Tim Kelly's 2015 Dingle Marathon Training

Over the past few months Tim Kelly has been keeping members up to date via the facebook group on his Dingle Marathon training. I thought it would be worth posting here for those not on facebook, or just about anyone else who may be interested.

So here it is, with some useful comments from the facebook thread:

12 Weeks To Go

Marathon Training blog - thanks to Nicky and Jim Weatherburn I am able to do some training for my last 2 raced marathons this autumn, culminating in my 60th at 60 at Dublin. As this is the last time I will put my body through a marathon build up I thought it might be useful to share my training regime which may help other mid pack marathon runners. I hope to run about three and a half hours if I can avoid injury, but probably slower at Dingle in September due to the mountainous terrain.

So with about 12 weeks to go to Dingle last weeks training went like this: 

10 miles at race pace (8 minute miling) 7.5 miles including 3.3 miles kenyan hills at 10 mile race effort (7.30 miling)
Gym session - upper body and core 18 miles in 2hrs 40mins
Gym session - upper body, legs and core
8 miles in 1hr 12 mins badly affected by asthma
5.3 miles at marathon race pace

I welcome any questions over the training I'm doing, which has been based on a winter of strength and conditioning work and a gradual build up to try to avoid injury.

Some thoughts on strength & conditioning:

As we get older muscle strength and lean muscle mass decrease quite alarmingly so weight training in the gym or other plyometric exercises help to maintain some of this strength. I have done a little research into this with a view to preventing breakdown through injury due to weakness in muscle and other connecting tissue -not scientific research, but the possible benefit of this type of training along with core training for the older athlete. to go through the detail of the s+c training would bore people to death, but can have a chat about it soon.

11 Weeks To Go

Introducing the second episode of the marathon training schedule, where daughter moving house meant less time for running.

Day1: Gym session - upper body, core and legs.
Day 2: 8 miles easy 67 mins
Day 3:Gym session - upper body and core, giving legs a rest due to league race next day.
Day 4: Harlow league race - ran within myself first half at around 7 minute miling, but when I wanted to speed up I was overwhelmed by the humidity and high pollen count like many on that evening, Disappointing 45 mins.
Day 5: Gym session - upper body, legs and core. Increase weights for legs in preparation for hill climbs at Dingle.
Day 6: 10.3 miles easy (pace that is - the run was tough - tired legs and unstable cartilage in both knees). Took glutamine supplement with lunch to promote muscle recovery.
Day 7: Yoga session followed by gym session - upper body and core, legs given rest for long run tomorrow.

Hopefully more running and less gym next week!

10 Weeks To Go

I would surely like to be training on the west coast of Ireland than here in this heat at the moment! Not too bad for most of last week, when my training week started with an easy 18 miler in 2.36. I need to move up to 20 miles on my long runs and slow things down a bit. If I'm aiming to run about 8 minute miling in the marathon, I should be running about 15 secs a mile slower. I am using Cytomax to hydrate as I run, it also contains amino acids to prevent too much muscle breakdown and hence aids recovery. 

(There was also a nice cold chocolate shake at the end!)
Day 2 was in the gym working on upper body, legs and core.
Day 3- 7.4 miles including 3.4 miles Kenyan Hills in 24 minutes. Had to work hard to keep to average 7.30 pace after yesterdays gym session. Supplemented a glutamine (amino acid) tablet to aid recovery.
Day 4- 10.3 miles in 1.30. Cartilage in my left knee is unstable, so having to nurse this along a bit.
Day 5- in the gym - as day 2.
Day 6- increasingly humid. Left knee feeling quite unstable, so another 8 miles easy in 1.11.
Day 7 - Yoga session followed by upper body and core session in gym. No leg work today as stress from leg extensions may be aggravating the knee. I will cut back the long run next week to reduce impact on the knee in the hope that I can push on in training the following week.

9 Weeks To Go

An eventful week in the training program last week with an unstable cartilage in the left knee giving me considerable problems. Still trying to nurse it along.

Day 1; A damp and cool day, so out for an easy 12.3 in 1.45.
Day 2: 7 miles including 8x400m reps on grass which is kindest to knees. Times for reps from 1.34 to 1.28.
Day 3: Gym - upper body, core and legs, but drop off heavier weights from leg work so as not to put strain on knees.
Day 4: The HOT day. The only time I had run in higher temps was in Perth WA. I intended to run 10 miles, unfortunately in the middle of the day. By 4 miles I knew it was time to turn back. Just about managed 8 in just over 9 minute miling. Sadly my new tub of Cytomax hadn't arrived in time.
Day 5: Still hot but not like the previous day. 5.4 miles at marathon race pace on grass.
Day 6: Left knee felt OK yesterday, so back to the gym for weight session on upper body, core and legs with full weights restored to leg exercises.
Day 7: Very humid day. Legs felt heavy possibly due to yesterdays weight session. 12.3 miles 5 minutes slower than day 1. Supplemented glutamine as I obviously had not recovered sufficiently. Enjoyed my new Berry flavoured Cytomax though!
Next week I will try to progress the training a bit if the left knee remains OK.

8 Weeks To Go

2 months to the Dingle Marathon now, so if the knees feel OK I will try to get some progression in the training.

Day 1 is Stort 10 day, so only time for a gym session, upper body core and legs introducing some additional reps. Got to be strong for those hills!
Day 2: 7.4 miles including 3.4 miles Kenyan Hills in 25 minutes. On target at around 10 mile race pace for session.
Day 3: Gym session. Dropped off on leg exercises today as 20 miler tomorrow.
Day 4: My first 20 miles since Dublin last year. I only intend to run 3 in the lead up to Dingle. I suspect my legs should know what 20 miles feels like by now, so the usual wisdom of 100 miles in 5 long runs leading into a marathon will be a little undercooked this time. This run was done largely on trails with gates, stiles etc. to ensure a leisurely pace. Run complete in 3 hrs 13 secs - 9 minute miling - mission accomplished. Looking good for 8 minute miling in the race presently if I can cope with the hills.
Day 5:Gym session. Upper body, core and legs.
Day 6: 8 miles @ marathon race pace. 1.03.56. Close enough.
Day 7: REST Day. Tour of Hertford's real ale taverns with Peter Allen, Graham Statter and others. A little walking involved and a lot of lifting pints, so some exercise was involved!

7 Weeks To Go

This weeks marathon training started with a recovery run, more from the previous days activities in Hertford than tough running!

Day 1: 8 miles 1hr 12 mins.
Day 2: Gym/ weights, upper body, core and legs.
Day 3: 7 miles including 8x400m reps. Pushed on a bit from the last interval session, times between 1.30 and 1.25. My CV system suggested I could go faster, but my knees and ankles didn't agree!
Day 4: Gym session - upper body, core and legs. My left knee is is hurting quite a lot now and I can't bend it properly without sharp pain, Could be a problem.
Day 5: A circumspect 12.3 miles. Luckily the pain and stiffness in my knee eased after a couple of miles so I was quite happy with 1.43, about 8.30 miling.
Day 6: Gym session - upper body and core. Left knee becoming more painful. That night I doubted I would be able to manage the planned long run the next day.
Day 7: 20 miles. Luckily the pain eased somewhat so I decided to attempt the long run assisted by ibuprofen orally and as a gel. Again, the knee eased after a couple of miles ans I jogged round in 3.02. Only 1 more 20 to go before Dingle now.
My continued thanks to Jim and Nicky Weatherburn continuing to keep me running towards (hopefully) my 59th and 60th (and last!!!) raced marathon.

6 Weeks To Go

A little late with the marathon training blog this week. I blame 5 days of Beer Festival! This week and the next will just be tickover weeks due to BS Beerfest and recovery therefrom!

Day 1: Rest Day - start as I mean to go on. Folk by the Oak Festival at Hatfield House starring the mighty Bellowhead.
Day 2: 8 miles including 4 miles Kenyan hills in 31.14 - a bit on the slow side.
Day 3: Gym - upper body, legs and core.
Day 4: 14.5 miles easy in 2.02. Wish it always felt this easy.
Day 5: Gym - upper body, legs and core plus interval session on rower.
Day 6: Squeezed in 4.4 miles around Beerfest.
Day 7: Another rest day at the Beerfest. You may have realised by now that this is not an ideal marathon training schedule!

5 Weeks To Go

At the time of writing it is a mere month to the Dingle Marathon. I can almost smell the Guinness and turf fires!

This weeks training was a recovery week from the 7th Bishops Stortford Beer Festival. After a heavy session at the festival the day before, day 1 of the weeks schedule started with some unusual training at the festival breakdown - dismantling what was left of 130 barrels of beer and cider and its racking. Also managed a slow 4 miler.

Day 2: 6 miles including 4x800m reps on lush grass after yesterdays rain. I eased through the first of these in 3.18 and settled on 3.12 for the rest. Knees OK, so will stick to 800s rather than 400s and use the short rowing intervals in the gym more regularly.
Day 3: Gym work - upper body, core and legs.
Day 4: 12.8 miles in 1.53. Still a little jaded after the festival. Still using Cytomax on longer runs.
Day 5: Gym - upper body, core and legs. Rowing intervals had been on the agenda too, but after pruning grapevines on steps all day, with all the twisting that entails, my back felt too sore.
Day 6: 8 miles in 65 mins. Easy paced but close to marathon race pace, so things looking up now. Hopefully I can get in 3 quality weeks work before tapering.
Day 7: Gym - upper body and core. No leg work as final 20 miler tomorrow. Weather looks good, so I'll stick to the country trails again. The last 2 light training weeks have been kind to my knees, which although sore seem more stable than before. Hopefully I have shaken off the dip in training induced by the festival!

Mike Grant Tim - I googled Cytomax, and it says that it is an elite product for elite athletes! So that means you. I have seen various recommendations for taking energy gels etc when training - some say not to take them in order to train your body to burn fat, others say to use them on some training runs to get your body used to absorbing them when running in order to avoid stomach trouble on race day. What are your thoughts?

Tim Kelly Hi Mike - An excellent question. For many years the perceived wisdom seemed to largely be exactly as you have found - not to use gels in training when training your body to fat burn except to try them out before a race. Last winter I spent a lot of time looking into nutrition for runners and body composition. I found that during training on long runs, as glycogen becomes very low, it is not only fat but muscle protein which is used as fuel. The fat is fine, but the breakdown of muscle protein as fuel reduces lean muscle mass and metabolic rate as a result. Cytomax is a product available for any athlete to use. As you probably found, it contains not only electrolytes, vitamins and some carbs to assist distance running, but also amino acids to either replace those used in muscle breakdown or take their place as fuel. Studies have shown that this can prevent 80% of potential muscle breakdown. This has obvious benefits as mentioned above and will assist in faster recovery.

Mike Grant Very interesting. I have used SIS gels and found them very useful. The breakdown of muscle protein is new to me though - will look into that before my next long distance event.

Tim Kelly Mike Grant - above continued - my opinion has now changed. I think that Cytomax and Accelerade are excellent products to use to support distance running. I have found that Cytomax can be purchased reasonably cheaply on the internet through a company called Dolphin Sports. If not using these products, I would personally advocate supplementing the amino acid glutamine to reduce the effect of muscle loss. However, the use of gels would certainly delay or prevent the breakdown of muscle protein. I suspect the effect on fat burning would not be huge as this remains a proportion of your energy source depending on running speed. I have tried to summarise as concisely as possible, but if you want to talk further around this I'll chat with you at the Club.

Tim Kelly Mike Grant - I too use SIS Go gels when I'm running a marathon. I think they are really good and wouldn't swap them on race day. At my next marathon I will use these gels after loading with SIS GO energy and will consider a glutamine supplement, although the latter is less important, because after the race I'll have 2 weeks off and there's no need to worry about recovery ( unless from the Guinness!)

Mike Grant Thanks Tim - will definitely talk further at the club. I must admit to breaking the rules and using gels on training runs for my recent marathon and Grizzles. The benefits in being able to complete longer runs more easily and to recover more quickly seemed to me to outweigh any theoretical reduction in fat adaptation - the increase in training volume was what counted overall, and the gels helped this.

4 Weeks to Go

Marathon training blog - need to step things up a bit over the next couple of weeks. Suffering from a bit of plantar fascitis under my left foot. Hoping to stop this getting any worse by icing and massaging using an old water bottle which has been kept in the freezer.

Day 1: 20 miles in warm and humid conditions. Felt harder than usual because of this, but my last 20 in the lead up to Dingle. Finished in 3.01 running over the trails around Much Hadham again.
Day 2: Gym - Upper body, core and legs.
Day 3: 8 miles including 4 miles Kenyan Hills completed in 24.48. Pleased with session as uphill headwind created a good degree of difficulty such as I might find on Ireland's Atlantic coast.
Day 4: Day out at the cricket in Colchester, so just managed 5.2 miles in 45 mins when I got back late that evening.
Day 5 : Gym - Upper body, legs, core and rowing intervals. These are really making my knees sore, so I will have to consider whether to persevere with them or introduce a few strides into longer easy runs.
Day 6: The race must be getting close now as the SIS Go Energy and gels have arrived from Wiggle. Ran 10.3 miles in 1.28.
Day 7: Pilates followed by gym session - upper body and core.

Happy with this week. My knees generally feel less sore and hopefully will stand another couple of weeks training a bit harder.

3 Weeks to Go

The physical training for the Dingle Marathon is now nearly over. Starting to think about my race strategy now. Although I ran it last year, the memory can play tricks, so I've been looking at the race profile. I know I'll still need plenty in my tank for the big hill at 21 miles! Surprisingly, I've enjoyed the training overall. Thanks to Jim and Nicky for their help, and holding back a bit in training when I got the warning signals, I am now in my last full week of training before tapering. Trouble is, once it's all over, I have to decide when to get back to training again for Dublin. If I can kick on a bit, it is realistic to aspire to sub 3.30 there and hopefully a top 10 age group finish - injuries, illness and quirks of fate allowing of course. 

Any way, last weeks training went like this:

Day 1: 16 miles in 2.19. Didn't go out until late morning today as I was unaware it would be so warm. Glad of the Cytomax in my Camelbac today.
Day 2: Gym session - upper body, legs and core.
Day 3: 7 miles including 6x800m on grass. A good session today, splits 3.10, 3.06, 3.05, 3.05, 3.06 and 3.07. Consistent times, fading a bit at the end so I'd probably worked hard enough. As good as times I was doing over 3 years ago - and the knees are behaving!
Day 4: 12.3 miles in 1.42. Very enjoyable run around Green Tye and High Wych. Should be able to do 1.45 by half way in the race - but nearly all the big hills are in the second half.
Day 5: Gym session - Upper body, legs and core.
Day 6: 10.3 miles at marathon race pace in 1.21 around the Farnham hills.
Day 7: A splendid end to the week sampling fine English ales in Cambridge. There was quite a bit of walking involved - honest!

10 Days To Go

Into the tapering now for the Dingle marathon - just 10 days to go. The last week of training went like this:

Day 1: A little jaded after the previous days escapades in Cambridge, I managed 8 miles easy in 1.12.
Day 2: 18 miles easy in 2.38 - and it certainly felt a lot easier than the day before. Since my last 20 miler, I've been back on the roads for my longer runs renewing my acquaintance with much of rural East Herts and Uttlesford. It has brought back memories of 15 years ago when my training cohort used to be out here every weekend. We became so familiar with the hills, we gave them all names, such as the Upwick A******e,
Hazel End H****t, Farnham F****r and Birchanger B*****d - makes me smile as I go up these.
Day 3: Gym - upper body, legs and core.
Day 4: My ultimate Kenyan Hill session of this training period - 8 miles including 4.4 miles hills in 33.45. Hard work due to uphill headwind like the previous occasion. My left hamstring and achilles tendon knew I'd done this session, so that's as far as I push it.
Day 5: Gym - upper body, legs and core. Left knee hurting after yesterday, so no rowing intervals (hamstring and achilles recovered).
Day 6: 8 miles easy in 1.07. Tried a stride after 7 miles to replace yesterdays rowing intervals. My achilles did not appreciate that. After the marathon I will probably introduce some static cycle intervals as I can't row or do strides safely.
Day 7: Gym - upper body, core and legs.

Interesting times now. This is the first time for three and a half years I am preparing to race a marathon. In the interim the training has been so abysmal I haven't bothered apart from some pasta the night before the race. Now I'm down to 10st 7lb, my old racing weight and 5% body fat. I need to try to hold this while training less during tapering. I always used to find this the toughest bit, so I'll see how it goes. I will need to stay working in the gym, as age means I have to work harder to retain lean body mass. That should help maintain my metabolic rate sufficiently to prevent me carrying too much weight over the mountains of Kerry.

4 Days To GO

Dingle Marathon only 4 days away. I've managed to stabilise my weight, currently 10st 6lbs, so should be on the line at about 10st 10lbs or less after a few days carbo loading. The loading combines water with glycogen, so that is a double benefit in the race. The extra weight at the start should prevent me going off too fast. I have one gym session and one run to go, a visit to Nicky and Jim to make sure everything is working as well as it can be - then bring on the race! 

As part of my carbo load regime I will be using SIS Go Energy and start loading tomorrow pm.

The penultimate weeks tapering went like this:
Day 1:15.4 miles in 2.11. Tried to keep speed in check by using heavy weights on my legs yesterday, drinking a few Guinness last night and running at the warmest time of day, so this was OK.
Day 2: Gym - upper body, core and legs.
Day 3: last interval session. 5 miles including 8x400m. My intention was to run these between 1.30 to 1.35, so not working at full throttle.Ran them all between 1.29 and 1.33, so happy with that.
Day 4: 8 miles easy in 1.09. It would have been easy apart from the torrential rain!
Day 5:Gym - upper body, core and legs.
Day 6: 6 miles at marathon pace - 48 mins.
Day 7: Pilates followed by gym session.

One part of marathon racing which is sometimes overlooked is race strategy. Every race is different, so I'll share a bit of my planning for this one.
Dingle is hilly. I am always very hyped up for a marathon and more so than for a few years with this one as I feel I can have a bit of a go. The adrenalin will be thumping through my body before and at the start and I will have to keep control over the initial stages to avoid crashing and burning on the hills.
The weather is set fair, about 13 to 16 degrees, but there is a stiff northerly breeze. Until mile 9 we will be in the lee of the wind, so I'll be saving energy for hills at 6 and 8 miles. Those at 10,12 and 14 will be more challenging running into the wind, thereafter the wind should be across the course.
In horse racing parlance, I hope to be running 'on the bridle' until mile 20. Then, with a bit of luck, the race will be on - up and down the big hill and back down to Dingle harbour for a well earned Guinness!

Paul Knight Great read Tim Kelly enjoyed it and be educated as well. Well done for spending your time on posting all the updates , here's a question for you know you said you do more s& conditioning work on this marathon but apart from that has anything else changed in your programme ie less rest days , mileage lower , not as much speed work and diet preparation ie more less protein or carbs as older now ? Thanks again Tim and good luck buddy " smash it " .

Tim Kelly You raise some interesting points Paul Knight. Arthritis and injury have forced me to reduce mileage, but to an extent I'd be doing that as an older runner anyway as it is less advantageous to run high mileage. I'm probably running about 40 mpw at the height of my training now, whereas in my forties I was running around 55. Then I ran more frequently. Now I run 4 days a week max, then in the gym for 2-3 sessions a week.

Speed work is much less because my body won't take it. But I try to make up for that with a lot of kenyan hills, tempo running and marathon race paced running. Good for marathon running, but I'm awfully slow over 10k now. My diet hasn't changed greatly. I still rely heavily on unrefined carbs as my main fuel. It is what the body wants when it feels it is running fast. I probably eat a little more quality protein now to help prevent muscle wastage and aid recovery. I also supplement with glutamine at times and used cytomax on long runs to assist this process. We are all different though Paul Knight, so things are worth trying for a while. If they don't work for you ditch them!

Paul Knight Thanks Tim as always very informative and help full a lot of useful information there , cheers , the problem with marathons compared to 10k you don't get a lot of chances of running to many in a year so easy to get it wrong we're you can do 10k races nearly ever week so any advice has been a great help , thank you Tim .

Race Day - Dingle Marathon 2015. 

My 59th marathon, supposedly the 'warm up' for my 60th at Dublin, but the challenge of this race meant it had grown in significance for me. Training had gone well. Nutrition and race weight about right. Confident in my race strategy and excited for the day. One of the most important components of marathon running was with too, LUCK. No unmanaged injury or illness. Final preparation good with a meal from a tried and tested source. Good weather on race day, just a stiff northerly breeze which would be troublesome later in the race.

I lined up with the 1.45 half marathon group which would get me to half way as planned. Off we went, nice and easy, just under 8 minute miling. At the first real hill about 10k the pace of the group started to fall back. I had identified a potential V60 rival in Ken Carey and was tracking him, But mainly my thanks must go to Seamus Hourigan. We ran together for most of the first half, chatting and holding each other back if we started to quicken our stride. Seamus was running the half and the hills came and went in his company. He finished at Dunquin and had accompanied me to 1.43 at half way and I felt like I'd been sitting in my armchair.

Approaching the finish

Then came a long mile and a half climb, by this time against the headwind. It was time to dig in to hold the speed. By mile 15 my glutes were screaming. Note to self - more on stepper in the gym next winter (whoops - I'm supposed to be packing it in after Dublin). Stunning scenery, and frequent groups of local musicians helped keep the spirits up. The plan to get to 20 easily was scuppered by the headwind. I was still holding the pace, but I was working hard. 2.38 at 20. Then at 21, the big hill, 2 miles of it. The slope starts off quite gradually, but the pace is dropping as the incline increases. By the time I reach the really steep bit at about 22 I'm really struggling to keep the legs going. As I slow to walking pace, I thought I may as well walk a bit. I took a 30 sec breather. Ken Carey was going further into the distance, but by the time we had reached the crest of the hill there was only about 30m between us. A young runner from Youghal took off down the hill, I set off after him, down the hill at 6.30 - 6.45 pace. Ken had left it all on the uphill and I was away. The last 2 miles the pace settled back a bit. I had planned to go really strongly for the last 800m around Dingle Harbour if I could. I left the 2 guys I had been running with and crossed the line in 3.29, just a couple of minutes behind the first lady. Really pleased with that. I had harboured hopes of something like that at Dublin, but I didn't think it was possible for me here. I thought I'd probably won the V60, but the organisers had not recorded any age categories, so I'll never know. In an exchange of emails with the race director, I suggested I would have to return anyway, as I'd failed to run all the way up the hill. Packing in? I suspect not as long as there is sufficient compression material to hold my body together.

Not sure if I can get everything back together again for Dublin in 5 weeks, but whatever happens there I know I did the best I could at Dingle - and the Guinness and the craic were fantastic!

Certainly ready for some Guinness and the mighty Tintean!

Marathon training after a bit of a rest after Dingle. 

I would usually take a couple of weeks off after a marathon, but Dublin and my 60th marathon at 60 years old is just a few short weeks away, so I need to get back to training quickly. This shouldn't have too much of a detrimental effect in the long term, as I'll take 3 weeks off after Dublin, then winter will be mainly strength and conditioning in the gym with the odd run thrown in avoiding too much of a battle with the arthritic joints.

The first week back to training was just a nice and easy re-introduction.

Day 1: Yoga and gym session - upper body and core only.
Day 2: Rest
Day 3: Gym session - upper body, core and light session on legs.
Day 4: 4.5 miles in 38 mins. Still feeling the hills in the legs.
Day 5: Gym session - upper body, core and heavier session on legs.
Day 6: 8 miles in 69 mins. Much more comfortable now, should be ready for a good 3 weeks hard training.
Day 7: Rest - Rugby World Cup in Brighton. Didn't Japan do well!

OK, so now I'm hoping I can get body and soul together for a decent attempt at the classic distance in Dublin. As a V55 I got 7th in category before arthritis really set in, so I will train towards a top 10 finish as a V60. If I have a good day, I could make top 5, but I probably need to run 3.25 to do that - and I don't know how much the Wild Atlantic Way around Dingle will still be lingering. I need to think slower recovery with age, but I may be able to offset this by more frequent supplementation of glutamine when the training gets hard. No hill sessions from now on - I need to change myself from a Landrover into a Jaguar for this one, so I'll be trying to do a bit more speedwork.

2015 Western States 100 mile Race

In the world of ultra-marathons there are a few iconic races that are on most runners bucket lists. Being the oldest and one of the most competitive 100 mile races in the world, Western States is one of them.

For years I've been dreaming of running WS. I read articles and books about it, watched YouTube videos and even spent money on buying a movie about the race. You would be right by saying I was a bit obsessed. After all it was the No. 1 on my list...

For the past couple of years ultra-running has experienced a boom and races are clear indicators of this. Once the registration opens, some of them fill up in hours. There are less than 400 places each year at WS for runners as the event runs through a protected wilderness area but there are 5x more applicants. There are a couple of places for top competitors and race admins. So for the average runner like me the chance to get in is fairly slim.

 
First the runner has to run a qualifying race to show the organisers that he/she has what it takes and has a good chance of finishing in general... Then register and go through a lottery system. For runners applying for the first time the chance to get in is about 3-4%... But I thought it would be wise to at least start the process - as every consecutive year you apply your chances are increasing.

With this in mind I registered last year. Then came the lottery at the beginning of December and boy, Christmas came early for me. I was following the lottery online and couldn't believe it when my name appeared - thinking it must be a mistake. Then shortly the confirmation email came and it was official, I am one of the selected few who can toe the start line in Squaw Valley, California. 

For a few days I was panicking, realising what I’d got myself into. 100.2 miles, 18,000 ft of ascent and 23,000 ft of descent through the Sierra Nevada mountains, 30+ degrees heat, crossing the ice cold American River, the possibility of running into wild life and who knows what else... I knew that training for this was going to be difficult and would take up all the free time I had. Also I thought that giving up smoking would be useful, so on the 31st of December last year I had my last cigarette and went cold turkey...

Training started in January, slowly easing back into running after 3 months of down time. I thought that since the Stortford area is lacking mountains I would gain strength by running a lot. I planned that by April I would build up my mileage to 100 miles a week; keep it high until June and then taper for 2-3 weeks.

Along the way Oliver Last, whom I met in Coffee Corner, convinced me to join the running club and for that I can't thank him enough! Training became easier, running with others felt great! Before I was a lone wolf but now I had found my pack. I gained a lot from the interval sessions, running with faster guys on social group runs and races. But I gained the most from the  support of others! Every member was just super friendly and welcoming. Two of them stand out, they deserve special credit. I ran with them the most and talked about training and preparation the most (brainstorming most of the time). But their enthusiasm was a huge push and help for months. Huge thanks to Oliver Last and Jonathan Haynes! Couldn't have done it without these guys...

June came and it was time to fly to California! Packed my bags and flew to Los Angeles on the 21st - a week before the race. I wanted to give myself time to get used to the time difference and climate. Also I planned to visit a few places before and after the race. 

I rented a car and made my way to Yosemite National Park. I wanted to camp there so I stopped at an outlet centre to buy a few things like sleeping bag, tent and other stuff.

In this outlet centre there was an Asics shop and since I love their shoes I couldn't help myself and looked inside. No surprise, everything was super cheap and the range was impressive. Seeing the prices I thought it would be a sin not to buy a trail shoe. I knew, wisdom says not to try anything new on race day. I was planning to run WS in my roadrunners but I was a bit unsure. I thought I could break in the new shoes on one of the trails in Yosemite or at least I would have a backup. (Trashed 2 pairs on races before) So I walked out from the shop with a big smile and a pair of Asics Fuji Racer trail shoes!

After arriving at Yosemite I headed for some trails. I found the Four Mile trail which is 4.8 miles with over 3000 ft climb. I thought this would be a good testing ground for my new shoes! And they worked brilliant! With not even 10 miles on them, I decided to run WS in them and my road shoes became the backup. 

I arrived at Squaw Valley 2 days before the start. There were some conferences, expo and other events related to the race. Runners and their crews started to pour into the small village and an exciting vibe started to develop. After checking in to my hotel I took a walk around the area, had a coffee and grabbed a bite (pizza). 

I was totally amazed by the surroundings - huge mountains wherever I looked. It was a ski resort. The 1960's winter Olympic Games took place here, and my race started here too! It was intimidating to say the least. After I got over this shock and finished my pizza, I found the registration HQ and store. I bought a couple of t-shirts and a pair of arm-sleeves. Another new thing on race day as I’d never worn arm-sleeves before. But I thought that I could stuff them with ice and it would help me to get through the heat during the day and then would keep me warm once the sun went down.

As I paid for my purchase a guy walked in and I recognised him straight away. It was Michael Wardian, an idol of mine. I asked him for a picture and he turned out to be a genuine, down to earth, really nice guy. We had a drink and I chatted with him for over an hour. I did  some food shopping afterwards and returned to my hotel. I jumped into the pool and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing; I knew the next day was going to be tiring, not to mention the following! I went to bed early and had a solid 7 hours sleep. I woke up excited the next morning. It was registration day! I had a coffee and some toast then headed for race reg. As I left my hotel I passed the drop-bag area and saw another hero of mine, Tim Twietmeyer. The guy has finished WS 25 times in under 24 hours, winning it 5 times. He is an absolute legend he is and, of course, I had to shake hands with him and take a picture. Then I went to register for the race and picked up my swag. As I hung around I felt like a 10 year old in Disneyland. During the day I've met some of the legends of ultra-running. Gordy Ainsleigh, Rob Krar, Ann Trason, Stephanie Howe, Nikki Kimball, Krissy Moehl and many others. It was like walking next to giants! After this overload I returned to my hotel room and prepared my drop bags. I decided to send my running pack ahead and run the first 55 miles with two handheld bottles. I also my head torches, spare shoes, socks and club vest into the drop bags. Once the dropbags were sorted, I turned my attention to the gear I would actually wear the next day.

I laid out everything on the floor -  shoes, socks, underwear, shorts, belt, t-shirt, arm-sleeves, buff, sunglasses, hat (new item) and bottles. Problem was, only one of my bottles had a strap and I learned from a previous race that this is essential! So I jumped into my car and drove to the next town, Tahoe City and bought a new handheld I wasn't familiar with. But that was the only one they had in store so I had no other option...
I'm sure, by now you are convinced that I'm a loony! 

After all this I retired and spent the rest of the afternoon in my room. Made some pasta, had a really loooong shower and watched TV. I tried not to stress about what was coming in a couple of hours. I tried but didn't succeed, I got really nervous. I fell asleep after midnight and was awake by 3 am. I was a little bit worried, running 100 miles with only 3 hours sleep... Anyway, I got dressed and made my way to the start where I picked up my bib and had breakfast with the other runners. It was 4 am, still dark but everyone was buzzing! I don't know if it was the coffee or the nerves but I felt the need for a toilet visit. I felt lighter and more relaxed afterwards and started to enjoy the experience. 

We started to gather behind the start and the next thing I knew, we're counting back from 10, 9, 8... It was 5 am and the 371 of us started the journey to Auburn, where the race would finish, 100.2 miles away.
I started really slowly. I ran hardly for minute and changed to a hike. The first 4 miles were a 2400ft uphill section, which takes the elite just over 40 minutes. It took me 1:03. There were people cheering all the way to the top and once I reached the top an amazing view appeared in front of me. Seeing the sun rising and realising that I was part of the Western States history, gave me the goose-bumps. Next, a long downhill section. For the first few miles I felt really good and was in a chatty mood. I shared some words with other runners and, because of my t-shirt (Thames Path 100), I had to explain to everyone that although I'm Hungarian I live in Bishops Stortford. I met some of these guys later in the race, and as I passed them, they cheered me on as "the Hungarian Hammer"! Lol!

I reached the first aid-station at mile 10ish in 2:17 and I was kinda happy with that. A volunteer filled my bottles; I grabbed some fruit and a gel, thanked the guys and continued the race. From the beginning I paid extreme attention to my calorie intake and made sure that I had 4 gels on me at any given time. Every 30-40 minutes I squeezed a gel into my mouth, no matter how I felt. Because of this, I have never felt low on energy and didn't hit the wall. 

Not everyone felt as good as I did. Not even 15 miles into the race I saw a girl next to the trail throwing up. I stopped for a moment to check if she needed some help - which she didn't - so I left her.
It was getting warmer by the minute and instead of drinking, I was splashing my water on my face and body. From Duncan Canyon (mile 23.8) I started putting ice into my arm-sleeves and hat. This actually worked really well and will do this in future races to fight the heat...

I was sweating buckets and as a result of the heat it evaporated quickly, leaving salt behind on my skin. This is a big problem where skin rubs, in my case between my thighs. I could hardly wait to reach the next aid-station and get lubed up with some vaseline. From Robinson Flat I used vaseline at all the aid-stations until Green Gate. Chaffing is really painful and can end a race.

The Sierra Nevada is part of the Rocky Mountains, and it’s called that for a reason. Some parts of the trail were really technical, with loose rocks where I had to pay attention to my foot placement. At first it was fun running these parts but as they continued on and on I got concerned. I had had problems with my shins before in races and soon my left shin started to flare up. First it was discomfort that would come and go in my lower leg area. Then my ankle started to hurt, followed by my neck as I kept my sight down to see where I was stepping. Things started to become worse and worse... I was passing Dusty Corners, running in reddish, ankle deep powder which ended up in my nostrils. As I tried to blow my nose, I felt something flowing from my nose. Blood was dripping down my face - covering my white arm-sleeves and t-shirt. I tried to wash it out with my leftover water so as not to scare people who might have thought that I was dying or something. At Last Chance, I applied vaseline as usual, had some water melon, and filled my bottles. I was about to leave the station when three ladies invited me into the shades. They had an industrial spray and buckets of ice water. 

They drenched me completely. Man, it felt like heaven, I almost proposed to all three of them. The hottest part of the day came and I reached the steepest climb on the course. The climb up to Devil’s Thumb seemed endless and the heat was something I've never experienced before. First thing I've reached for on arriving at the aid-station was a bucket ice-water and sponges. I cooled down a bit and sat down for the first time (mile 48) with a cup of cold veggie soup. The guys had a few tents set up with some bunk beds and chairs. I saw people wrapped in space-blankets, IV fluid in arms, people covered in wounds from falls. It was a bit like a war-zone with wounded soldiers. I was hurting but didn't feel as bad as some other runners. So I thanked the guys and left. A steep downhill part came and it felt worse than climbing! My shin was done, I walked the downhill part until Eldorado Creek in 1:30ish, runners passing me along the way. The pain and frustration started to get to me and I found myself in a dark space. This feeling stayed with me for more than 15 miles. I couldn't run even the gentle downhills. I got to Michigan Bluff where I've sent my first dropbag, inside were my running pack, head-torch, gels, and a long sleeve top. I just took the pack and torch, leaving the rest. Here the aid-station captain, Kevin Sawchuk had a chat with me. He told me I was 20 minutes behind the 24h runners but if I still had my legs and I stopped wasting time I could get a silver buckle. So he rushed me out and I was on the trail again. Still in pain but moving forward. I’d been on my feet for more than 12 hours and felt awful. Everything was hurting, I was tired and it didn't seem to cool down despite being late afternoon. I finally reached Foresthill, a major aid-station where runners could pick up their pacer. If they had one that is - you guessed it, I did not have one. When I was in my chatty mood, talking to others I've told them I was doing this on my own. No crew, no pacer and it’s my first time. All of them said the same, that I was nuts and insane. Anyway, as I reached Foresthill, a volunteer ran towards me asking if I needed medical attention. I said yes, he gave the thumbs down notifying people that something was wrong. I sat down next to the medical tent and I told them about my shin. They shouted for someone and a blondie appeared for my pleasure!   I spent 30 minutes in the chair, got my shin taped which was firm and felt great! There and then I made a decision that I was going to give whatever I had and run my heart and soul out. And that’s what I did. From mile 62 I was passing runners and their pacers. I just filled a single bottle up with water to save time and just grabbed 1-2 gels that I tore open in mid-run. I was out in 60 seconds in the remaining aid-stations. 

I was running where on my left was a rock wall and on the right bushes covering a drop. I was flying, not feeling tiredness or pain, suddenly I spotted three guys. Two runners and a pacer. Two of them were trying to pull the third guy back on the trail, saving him from sliding down the hill through barbed-wire like plants and bushes. Apparently the runner was so tired that he almost ran off the trail. If it wasn't for his pacer who caught him and the other runner catching up to them, he would've had a really bad day!

I have reached a section where the grass was as tall as me and and couldn't really see what was in front of me. I came up on another two guys just before a right hand turn. They looked a bit hesitant, standing in one place but I didn't give it any thought and passed them. As I took the turn I saw an animal on the trail in front of me. The others must have seen it too, hence stopping... My heart stopped beating for a second. Then I realised it was only a skunk, so I continued. It’s not unheard of to see bears and cougars and rattlesnakes on this course, so I felt lucky with the stinker. Couldn't risk getting sprayed so I kept some distance and we ran together for a short period. Finally it left the trail, disappearing into the thick grass and I could pick up the pace again. 
The sun went down but didn't get much cooler and now I ran with a head-torch. To my surprise, not once did I miss the trail and get lost! Passing others made me feel strong and powerful and I felt better than at the beginning when I was fresh. I ran the downhills as hard as I could and power-hiked the uphills. Finally I've reached Rucky Chucky, the river crossing at mile 78. Got my fluorescent ring on my neck, a life-vest and into the river I charged. It was cold, freezing cold. The guys said the water is waist deep, I wasn't their height, and it came up until my chest at places. The footing was unstable, rocky and slippery. Holding my bottles in one hand and hanging on to the rope with the other, it took me a few minutes to get to the other side but I made it somehow. I felt really stiff getting out from the water and felt cold for the first time during the race. On the far side of the river my 2nd drop-bag was waiting for me with a new pair of socks and shoes. I just changed socks, my brand new trail shoes were working brilliant and didn't need changing! At mile 85 the medic asked me, when was the last time I peed? I couldn't answer. I didn't remember, it was that long ago, clearly I was dehydrated badly. I promised that I would drink more and assured him that I felt fine. Although feeling fine, I got a bit concerned, so I forced down both bottles of water before reaching the next aid-station and even peed. I was relieved that I still had my kidneys! 

I was cruising and knew that I was getting closer to the finish-line with every stride. I ran through the last two aid-stations without stopping, not taking water or gels. I  reached Auburn, still had an hour for the 24hour cutoff so I relaxed and walked a bit. Kids were on the street despite being 4:xx am. They were cheering and high-fiving us runners. I reached into my pack and got my BSRC vest out, thinking it would be nice to do the final mile in club colours. Then finally I spotted the entrance of the Placer Highschool's track, where the race finishes. As I ran the final metres I had a huge smile on my face. I threw my bottles and pack on the grass and glided around the track towards the finish. I crossed the finish line with my arms in the air and felt like I’d won the race. 23:38:28 A race official gave a pat on my back and hung the finishers medal around my neck. Finally I could stop and not have any stress to move forward. I grabbed a bottle of water and picked up my stuff that I'd thrown away, then headed for the massage tent. I had a short and extremely painful session. Then the tiredness took over and I laid down on the grass and had a 3 hour power-nap. I woke up around 8ish, had breakfast three times then took a long shower. It was bitter-sweet, there wasn't really hot water and the raw bits of my thighs were stinging but I felt cleaner and fresher afterwards. I watched the golden-hour of the race then had to wait for the awards ceremony. Finally I got my sub 24 hour, silver belt buckle that I've been dreaming of for so long! 

After the ceremony, I got a ride back to my hotel where I took a proper, hot shower. Later, as I laid on my bed many things went through my mind, emotions became loose, it started to sink in what I'd just done. I curled up into a ball and cried myself into sleep...

Janos Orsos