Namibian Viking

You close your eyes, feel the wind on your face, cold air on your nose. Open your eyes and you see the most amazing set of stars, as many and as clear as you have ever seen before. That is what I will feel every night when I go to Namibia. Last year during the race I slept in the tent and heard the animal noises from the (relative) safety of the tent. However during my two week trek I slept outside and that is what I am now looking forward to. 

What else is there in store for me for this Namibia trip? Well most importantly there is the race of course. It is very difficult to really remember what the race is all about. When I try to remember last year’s race I can only think of good things. Yet still I have had times during my training when I have had glimpse of flash backs. One of these was yesterday when I was completely depleted of all energy and still had to keep going; another was the late night walk last month. They all add up to what are miles of experience I bring with me. 

A better way to remember last year’s race is to read my race report. When I do this and go stage by stage through the race I can remember individual moments and that makes me scared for what is in store for me. I will go to some very dark places in my mind. I will have to dig incredibly deep to even stand a chance of completing the race.

But I also have learnt things from last year. I know that my will is strong and if I am determined to do something I can do it. I know what will happen if you dont prepare properly from my failed race last year in northern England. 

I tried to balance up good and bad and came up with this list:

Good – That I know the race and what is expected of me

Bad – That I know the race, how will I react when I have been going for 8 hours, am about to collapse, and still know that I have 14-15 hours to go!

Good – I have another year of hard racing and regular physical exercise to help me

Bad – I have run less miles then I did last year

Good – The last 3 months I have pushed myself harder and trained more then last year. I have in average done 5 days a week, but I have mixed swimming, running and cycling

Bad – I know how important it is to train with a race back pack. I have told everyone going how important this is, and yet I have not done enough training with a full race back pack

Good – I will have more days to acclimatise. I will arrive on the 3 April, and the race is on the 11 April. Last year I only arrived two days before the race.

What do you think, will I make it? Do you have any tips or mind games that could help me along the way? Please keep your comments coming!

I am hobbling a bit! Not good with only weeks to go to Namibia. I did a 5 hour session yesterday and in the end of it the tendence on the top of my foot hurts. Nothing bad, but not good with so little time left to the first race. 

I had this type of injury before. 12 months ago when I trained for Namibia last year I got this every time I passed 3 hours. This year I have been doing less running, but more combined running and cycling. I think yesterday when I did 65km cycling and 26 km running I pushed it a bit too far. Even though cycling is low impact, over time it does put a strain on your feet. This together with the fact that the 26km yesterday was around Box Hill in Surrey left my foot in a bad way. Box Hill is a tough 13km loop with the first half having small up and downs, and then the end of each lap is a massive climb. 

I was going to start to taper (slow down) after this weekend anyhow, so I will just have to start to do that one day early. 

It wont stop me from getting on the bike and go up to Hamstead and maybe enjoy the sun and a game of Tennis with Martin S. but I will definitely take it a bit easy.

Onwards and upwards, bring on Namibia, with a slightly injured foot or not!

It has start to become apparent to me what I have set out to do. It has taken me 11 weeks to reach 815km (the total km I have set out to race over 5 races). It has taken me 11 weeks to cover that distance in training! During the first 11 weeks of this year I have in average been doing some form of sport  5 days per week. Is it then humanly possible to do the same distance, but over 5 days? In total I will race 9 days (The race in Andalucia is 5 days) and I will have to cover the distance it has taken me 11 weeks!

Is my race schedule to ambitious? Can I climb this mountain of kilometres?

I guess it is a good thing that my Namibia departure is only two weeks away! No turning back now, I am commited to do this and now I will go out and prove it. But it will be tough.

What are your thoughts on my race schedule? I really do appreciate your comments, so please keep them coming

A loud animal cry to my right, and my heart raced and I jumped in the air… I was 5 minutes away from home tonight, when I suddenly got pulled away from my meditative state of running. At first I didn’t know what it was and then I saw them. Two foxes were fighting next to a car, less than 2 metres away from me!

Immediately I was back in Namibia last year, when I saw the hyena, a much more scary moment, but because the first cry came when I was so close by, my heart was really racing. It was really good to be brought back to Namibia, however I have definitly more pleasant memories of my two trips there!

It makes me wonder what I should do this time, what will I meet and what will I feel? I guess to a certain degree you could argue that I should not spend time thinking about it, since the only thing I know is that it will be different from last time!

However, what should one do when one meets a hyena in the middle of the night? Any suggestions? Please use the comment field below, I very much appreciate your comments and happy thoughts that will help me on the way!

What do you feel right now?

I feel scared, excited, and restless.

But most of all I feel scared. It feels as if I am standing back-stage and can hear thousands of people shouting waiting for me to come out, BUT I have forgotten what I should say. Actually, that is not very good explanation, since I like talking in front of people, so this is different. The reason why I am scared is that Namibia is now around the corner. In 27 days I will be on the start line in the Namibian 24h Ultra Marathon.

Some of my friends are saying that I made the race last year, so I have nothing to fear this year. Well my answer to that is, that I did it last year, so I know what is ahead of me, and exactly because of that I am scared!

But I think that me being scared of the race is a good thing. I think I should have a healthy respect for the race and what it will demand of me.

Excited
However at the same time as I am scared I am also excited! excited to go back to Africa, back to Namibia. For the third time I will stand by the foot of the mighty Brandberg (where I took the photo above). I know that it will be a great feeling to be back. I can feel my level of excitement grow just as I am writing about it. The feeling on the morning of the race, not knowing what to do with yourself. Checking all the gear, checking if any of the others have thoughts about something that I have not, Excitement. A feeling so strong that on the morning of the race you could touch it. It was in the air and it was so real. That is what I want to go back to, something to revisit again. To feel alive and to feel that whatever I have done in preparation doesn’t matter, it is all about now, to be able to channel all my energy to be strong and hopefully to complete the race.

Restless
The last couple of weeks I have been feeling restless. At times I feel locked in. I feel as if I just want to get started. This year will be such a massive challenge. The thought of doing Namibia and failing at the first hurdle has of course crossed my mind, but more so I am thinking about the end, about the feeling when I have done the fifth event and know that I have completed my 2009 race series. I just want to get on with it. want to get started!

Please keep sending in your thoughts and comments on the “contact” button, I really cannot tell you enough how much that means to me.

So summed up I am feeling scared, feeling excited and feeling restless and roaring to go!

Bring on Namibia – Keep Namibia away!

Which one should it be ??

Not sure how many of you have read Dean Karnazes book “Ultra marathon man – confessions of an all-night runner”? Well I did it my own style on Saturday evening when I went for a 30km walk. It was the first time for a while that I did walk with a full race pack, 10kg on my back, including a very uncomfortable to carry tripod.

I was heading for St Pauls Cathedral. I have for years been wanting to go there to take photos of the building at night time. I managed to do a couple of shots (one of them here on the right, but you can see more on my flickr account, click on the image to go there).

It was a while ago that I focused on photography and it was good to be out on the streets of London really enjoying one of my great hobbies.

What was less enjoyable was the results of the walk. Fairly early on I realised that I was going to have blisters under the soles of my feet and on my toes, just as I had have in my race in Namibia. The walk is very different on the feet than the run and it has resulted in a set of blisters.

The good thing about it is that I can once again experience the feeling of walking on bubble wrap, a real treat, especially when I had decided to do a run today. The 23km felt longer then normal, since it was not the most comfortable run I have had experienced. More walks ahead of Namibia is needed to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen there!

It is not normal for me to feel scared, but even writing about this makes my heart race!

This evening I had dinner with Martin S. at Strada on New Burlington Street (they have a new great menu by the way!) and at about 22.30 we were heading home. I had cycled in this morning (a story in itself with two (!) puntures within 10 minutes of cycling…), so I went back to Cantos to change and get on my bike. The rain was coming down hard and it was one of these debates in my head if I should go back home by tube or stick with the plan and cycle.

I felt good when I sat up on the bike. Every now and again you feel that you are alive and with the rain hitting my face I had one of these truly enjoyable moments. It was all to change very soon.

As I rode by Big Ben and the Parliament I started to feel the wind pick up. It was one of these odd moments when you almost feel as if you are out of breath, just because the wind is blowing into your mouth so hard. The rain came down harder and I had to keep my eyes almost shut to not get whipped by the rain.

Then it all happened, outside Tate the wind took my bike and moved it sideways two metres! Nothing I could do and I just struggled to stay on the bike. My heart raced and I was very lucky there was no car passing me at that time! I clipped out both feet and from that point onwards cycled bent over the handlebars to make as a small target for the wind as possible. My heart was still racing and I was questioning what I was doing…

A moment earlier I had smiled at my own madness, cycling through the rain. I was soaked, I could feel the water gathering up inside of my shoes but I felt alive, and it felt good. All these positive feelings were gone as the wind moved my bike. I was even considering getting off the bike and walk.

I think the cycle god is trying to tell me something, look at this:

- Friday morning – Very, very closed to being hit by a car.

- Friday evening – Got a £30 ticket for jumping a (very large) red light.

- Saturday afternoon – Got lost on my way back from Dorking.

- Tuesday morning – Two punctures within the first 10minutes of cycling.

- Tuesday evening – Nearly being blown into oncoming traffic on the Strand.

What do you say? Is there a lesson to be learnt?

I think there is, and I am definitly running in tomorrow morning!

This morning I had plans to ride to Ben and go running with him. I got on my bike at 12:45 and started the long ride to Dorking (34km, my iPhone told me). After yesterday’s £30 fine for jumping a red light I tried to hold back. Many stops later checking for signal and confirming the route I pulled in to their new house. What a great spot, at the end of the garden was woodland and they were sourrounded by hills. We did a 11km route along a green valley, over fields and through some light forest. Absolutely stunning landscape and we passed many groups of people walking, no other runners though, what kind of lazy people live in Dorking

So far everything had gone to plan. We were back at Ben’s house and it was 17.00. After playing a short (far too short) while with Bean (Nicky and Ben’s son) I was back on the bike. My decision to try out the “train low – race high” energy strategy now started to impact me. In theory if you train on low energy levels you teach your body to cope with what it has got.

So far that day I had eaten two sandwiches and had 3 energy gels and I had done about 3h30min solid training. The route back started with the massive zig zack route up Box hill and I was cursing my decision not to eat more! Once on the top it was downhill most of the way into Morden.

This is where it all went wrong. I was 20min away from home, however after the one-way system and some roadwork I was caught in a web of residential streets. No matter where I turned I couldn’t get to a main road! To tired to stop and get my iPhone out and get a new route back to the house I ended up in Putney!

Good thing – I knew where I were and how to get home
Bad thing – I was in Putney and was depleted of all energy

I got back home at 19:30 and the six hour training session was finally over. Paul had arranged a party though, so 45minutes later I was out the door. Needless to say I was not going to go for a heavy night out. At 23 I said my goodbyes and I hit the pillow fast asleep!

This years Tough Guy was a killer! The weather made the event more difficult then ever. 2 degrees Celsius in the water, and -5 in the air with the windchill factor took its toll on all competitors and I saw more people on the ground shaking uncontrollably then ever before.

This is what the race organisers have to say about closing down the course before all the late laggerds have completed:

“At 1 o’clock we shut off the Death Plunge diving boards because 2 caravan mobile relief were bursting with hypothermia victims, 18 bodies in one, 23 in the other shivering, shaking, awaiting transport to the Field Hospital.  St John Ambulance were ferrying to the Field Hospital as quickly as possible.

To allow more to jump in the lake was a High Death Risk to competitors plus divers having to stand in neck high water were physically deteriorating their capabilities to dive under for incapables.”

To add to the weather the organisers had a new set of challenges in store for us. The start used to be a nice long country run, but this year they broke it up with A-frames and obstacles all ready from the start.

Good thing: I finished better then ever, in the end 96 of 2800 that completed the race.
Bad thing: I could not stop shaking for about 30 minutes after finishing and had to have help to be able to undress and bring clean clothes on.

I have not experienced such cold before during my races. To after the race not be able to hold a drink or even undress on my own was indeed a new experience.

Bad thing x2: The snow slowed us down on the way back and rather then being at home at 9pm, we arrived at 1am in the morning! The next day I found myself stuck in Croydon with no trains available to go to work. I had to walk 4h 15min to get home, get dressed and then off to work… At least I got a good work out on the Monday too! The glass is always half-full!

For a whole week I have been very lazy… I have only been training three days, and have a bit of a bad conscious about this. Having said that I think I needed it, I had for two weeks only had two rest days, so I was beginning to feel that my body was getting more and more tired.

Instead when I was swimming on Saturday I felt really strong and full of energy, so the extra days rests have really made a difference! I guess this is what it is all about, to listen to your body and sometimes actually take notes from the signals I have a busy week ahead of me, with Tough Guy as a good way to end the week on Sunday.