Train Low Race High - The Lakes In A Day Ultra

In all of the events that I have run since starting on the Low-Carb High-Fat diet I have set out to show what can be achieved when competing on very low carbs.  I have run my fastest off-road marathon on almost nothing but fat and I have successfully trained at very high intensity on a low-carb diet. But I am also aware that many proponents of the diet actually rely on carbohydrates to fuel the prolonged high intensity work that often comes when competing.

I hoped that with good pacing I could stay within my fat-burning zone (perhaps 80% of my VO2 max) for the time taken to run a fast marathon. And I think I have proved that I can. But some events place unavoidably high demands on your strength and endurance; mountain running is a good example.

When I entered a 50 mile Ultra across the Lake District National Park I was under no illusion that I could do it carb-free. The ascents would be long and grueling and would doubtless have me burning glycogen whether I liked it or not. So it was time to experiment with Train Low Race High.

You could be forgiven for thinking that this post's title was a reference to the fact that I live in Sussex where the hills rise to a mighty 250 meters above sea level, somewhat lower than the Lake District peaks I would be running over, but that's almost as far as I'll go with that metaphor, much as I like it!

So here is an account of the longest race of my life and my approach to nutrition.

Last Saturday morning at 8 a.m. I stood on the start line of the hardest event that I have ever entered. It had been a long road to get there and I had no idea if I was going to finish it, but I was determined to try my hardest.

Last Christmas Jane gave me a book entitled "50 Races to Run Before You Die", and brimming with confidence I entered The Lakes In A Day Ultra a 50 mile event that traverses the Lake District from north to south by way of nearly 4,000 meters of mountains.

I've always wanted to run a long one in The Lakes and being fighting fit at the time I laid down my plans in the depths of winter; perhaps I could finish inside 13 hours. That would be something special. Then in February I injured my knee and could not run properly for the next 7 months. If you are a regular reader of this blog you may have wondered why there have been so few posts this year, and the truth is that there has been almost nothing to write about!

I've spent a lot of time this year cycling and walking, and slowly building some jogging into my walks. I completed a 100 mile bike ride in 5.5 hours. I knew that I was fit but would I be able to run? 

Sometimes a little gentle jogging worked and sometimes the pain returned. The consultant looked at an MRI  scan and said rest, and so from May I rested from running completely for 3 months. The training plan changed and there was no room for any more injuries, but it still looked sort-of achievable, perhaps. 

All of my endurance walking was completed on a low-carb strategy. This included several 20-30-mile walks on just eggs & bacon for breakfast and a few bottles of water. 

The essence of Train Low Race High is to train your body to burn fat as effectively as possible and then add carbohydrates at the last minute to give you more power just when you need it. Adding carbs earlier or relying on them entirely would leave me susceptible to bonking into The Wall. I was sure that I could go all day on fat, I just needed a top-up for the hard bits.   Only in my last training walk/run did I experiment with an energy drink just to learn if my stomach could tolerate it. It's been a few years since I used an energy drink and I look back on Powerade and the like with some distaste. The Tailwind drink was not so bad as I'd feared so into the bag it went.

In France on holiday I learned more about how far I could push my injury on longer walks. After an hour or so my right knee would hurt a little, but after easing up the pain would subside and I'd be good for several more hours with no problems afterwards. I also figured that for a 50-mile mountain event "walk/run" was a pretty good strategy. There is no way that most entrants would be running more than half or even a third of the event and approaching it as a walk with a bit of running rather than a run with a lot of walking made good sense to me. I certainly put the miles in, the only thing missing was the altitude. As I mentioned before Sussex is not blessed with mountains and so my long walks had a lot of ups and Downs.

A typical training walk/run on the South Downs

I hit my reduced training targets in the nick of time without having run for more than 4 miles at a time since April. I was concerned by this of course but I drove up to Cumbria with Jane just hoping to finish the event at all. Above all else I was determined to enjoy it.

Jennings Ale - The fuel of champions!

In the two days before the event I started adding more carbs to my usual low-carb diet. Mostly in the form of bread and potatoes. The night before the race I enjoyed a couple of pints of Jennings in the pub at Caldbeck - it is a fell-run after all! Breakfast was an energy drink, a big bacon bap and a bowl of Alpen.  I carried 3 sachets of Tailwind energy powder and planned to scoff pizza, flapjacks and soup in the 3 feed stations along the way.  

Ready to roll

The first half was brutal. 27 miles, 2,500 meters of mountains, driving rain, a horrendous wind on the high tops and deep bogs on anything remotely flat. It had me cold and wet in the first two hours. I couldn't fault my Haglöfs jacket, OMM shorts or Salomons. But in order to keep warm I had to keep moving quickly.

I had planned not to take the direct route down from Blencathra as I feared for my knees, but the longer easier route was directly into the wind for the first mile; there was only one way down. There were queues of nervous runners inching their way down Hall's Fell ridge. 

Looking down Halls Fell Ridge to Threlkeld on a good day

It's not the steepest ridge but it's up there with them and a fall would have been serious. The wind was in our faces one moment and on our backs the next, not good on steep wet rock. We were all on all-fours on the steepest sections. Luckily I've done this sort of thing a few times before. I took a few risks to overtake the crowds and my knees held firm. 

Seeing Jane at the aid station at Threlkeld was a welcome sight. I refilled my drink, ate a quick ham&cheese roll and a flapjack and I was off. Only another 40 miles to go!

I then broke a walking pole crossing a slatted wooden bridge and had to manage the 17-mile Helvellyn range with one pole. All of my training has been with my lightweight Black Diamond carbon z-poles and so the ascent of Clough Head was all the harder with only one. I was working as hard as I could for 45 minutes. Taking turns with the remaining pole my arms were hurting badly; even so I was ascending faster than everyone around me.

Surprisingly when I got onto the long Dodds ridge I was able to run a good deal up there; it was bleak and I just wanted to get down! The wind picked up more with the altitude and being on a west-facing ridge - it was gusting well over 70 miles per hour and the horizontal rain was stinging our faces.  I ran with a group of about 10 others and we all seemed desperate not to get left behind; visibility was very poor and at times it was scary up there! Looking at the GPS tracker playback of the event I can see that several runners made some big mistakes on the ridge. Luckily I knew the route reasonably well and with just my compass I made a few good choices when the others were fetching their maps out. That kept me in touch. My running was slower but my climbing was faster. Then my left knee started hurting badly on the descents and I feared that I would have to stop. I got left behind on Helvellyn and I was very slow heading down to Grisedale tarn. I was hobbling, hurting and on my own. I felt low on energy but perhaps more from the cold than from the running.

Just beyond Fairfield I bumped into a lady who had fallen and was dazed. This was a section that I've never done before; she had but at first she didn't recognise anything. We soon got moving slowly but we were heading up when I hoped that we should be going down! Luckily she remembered the up, and I trusted the compass and I stayed with her until we both knew that we were not lost. As it happens we were both on the right route the whole time. By now I was shivering badly. Just checking the compass meant having to stop and get colder still. On the decent she passed me as I was hobbling and cursing. This section of the route took an hour longer than expected. I'd finished my energy drink and was  feeling very low. What made it worse was that there was no one else around. But I remembered that there was no one in sight either ahead or behind me as I had been ascending Fairfield.

I was about ready to give up at Ambleside when Jane appeared out of nowhere high up on the ridge above Sweden Crag with a fresh pair of  Z-Poles and a big smile. And just at this time the clouds parted to the south and we shared one of the classic Lake District views over Windermere. That did it for me, I was determined to go on.

First smile in 15 miles

The loss of 800 meters of altitude and a few slices of hot pizza at the food station in Ambleside warmed me up nicely. I soon felt strong again and I set out on the second half with a spring in my step. My knee was getting much better now that I was away from the rocky descents and I was soon able to run again.

The sun went down and it felt like I was on the home straight (albeit a 24 mile one). I knew the way alongside the lake and through the forests after walking this section on a family holiday at Easter. The sky was clear and a full moon rose over Windermere; a beautiful sight.

The lake was full too and at times I had to wade through it as the path skimmed the shore. Oddly this was a pleasure as it soothed my feet and I soon warmed up again from the constant effort. Jane met me three more times with encouragement and the miles flew by. 

Despite not having trained at night I was happy to be on my own in the dark. No one passed me in the second half and my energy levels were still high. I can't shake off my competitive spirit and it felt good to be steadily passing people. Even the incessant mud was not a big problem, with two poles I was able to stride confidently through it.  I think it’s fair to say that I ran (or at least jogged) everything that was runable in the last 20 miles of the race.

Two cups of soup and a sausage roll at the last aid station and I was off again into the moonlit mudfest; the bog was up to my knees in places.  When I finally hit the lanes I ran the last 2 miles down into Cartmel at 11 O’clock with a big grin on my face and half a bottle of energy drink left in my sack. 

It had been a wild adventure. I was down an hour and a half on my target time for the first half but the second half was as quick as I had expected (and nearly 2 miles longer!) and I finished in 15 hours; inside the top 20%. There was cheering from folks outside the pubs and I ran through the village like I was finishing a 5-miler. Such a great way to finish my first Lakeland Ultra after 8 months of pain and doubt.

Still smiling!

The organisation for the event was impeccable. The marshals were great, popping up in the most unexpected places; the aid stations were packed with good food and good cheer and the whole atmosphere was perfect.

On the day I estimate that I consumed between 2,000 and 3,000 calories (I'm not one for counting), mostly in the form of carbohydrates and mostly in the first half of the event. This compares to the 9,600 calories that Strava estimates that I used over 15 hours. I was able to deal with the mountainous first half with the aid of some glycogen and I was able to keep going strongly in the second half due to my long-term adaptation to fat-burning. This is not a proof of anything but the Train Low Race High strategy appears to have worked very well for me.

Thanks Jane, for putting me up to this challenge and seeing me through it!

Here is the Strava Route Profile

The South Downs Way Relay - Fuelled by FAT

The South Downs Way Relay is a great event. Starting at 6 in the morning sixty teams of 6 runners from all over the south east race their way from Eastbourne to Winchester as fast as they can, with a baton in their hand and a mini-bus trying to keep up between checkpoints at out of the way farms and on windy hill-tops. 

The key to success in this event is knowing the route for each of your 3 legs. A simple mistake can lose vital minutes or ruin the day for a team of 6 runners and their driver. And you need both speed and endurance.

My club Arena 80 have a good record in the relay, particularly in the Vets and B team categories; the  B team typically cover the 96 miles in about 12 and a half  hours and I have some nice medals from the occasions I have been 3rd and 2nd with the Bs and 1st with the Vets.

I have been wondering for a long time how the day might change as a result of using the low carb high fat diet. Food choices can be difficult, as you need to refuel but there is not much time between legs to digest and recover. Lots of energy drink is drunk and gel packets and banana skins litter the checkpoints and vans.  I recall being exhausted, bloated and sore before my final legs and the fear of cramps, injury and team failure was high. After my recent successes on the diet I hoped that things might be rather different this year.

Medal winning team from 2008

For the last two years I have missed out due to injury; last year it was right at the last minute and we were lucky to get a late substitute. And so this year I decided not to volunteer as I didn’t want to let the guys down again; rather I would offer myself as that last-minute substitute if I were needed.

It turns out that I was fit. And with a week to go I got the call-up for the B team. I was elated. Luckily I know the whole route of the SDW having cycled it a few times and run much of it; a quick check of the map and I confirmed that I knew all of the 3 legs that I had been given.

Normally these days I don’t consider food when running. But it would be a long day and so as well as my normal egg and bacon breakfast I prepared a tuna, egg and veg salad, some nuts, canned mackerel and a small bottle of my new energy drink, Olive Oil; and a couple of bottles of water of course.

The day started well with the whole team fit and exited. It was cold the start on Beachy Head with a strong south-westerly wind that would be blowing in our faces all day long, but as Simon headed off along the Seven Sisters and Dorian made his way up to Bo Peep Hill we soon got warmed up by the stop-start driving, jumping in and out of the van and the excitment of change-overs, navigation, questions & answers and near misses on country lanes.

Leg 4

In order to prevent congestion the teams start of in waves 30 minutes apart and we were in the second-last wave with several of the fast A teams starting with us or behind us. My first leg was 7.5 miles from Itford Farm to the A27. I am normally nervous and thirsty at the start of my first leg and it takes a while to get into racing. 

This year was different, I felt relaxed and ready and I quickly settled into a fast pace. There was a quick Hailsham runner 2 minutes ahead of me and I fancied catching him. The wind was hard work at times but the long uphill on ‘The Yellow Brick Road’ went well, apart from the fact that I was not catching the guy in front. No hurry though, there is plenty of time for things to change and so I just stuck to my planned rhythm  and the time flew by. There is a long downhill at 6 miles and I took it at pace, accidentally breaking my Strava mile PB in the process; and before I knew it the leg was over and I was back in the van. Not very tired, not very sore and crucially, not thirsty despite it being a warm day.

  Dorian descending to the River Adur

My legs (4,11 and 18) were more spaced out than I am used to and this allowed me to relax a little. I was confident about maintaining a high pace for all 3 legs having placed 3^rd vet in a challenging half marathon at Petworth the previous Saturday. 

The rest of the team we all running well and I spend a couple of hours supporting as we passed by my local hills at Ditchling and Clayton and headed westwards. I decided to be the team photographer for the day although somehow I forget to take a picture of the steam roller that pulled out on us and held us up for 5 minutes in Storington!

The Vets are catching up!

Over the next few legs our Vets and A teams started to catch us up and they would appear in their vans at the changeovers sooner and sooner after us before the point when their runners appeared. 

At two changeovers all three teams arrived within a couple of minutes of each other and it looked like Arena 80 had taken over the place. I scoffed half of my tuna and egg mix because I knew I would need it later, not because I felt hungry. The water had been frozen over-night and was lovely in small sips as it melted.

Leg 11

I am usually stiff and sore from the first leg. Not this year. I felt bouncy and strong and definitely ready for a hard run. The 5.5 miles west from the River Arun starts with a long uphill, I bounced up this. There is a mile or so over rough flinty paths and then another short and sharp hill. Still feeling great I was shocked to be caught by a chap from Burgess Hill Runners who I thought we had already overtaken.  He had forgotten about the second hill and couldn’t pull away from me on it but come the top he was away. OK so he was perhaps 20 years younger than me and looked as tough as old boots but my pride was hurt and I held on as close as I could, breaking my mile PB again on the hill down to the checkpoint. It turned out that the chap was an A team runner and I ought to be pleased to have kept him in sight. Very tired at the end but my recovery was quick; an hour later I was feeling good again with a tin of mackerel and a bottle of olive oil working their magic inside me. 

 Hywel and Julian running strong on legs 9 and 12

I am usually one of the first in the team to finish my 3 legs and I celebrate by cracking open a cold beer to the annoyance of those who still have hours to go before running again and are starting to feel pretty tired after such a long day out.  This year the roles were reversed and there was a strong vote for a pub stop from the early finishers.

We had no idea how we were doing compared to the other B teams. Stubbington Green B had left us on leg 1 and the few teams we had passed had been veterans or ladies. A ladies team with pink shorts were refusing to be caught, so we assumed that we must be well down the B field.  There was added pressure with the real possibility of being timed out at the cut-off at the start of leg 16. Our late statrt meant that it would be a close call. In bad weather this cut-off is strictly enforced but this time the weather was fine, if a little windy still, and despite being 10 minutes late we were let through.

Simon at the finish of the gruelling leg 13.

There are some cruel legs in the latter stages of the race. Leg 13 over Linch Hill, Treyford Hill, Pen Hill, Beacon Hill and Harting Hill is a killer, and the 9-mile leg 17 is hard on its own, never mind at 7pm in the evening when you have already run 10 miles and been awake since 5 in the morning.

Gareth had been fretting all day about the route for leg 17 and we were worried. He had maps and a phone with him just in case but there was a long, nervous wait before he appeared at a road crossing at the 7-mile point; he was flying along and reminding us why he clocked just over 3 hours at the Brighton marathon this year. We only just  got to the checkpoint in time for me to get my shirt on and run.

Gareth hands over the batton at the end of leg 17

Leg 18

I had the coveted leg 18. Not only the glory leg but also a fast 5.5 mile cruise with only about 100 meters of ascent and a long downhill to the finish. 

We had finally started catching other teams on legs 16 and 17 and there were a couple of teams only a few minutes ahead of me as I started the final leg.  It was 8pm and I ought to have been feeling dreadful having been up for 15 hours, but I was bubbling with energy and I set off at a strong pace with a Brighton Phoenix runner in sight ahead of me. After 2 minutes I started to feel a stich coming on. This could spell disaster so I slowed down for a few minutes and luckily it went away as fast it had come - I slowly increased the pace again. I caught the chap ahead and pressed on up the only real hill which leads up to Cheesefoot Head where the team always cheer on the last runner at the crossing of the A272.

The top of the hill came earlier than I expected and as I approached the road I saw a runner from Liss Runners about 400 meters ahead. I sped up again and for the last 2 miles I raced as hard as I could. I ought to have been knackered but I ran the final 2 miles, albeit mostly downhill, in about 12 minutes. I had the finishing field to myself, apart from about the 300 people at the finish line, and it would have been inappropriate not  to sprint to the line. You never know, a few seconds might still make a difference. 

We finished in 12 hours 40 minutes 13 seconds. A bit slower than normal but really rather good when you consider that strong headwind.

A quick change and a cold beer and we started to wonder where we had come. We were all rather downbeat about our chances and so it was a grand surprise to find that we had come second out of the 14 B teams.  This made the long journey home very pleasant indeed. Another fine medal for the shelf.

I can honestly say that I am amazed by the difference in how I felt and how I ran. I am not getting any younger but my energy levels were even and consistently high. I ate the food but only drank about 1 litre of water all day, with no hint of dehydration. My average speed of 8.2 miles per hour was faster than on any of the 4 previous occasions, despite that headwind and despite running 18.5 miles rather than my normal 15.  And the next day I felt alright, when I would normally have been a wreck. 

I think I might be onto something here!

Thanks to my team-mates Julian, Dorian, Gareth, Hywel and Simon and to our ever jovial driver Michael.  

I’ll see you next year.

LCHF and Me

Earlier this year I started a diet. I have never followed any kind of diet before and it was aimed to be an experiment. It is starting to become a way of life.

This blog is aimed at documenting my progress on LCHF and its effect on my running; and also providing further information as to what it is all about. I may digress onto other subjects; we will see.

The more I read about LCHF the more I have become passionate about it. Perhaps it’s my mid-life state that has me taking health more seriously, or perhaps I am just getting angry about all the misinformation being peddled by the 'experts' and the drug and food companies – probably it is both. But I get angry about this stuff; it keeps me awake at nights. So this is my pressure release value.

I became interested in LCHF as a result of my wife’s research into the subject. Jane runs a Personal Training company (http://aspirefitnesssolutions.co.uk) and has been looking to provide reliable advice about weight management to her clients. She also insists on understanding things before passing them on; unlike many in her profession and the diet industry. Jane has been using LCHF for about 16 months now.

LCHF is different from other diets; it’s simple, and it takes us back to our natural state; the way we evolved before low-cost junk food became widely available. I like to hope that no one could successfully market a high-fat diet food range – but I suspect that I could be wrong! Most diets are full of restrictions, LCHF has just one. I love its simplicity; just cut out the only unnecessary macronutrient group and you’re done. After all carbs are the dull part of any good meal aren’t they?
When it comes to food our bodies are so much cleverer than our minds. In three weeks my body learned to do something that most registered dieticians would tell you is impossible. And in three months my body re-learned a way of fuelling itself that is as old as our history on earth. I can run a marathon on a couple of eggs and bacon for breakfast and a couple of salty cups of soup. And I can still run up steep hills as fast as I could 5 years ago when carbs ruled the world.
 
About Me

I am a 48 year-old with better than average health and fitness. Since turning 40 I have taken up running as a serious pastime. I run between 20 and 50 miles a week and I run for a local club. Sometimes (but not often) I win races. I put on a few pounds if I stop exercising and don’t cut back on food. I like food and drink. I eat home cooked food 95% of the time and I like to drink wine with dinner, usually more than I should.

What worries me is not so much my weight but the stuff that goes into my food. How will it affect my future health? I also worry about what other people eat. Why are so many people overweight? You would think that in this day and age we would know enough about how our bodies work to ensure that no one got to be obese unless they actually wanted to. But clearly we do not.

Lots of people make a living out of telling other people what to eat. Diet clubs make lots of money and we are getting fatter. Food companies produce low-fat food and we are getting fatter. The NHS suggests a balanced diet (whatever that means) and pays billions a year to keep diabetics from dying and provide gastric bypasses for the obese. And has this helped? No. In fact the situation is getting worse. I would like to help to change this situation.

I would also like to stay fit and healthy for as long as possible. I would like to beat my Beachy Head Marathon PB. This might sound a bit delusional (it is a good time set 4 years ago and I'm nearing 50) but there are aspects of LCHF that may well help me to do this. I planned to start with the London Marathon; I planned to cruise through comfortably and enjoy it with a shirt that reads ‘Fuelled By Fat’ on the back. If went well that it would be back to the hills and the BHM where my love of running began.

Read on if the subject appeals to you…..

The basics of LCHF

I am not about to try to describe the diet in detail as there are excellent references by folks much better qualified than me. Here is one of the best : http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf

And here is another http://eatingacademy.com/how-a-low-carb-diet-affected-my-athletic-performance.

These two websites have fuelled my interest in the subject and led the me reading a number of very well written books, the best of which would be The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living by Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek.

And here is a rather amusing and straight to the point article that I like. http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/On-Tim-Noakes-and-Bullsht-20140113By the way, everyone should listen to Tim Noakes; he is just great and ought to receive a Nobel Prize or something suitably grand.

To summarise on LCHF. Fat used to be our primary energy source. In the absence of carbs our liver will turn fats and proteins into ketones which are the body's alternative energy source besides glycogen. Carbs used to be an infrequent luxury; ripe fruits found and gorged upon. Our bodies learned to make use of carbs; they may even have made us a bit better at chasing those fatty animals that we like to eat. Our Palaeolithic ancestors may have been short of some forms of nutrition but they were not short of energy.

Our bodies do not tolerate carbohydrates very well. Feed them too much and we store it as fat. Some of us develop nasty diseases as a result. But remove the carbs from our diet (carefully mind) and hey! Those diseases often go away – This is where Tim Noakes is such a superstar, along with Phinney and Volek. They are not just talking about LCHF diets; they are curing many ill people with them.

To my mind it is not the ability for folks like me to lead a healthier lifestyle and maybe beat an old PB that matters, it is the possibility that millions of people suffering diabetes and faced with a lifetime of drugs and pain might shake off those shackles and live a healthy and happy life.

I grew up in a world where carbs were king. I did not grow fat on them but my family were very active; many of my friends did get fat. Since I have worked and travelled around the world in my job I have seen the extent to which whole communities can become part of a culture where obesity has become the norm. I refer to this as the ‘Cakes in the Kitchen’ syndrome. We all know those cakes we bring in for a birthday treat are bad for us but for some reason unknown to anyone but Mr Kipling we do it every time.

In the time that I have been growing up there has been an epidemic of obesity, timed perfectly with an epidemic in the consumption of carbohydrates. Many people have suggested that the cause was a more sedentary lifestyle but that is only one part of the bigger picture. If I ate all those ‘cakes in the kitchen’ at work then no amount of running would prevent me from being fatter than I am.

It is only in the last few years that anyone has suggested that the problem might be due to carbohydrates; and many of these heretics have been burned at the cross of capitalism. But the proof is emerging fast; it is all around us in research papers, clinical results, hard evidence. And still big-pharma and big-food refuse to admit they are wrong. And governments refuse to admit they are wrong because they are sponsored and advised by big-pharma and big-food. But the foundations are crumbling and I hope that the tower of carbs will fall soon.