Post 37 - The Thunder/Murder Run

In terms of training, eating and sleeping, this has been my first “normal” week since the middle of June – there have been a few unexpected hurdles in the way since then – getting sick, going to hospital, trying to balance enough recovery and enough training to get to the start line of Ironman UK, tapering down, recovering after the race, and getting everything tidied and cleaned after the Ironman. I feel much better than I did a few weeks ago, and the more time that passes, the better I will feel (I hope). I still intend to have a medical check-up next week, as I will be going to the French Alps the week after next. I’ll be bringing my wetsuit, bike, and running shoes, and hopefully getting in some good mileage and altitude training on some of the famous Tour de France mountains.

Training this week was as follows:

Monday 28^th July 2014: Rest
Tuesday 29^th July 2014: 1:10 turbo (1 hour hard), 20 minute run
Wed 30^th July 2014: 30 minute fartlek run
Thurs 31^st July 2014: 1:20 turbo (8 x 5mins easy, 5mins hard), 20 minute run
Friday 1^st August 2014: Swim 3.1km (paddle drills), 1:02 turbo (10 x 2mins left leg/right leg/both legs)
Saturday 2^nd August 2014: 3:05 turbo (with 6 x 5 mins very hard), 30 minute run
Sunday 3^rd August 2014: Swim 3.3km (with 13 x 50m very hard), 90 minute run

Totals: Swim 6.4km, Bike 145 miles, Run 28 miles

At the end of last week I went to the “Thunder Run”. This is a 24-hour run that people can choose to tackle solo, in pairs, or in teams. It is an off-road, lapped course, with each lap being 10km. The venue is in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in the Midlands. The object is to complete as many kilometres as possible between midday on Saturday and midday on Sunday. You could argue that it makes Ironman look like child’s play… My housemate Natalie was competing in the solo female event, having had some success last year as a mixed pair. My other housemate Steve and I went to support her. Some of their other friends had entered a team of 8 and I agreed to run a few laps on their team.

I had no idea what to expect at this event, and hadn’t really thought too much about it, since it followed so soon after the Ironman. I’d been told it was like Glastonbury for runners, as the thousands of runners and supporters all pitch tents and camp for the weekend. Some take it very seriously, and for some it’s a bit of fun with a few drinks to take the edge off the madness of it all.

I expected the course to be fairly benign, maybe lapping around a lake, or a nice flat wooded trail. On arrival, I could see that the campsite was in a big flat grassy field, behind which was a huge wooded hill, with the course seeming to meander up this hill and through the woods. There were tents and runners everywhere. The heat was fierce. It must have been pushing 30 degrees C. Madness. Free water was available from big water tankers, and there were a few pricey food stalls, but other than that, runners and supporters were on their own.

Natalie got going, and I didn’t think too much more about the race other than meeting her after every lap, getting her some food and drink, checking her position on the timing screens. The rest of the time was spent cooking food, filling water bottles, pitching tents, sorting out gear, putting on suncream, sweating, putting on more suncream, drinking water, drinking more water, and wishing it wasn’t quite so hot. There was no escaping the heat. On finishing one of her laps, Natalie asked for something cold. There was nothing cold to give her, everything was warm. The water was warm. No respite. Litres and litres of sweat were being lost.

 

Pit-stop after 7 hours... 7 hours! 17 to go... 17!

At around 6pm, I was due to run my first lap. I hadn’t yet seen much of the course, apart from the start/finish straight (which I was soon to discover was the only flat part of the entire 10k lap), and a few other stretches in the trees on the hill. If I had thought that the whole event was a bit mad and crazy before running my lap, within 1km of starting my lap I was thinking that the whole thing was absolutely and totally mad and crazy. After a few more kilometres, I was thinking that it was downright murderous. For me, the terrain was a nightmare. Steep hills, steep descents, rocky, rough, bumpy trails and grass, tree routes, twists, turns, heat, dust, awful cambers. There were gasping soloists, only 6 hours in. Most people were shuffling along or walking. I was petrified, as it was so well suited to twisting an ankle. And people would be running this at night, in the dark, with no floodlights, and nothing other than a head torch.

The route passed the campsite, and some kids had water pistols. Had they been more enterprising, they could have charged a fortune. People would have thrown money at them for a squirt of water. I was glad when my lap was over. I pushed it reasonably hard and did 39 minutes for the 10k. I went back to our site. “How was it?” I was asked. My response was along the lines of “murder run, not thunder run…”

All the while, Natalie and the other soloists were clocking up lap after lap. It was amazing. There was a tremendous camaraderie. How could there not be? The atmosphere was unreal. There was a magnificent sunset over the start/finish straight, and the temperature finally dropped. Then darkness fell. And the atmosphere become even more unreal. A focussed quietness fell over the event, as the start/finish line announcer ended his shift, the music switched off, and bobbing head torches made their way along the course, up the hills, through the trees, not yet halfway through the 24 hours. Some of these head torches were like full-beam headlights. Teams and supporters were strategising their sleep plans. Some soloists wouldn’t sleep at all. Some would sleep for a few hours. Teams would ensure that they had people awake to continue an unbroken 24 hour relay.

 

Sunset and night running

The weather turned late at night, and it rained. At this point Natalie came into the tent, ate a hot meal and took a couple of hours of sleep. This was smarter than continuing to run. As morning came, the place came back to life. Everyone was up, the weather was back to the searing heat of yesterday, 18 hours down and 6 to go.

 

I ran another lap at about 8am. I decided that I wouldn’t push it too hard this time, I would go with the flow and run how the course wanted me to run, rather than fighting it. I was very careful with my footing. But I was still flying past everyone else. I almost felt like a bit of a fraud. Soloists had been out for 20 hours. Teams had been up all night. All I’d done was run for 40 minutes. The soloists were distinguishable by having a yellow “SOLO” badge on their backs. I gave them all a “well done” as I passed. I overtook Natalie. OK, she wasn’t quite running at 40 minute 10k pace, but she looked strong. Some soloists looked delirious, and were struggling to maintain a straight line. Most were walking. Natalie was doing just fine. I heard a few rumours that some soloists had suffered heatstroke.

I finished my lap and was very surprised to only be one minute slower than yesterday. This told me that it wasn’t a lap to be forced. Forcing it needs heavy “braking” and “acceleration”, taking a greater toll on the body, with an increased risk of turning an ankle. Forcing it takes a lot out of you. After my lap, I did a recovery jog, got some porridge and a banana down me, and drank a load of water.

As the midday finish approached, the atmosphere really ramped up. The start/finish straight was packed. “Heartbreak Hill”, about 500m from the finish and visible from the finishing straight, was packed. Supporters were cheering everyone up it. Soloists got the biggest cheers. Natalie managed 14 laps. 140km. Unbelievable. And she looked pretty fresh after it. No dramatic collapses, like some finishers. No inability to speak. No incoherence. She did really well. She was maybe a couple of laps down on what she had hoped for, but for a first participation in such an event, she did really well. I think there would be a lot to learn for next year, from both her point of view and from the point of view of the support team as well. I wonder will she go back next year? 17 laps won it for the female soloists. Natalie did 14 and could easily have done 15. A bit of focussed training and proper nutrition, hydration, rest/recovery/sleep, treatment/massage, and a well-organised support crew, would definitely help to add a lap or two or three...

 

Soloist going up the last hill for the last time...

 

Team runners going up the final hill on the final lap

Male soloist finishing

Sheffield girls finishing

 

24 hours...!

 

Natalie went off to the shower, while Steve and I dismantled the tent and packed up. It was a tired car on the way back to London… What an awesome event. I couldn’t ever comprehend doing 24 hours. Absolute respect to everyone who did the 24 hours. Wow. But “Thunder Run”? I don’t think so… “Murder Run” would be much more appropriate…