.  I guess these things are all part and parcel of running and I don't think I've ever had a build up to a major race that has gone completely smoothly!

  

I raced sparingly during my build-up as I felt I just needed to get the training miles in.  I was required to run a marathon back in June to 'prove my fitness' to the selectors, so I ran the Enigma Running marathon in Milton Keynes where I finished 1st lady.  I also travelled down to Redhill in Surrey for the British Masters Half-marathon Championships.  Just a couple of days beforehand my podiatrist had doctored my orthotic insoles to try and help my foot problem, but unfortunately it made it worse and by the end of the first lap I was in agony.  Deciding that my race was over I stopped, walked back to the car, took all the temporary felt off my insoles, changed my shoes, then decided to try a little jog as I really needed to get some more training miles in.  It didn't feel too bad, so I re-joined the race where I'd left off and ran the second lap!  It's definitely a 'personal worst' in terms of time - a half-marathon with a 15 minute break in the middle!

 

The weeks flew by and all of sudden it was time to fly out to Croatia.  My last two or three weeks training had picked up considerably and, although I knew I was nowhere near PB shape, I was confident of a solid performance. 


At Birmingham airport ready for my flight

The race village was at the LifeClass Terme Sveti Martin - a complex comprising hotel, apartments and leisure facilities based around a thermo-mineral spa.  I arrived on the Thursday afternoon and met up with my team-mates who had travelled from various parts of the UK.  It was also great to catch up with athletes I knew from other countries, who I'd met at previous races.  All our meals were in the hotel restaurant - a buffet with a wide range of choice and where we could help ourselves to as much as we wanted; perfect for hungry runners!

The race hotel

Meeting up with my fellow GB team mates

My race picnic all prepared!

The day before the race was taken up with the usual pre-race preparations - a little jog to recce the course, the team meeting, preparing my drinks bottles and then the Opening Ceremony.  I had the huge honour and privilege of carrying the Union Flag for the Great Britain team in the athletes' parade.  After each of the 41 countries had been introduced to the crowd there were a few short speeches and a local choir performed the Croatian National Anthem and a few traditional songs.  It was then time to carbo-load on pasta and rice and get an early night ready for my 4.00am alarm.

A short jog along the course on the day before the race



Left:  Local school children preparing to lead the teams in the parade  Right: Team GB preparing for the parade

Left:  the athletes' parade about to get underway                Right:  Team GB in the parade

Team GB at the opening ceremony

The race start / finish

The race started at 7.00am local time on the Saturday, with the start and finish directly outside the front door of the hotel, so no need for a bus ride to the start!  At this time there was cloud cover and the temperature was around 17 degrees C, so it felt really pleasant for running.  I set off at my intended pace and found myself in a group with a couple of girls from the USA.  I felt comfortable and hardly noticed the hills on the course as I took in the scenery around me - fields of sweetcorn and apples, a wooded section and houses with window boxes of colourful flowers.



The early miles went by quite comfortably
 

Running through fields of sweetcorn

The course consisted of one small out-and-back lap (2.5km) and then thirteen out-and-back laps of 7.5km each.  The main feed station was at the hotel complex, with a second feed station at the turn-around point.  These were ably manned by our team managers - Jo, Adrian and John - who did a great job of supplying us with our needs and offering plenty of encouragement.  As each lap progressed I began to tick off familiar landmarks - the house with the barking dog, the group of supporters playing upbeat music from their van, inspirational signs that had been put out by the roadside and the fields of sweetcorn which I knew meant I was approaching the turn-round point.


Motivational signs had been placed along the route

Left:  Team manager Jo in action at the feed station         Right: the main feed station

I maintained my rhythm for approximately 70km, but by this time the sun was fully out, the temperature had risen to 30 degrees C. and humidity was high.  I thought that training through the heat-wave we had this summer would have helped to acclimatise myself, but obviously it wasn't enough.  The hills that had seemed manageable at the beginning now began to feel like mountains!  The course was constantly up and down, with a total of 800m (2,600 feet) of climb and hardly a flat section anywhere.  This began to take it's toll and my quads started objecting violently on the downhill sections, screaming at me to give them a break.  From then on it was a matter of putting one foot in front of the other to get to the finish.  The team management were giving me sponges and bags of ice, I was drinking extra cups of water and pouring it over my head too.  For the last 30km or so I was reduced to a run / walk strategy, but I had no doubt in my mind that I would finish, however long it took me.  I knew how privileged I was to be representing my country, and how important it was for GB to finish a team, and there was no way I was going to let them down.  I hadn't gone all the way to Croatia to DNF.

The undulations felt like mountains in the latter stages

I eventually crossed the line in 8hrs 55mins 37secs - my slowest ever 100km.  I finished 51st out of 109 finishers in the women's race and 6th in my age group (140th out of 284 starters overall in the combined men's and women's races).  With three to score for a team, and only three women in the GB team, it was vital that I finished to back up my two team-mates.  We were placed 9th women's team out of the 22 countries that managed to finish a full team from the 38 countries that sent women.  This was, in fact, the first time GB have managed to finish a complete women's team in a major 100km champs. since 2012.  Japan won both the men's and women's team races, with South Africa second in both.  Japan, in fact, took individual 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th in the women's race and won the men's race!

The relief of crossing the finish line

A tired athlete with a proud coach!

I must be honest, I'm bitterly disappointed with my performance and feel I let many people down - myself, my team-mates, my coach Les, and everyone who has supported me.  My plan had been to start steadily and finish strong, but my body had other ideas on the day.  Looking back I feel angry that I allowed myself to get into a negative mindset, allowing myself to walk and not having the mental strength to keep running.  But I know that I'm also probably being too hard on myself - it's easy to look back afterwards, when the pain has gone, and think 'I could have tried harder', but the reality is I did what I could at the time.  I tried my hardest and I'm proud of myself for finishing when many others didn't.  Not only that, but I still managed to finish in the top half of the field, despite my poor performance.  I will take both those as positives.

Another positive was the fact that the foot issues I'd been having didn't surface at all during the race!  So thank you to my trusty Mizuno Wave Rider shoes for not letting me down!

Les and I stayed out in Croatia for a few days after the race, which I was very thankful for as post-race was a huge anti-climax for me.  My life had been focussed on that one race for the last three months and not only was it all over, but it wasn't the result I'd been hoping for either.  I'm so happy that Les was able to come out to Croatia with me and share the whole experience.  He is always there for me in training and it's only fitting that he should be at the race too.  I owe him so much - he did an amazing job getting me from where I was in April to being able to finish a 100km in September.  We enjoyed some time sightseeing in Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary, refuelling on cake and ice-cream, taking a dip in the thermo-mineral pools and sampling the local restaurants.  And then, sadly, it was time to come home.

Left:  The countryside around Sveti Martin                  Right:  Floating water mill on the River Mura nr. Sveti Martin

Vinarium Tower in Lendava, Slovenia, and the view form the top (from where you can see Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Austria)

Left:  Lake Balaton at Keszthely, Hungary                          Right:  Stari Grad (Old Castle), Varazdin, Croatia

Left:  A relaxing dip in the thermo- mineral pools                      Right:  Post-race refuelling

Time to say good-bye to Croatia

It's now a week since the race and I've taken the time to recover and recharge my batteries, both mentally as well as physically.  The soreness in my legs went very quickly thanks to the amazing powers of CurraNZ berries http://bit.ly/2o9SmW6 . I hope to resume light jogging within the next few days and see how my legs feel before I make any firm plans for races, but I hope to be out there racing again soon as I need to rebuild my confidence that was severely dented in Croatia!

 

Krakow Marathon - unlucky 13!

On Friday 13^th April I placed a bet on no. 13 in the Grand National, ‘Tiger Roll’ and the following day it duly won.  I hoped that my ‘lucky 13’ would continue the following weekend when I was due to race in my 13^th country outside the UK – the Krakow Marathon in Poland.  Unfortunately, however, the Grand National was where my luck for no. 13 ran out!

I’d received a last minute invite to the race through my friend and GB team-mate, Jo Zakrzewski.  With only two weeks’ notice it was never going to be a goal race with a fast time, but I was hoping to use it as a good, solid training run.  I was really excited about my first visit to Poland and catching up with Jo again.

With my friend Jo

On arrival at Krakow airport it took a while to locate my lift to the hotel, but I eventually found it and travelled with two men who had run the Boston marathon the week before.  The elite athletes’ hotel was the Novotel, a great location within walking distance of the Vistula River, the Wawel Royal Castle and the centre of Krakow.  The race was applying for an IAAF Bronze label and, therefore, needed to fulfil certain criteria, including an elite field with athletes of a certain calibre from several different countries.  Consequently there were athletes from Kenya, Ethiopia, Japan, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Portugal and, of course, Jo and I from the UK.  Sadly Jo was unable to run due to injury, but was there as an ambassador to try and help the race organisers gain their Bronze label.  The hotel was very nice and the food was excellent – a buffet at every meal where we could just eat as much as we liked.  It still never ceases to amaze me how much the African runners eat!

I’d arrived before Jo on the Friday, so I took myself off for a little sightseeing wander around the centre of Krakow.  It’s a beautiful city – the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland.  The old town is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

St. Mary's Basilica

The main square (Rynek Gowny) - one of the largest Medieval squares in Europe

The Wawel Royal Castle & Vistula River (left) and Barbican (right)

 

Saturday was mainly taken up with race preparation – a photo shoot for all the elite athletes near the river / castle; a ‘presentation of elite athletes’ on a stage at the race expo; a technical meeting; preparation of drinks bottles etc.



Elite athletes 'photo shoot'
 

Presentation of the elite athletes at the race expo.

Plenty of food and drink in the elite athletes' tent!

Race day dawned another beautiful sunny day and I made my way onto to the coach that was to transport the elite athletes all of about 5 minutes to the start area in the main square!  We had a dedicated marquee with portaloos, deck chairs, food and drink and massage areas!

 

 

 

 

 

Arriving at the start area

I did some easy jogging to warm up and to test my hamstring.  In the week prior to the race my hamstring had been feeling particularly tight, but I was confident that several days rest and plenty of massage during the week would be enough to see me through the race. 

Making our way to the start

We lined up at the start and after what seemed like an age we were off – making our way out of the square and through the streets of Krakow. 

Ready for the off

Looking less than happy in the medical tent

Sadly, my journey didn’t last very long at all.  Only 500 metres into the race my hamstring suddenly gave a sharp twinge and although I tried to carry I knew it wasn’t going to let me.  The difficulty now was that I was in the middle of the road, in tears, and in danger of being swallowed up and mown down by thousands of runners behind me!  I eventually managed to extricate myself and get to the barriers at the side and squeeze through a small gap to get out!  There was a policeman at the side of the route, but I don’t think he really knew what to do with a blubbering English lady who couldn’t speak his language!  So, as I was fairly close to the start / finish area, I hobbled back there and got some treatment in the medical tent. 

I made a sobbing phone call to Jo to let her know what had happened as she was out on the course with my camera, ready to cheer me on, and I thought she’d be wondering where I’d got to!  She came straight back to me and was really great at looking after me – thank you Jo.  Not only did I feel I’d denied her the chance to watch the race, but I also felt I’d let both Jo and Darek (the elite athlete organiser) down by not finishing.  I know that you have no control over when an injury strikes, but I still felt very bad.  I hung around at the finish area, periodically getting ice for my leg, and eventually watching the winners come in.  I felt really down – I hadn’t gone there to only run 500m – but I was also conscious that Jo must also be feeling low about not running and so tried not to let my feelings show too much (though I’m not sure I succeeded).

I tried to put the race behind me and set about enjoying the remainder of the weekend – sampling the local vodka, cheeses and bread; more sightseeing; souvenir shopping and visiting one of Jo’s friends.  A huge thank you Jo for giving me the opportunity to visit Krakow, for your support and company and for putting up with me for four days!

Reflecting on this a week later it was, perhaps, a blessing in disguise that I didn’t push my body through a marathon, as it appears from a blood test result this week that all was not quite as it should be.  If I’m honest things hadn’t been great for some weeks.  I’d been experiencing very heavy legs in training, struggling to run at what should have been an easy jog pace and just not flowing.  I’d had three weeks warm weather training in Portugal in March, which went OK, but even then I was heavy-legged and unable to run the sort of pace I should have been capable of. 



 

Enjoying training in Portugal

I’d gone into those three weeks in Portugal off the back of a niggly calf injury and I went down with a cold in my first week there, my second cold in three months, which is unusual for me.  I had one or two decent sessions in Portugal, though, so thought I was just taking time to regain my fitness after nine weeks off over the winter.  Once back in the UK I mentioned all this to my physio, who identified a potential issue due to the way my muscles generally felt “solid” and “over-baked” (that was his technical term!), but with no specific tightness.  He recommended a blood test which, sure enough, shows certain levels aren’t quite right, possibly pointing to a post-viral issue from the colds I’d had.  My hamstring has been diagnosed as a neural issue resulting from a lot of tightness and pelvis imbalance, rather than a tear, which is good news.  So now I know what I’m dealing with I can start to put things right in all areas, fingers crossed!

The joys of winter!

I have to be honest - I'm not a huge fan of winter!  OK, so a crisp frost glinting in the sunlight against a blue sky can be beautiful, but rarely seems to actually occur!  More often it's dull, dreary, drizzly and cold, which does nothing to lift my mood.  I also suffer badly from Raynaud's syndrome, with white, numb fingers and toes.  This is a very painful condition and often gets me down when I permanently seem to have no feeling in my fingers and struggle to do simple everyday tasks.  However, I have tried to embrace winter and take the positives, such as the enjoyment of a hot shower after coming back from a cold, wet run.  I've also discovered mittens!  On the coldest runs I now wear a thick, padded pair of ski mittens which are amazingly better at keeping my hands warm(er) than gloves.  OK, so I might look a bit ridiculous, but as my physio pointed out, no more so than usual!  The other discovery that has brightened up my winter, quite literally, is a chest light.  This is amazing - it's really bright and means I'm no longer restricted to running up and down a 1.5 mile stretch with street lights, or negotiating rush hour traffic in the town.  Cars even seem to give me more respect than they do during the day, slowing down and sometimes even stopping completely - I think they can't quite make out what that strange light is coming towards them!  Thank goodness also for Mizuno's high-vis kit - luminous panels and really reflective logos.  I do get concerned about the number of runners (and walkers and cyclists) I see who wear black and are totally invisible.  Surely safety is more important than feeling self-conscious?  I always make sure I wear a white coloured top, a reflective vest and tights with reflective bits when I'm running at night.

 

Glow in the dark Mizuno apparel

Another problem with winter is the number of bugs around - everyone seems to be sniffing, snivelling and coughing.  I regularly take CurraNZ which has a number of benefits, one of which is that it boosts immunity.  It's a 100% natural supplement containing only blackcurrants and is also certified by Informed-Sport, providing assurance that it has been tested for, and is free from, any banned substances.  And it really does seem to work too.  Follow this link if you'd like to try it for yourself:  http://bit.ly/2o9SmW6

 

So, you'll gather from this that I'm back running again after a 'voluntary' period of rest to address ongoing high hamstring tendinopathy.  I'm not sure yet how much difference the rest has made, but I'm taking all the positives from it.  Yes, it was a really hard decision to agree to stop running, but I value the advice of my physio and we hadn't really given the hamstring a proper chance to recover and settle down and adapt to the strengthening programme that I was following in the gym.  At least I've now done that and can move forward, knowing that I've done everything possible to help it.  You always have to give something a try, otherwise you'll never know if it's going to help or not.

 

I ran in my first race of the year at the Draycote Water 10k last weekend.  I was really excited to be racing again - my first race since last September - although I must admit that when my alarm went off at 6.30am on a Sunday morning I wasn't quite so enamoured with the idea!  The race was cold and windy; great with the wind behind you, but a real slog when running into it, especially when you're nowhere remotely near race-fit!  But it was great to try and push myself as much as my lack of fitness would allow and get my mind back into 'racing mode'.  I'm quite familiar with Draycote Water - I've raced there a couple of times before and done a few training runs there over the years.  But my most abiding memories are from when I was a child, sitting with my sister in the back of our parents' car whilst they drove round birdwatching.  It was always freezing cold and we'd be wrapped in blankets, amusing ourselves by drawing / colouring and being told not to jig around while Mum and Dad were trying to look through their binoculars / 'scope.  Many years later this birdwatching theme continued after this race, as Les and I went in search of an elusive Hawfinch.  They had, apparently, been seen fairly regularly in the area next to the reservoir and after 20 minutes of patiently waiting we were rewarded with great views of one.  Native UK Hawfinches have declined in recent years, but apparently there have been an influx from Europe this winter due to crop failures on the continent which have driven them further north to find food.  It was certainly a rare treat to see one and rounded off a very positive day.

 

Draycote Water 10k

Battling against the wind in the home straight!