Ultra Running - How it started and The Highland Fling

Paul Jones & Simon McCollum are taking on the Trail Du Mont-Blanc Ultra Marathon with support from Skinfit UK.

Here is Paul's story on how they came about taking on this epic adventure.

This all started with a boring day in the office talking about former glories. I am a former International Decathlete and my running partner (Simon McCollum) is a former England Hockey player. We discussed our current state of fitness and decided that we needed a challenge. Simon had read an article on the Trail Du Mont-Blanc and said this race would be a good tick in the life box. I agreed without really knowing what the race involved, boy, did I get a shock when I found out it was a 98km race around Mont-Blanc.

We did some research into the event and made our application, only to find out that you can't just enter this race, you have to qualify, so we entered the Highland Fling as our qualifying race. This when we realised what a challenge this was going to be (we've never even run a marathon). We sat down a put together a training plan. We broke it up into 4 week blocks, 3 hard 1 easy, building up the mileage over the first 3 weeks before easing off in week 4. Each 4 week cycle would start at a higher weekly mileage until we were up to 70-80 miles on any given week and a peak of 100+. We used our commute to and from work to get the miles in as this was 10 miles each way then a long run at the weekend, we would also include trips over to Cannock Chase and Snowdonia to get used to off-road terrain and bigger hills.

During our first few months of training we thought it would be a good idea to use this opportunity to raise some money for charity. We chose the Livestrong foundation. We also approached Skinfit UK to see whether they would be interested in supporting us through our mission, happily they said yes.

Skinfit UK provided us with much of the kit we would need to tackle a mountain ultramarathon - the Scudo waterproof jacket, caldo gillet, vento gillet and base layers. The kit was amazing and met our needs perfectly as we'd previously been using kit which was too heavy, not easily packable and not made with mountain adventure in mind. I became a particular fan of my base layers and waterproof. The base layers were light-weight, designed with runners in mind and were very comfortable in both hot and cold conditions. My waterproof came in very handy in the hills of Snowdonia during the winter months, it's light, perfectly fitted and packs away into a small apple-sized ball.

The Highland Fling

Race day had arrived and I had not felt so nervous before a race. During my athletics career I stepped onto the line with confidence knowing that I had put the right amount and level of training in to do well but this was different - I had never gone this far before over mountain terrain. During our preparation we had done back to back runs of 25-30 miles, but had never gone over 50 in one go.

We decided to started to start at the back of the field and work our way through - as we were heading into the unknown. Our pace was an easy jog to begin with, passing quite a few people on the first road phase before heading off-road, we settled into an easy 8.30 min/mile pace cautious not to be tempted to go with some of the quicker starters. As we reached the first check-point at 19 miles we felt great, felt fresh and confident in having passed a lot of fellow competitors on the way. We took on fluid and food (rice pudding) and headed back out - but only 3 miles later Simon started to feel sick, his stomach was rock hard and he was finding it difficult to keep running. Simon was having a bad reaction to a carb bar he had taken on-board during our feed station. We walked for the next 2-3 miles while Simon recovered.

Simon started to feel better and we were back running and making up ground on those who had come passed us. The terrain changed from fire-track trail to rugged ankle-breaking off-road and with no option to run across - we were forced to walk again. Out the other end, we had gone past half-way and were closing in on the 30 mile marker. By this stage the hills were taking their toll on the quads, but we still felt good and kept a decent pace. The race was full of great people, very friendly, we chatted to a lot of them during the tough parts of the race - where us mere mortals had to walk.

The 40-50 mile stage was a particularly tough part - going through shin-deep mud fields and big 1:3 climbs. I went through a real bad patch, my legs felt like lead and the hills kept coming and coming, then we hit the forest and my mood changed. This part of the race was by far the best part for me, it was beautiful, pine track weaved through the tall trees, I hardly noticed the savage hills. This was short-lived as we came out of the trees onto a dull road and it began to rain, this time both me & Simon went through a bad patch and had to drag ourselves through the next couple of miles.

We checked our map and saw that we were only 5 miles from the finish - and with that news we man'd up and headed to the finish. In the distance. there was a florescent sign - it had to be the finish. It was a sign for the finish but the cruel organiser had put this with another half-mile to go - I could have hit someone. But only 10 minutes later we had achieved our qualification into Mont-Blanc by completing the Highland Fling in just over 10 and a half hours.

After a shower, a pizza and a pint we headed back to camp where we quickly passed out. The next morning was not a great one with my legs feeling as they had been run over by a bus and the knowledge that we would have to make the long drive back to Birmingham.

Bye for now, I'll let you know how we got on at Mont-Blanc.

Haile Gebreselassie the greatest

Skinfit UK Brand Ambassador Asker Jeukendrup recently spent some time in Ethiopia with the great distance runner, Haile Gebreselaisse. Here is Asker's account of his visit to Addis Ababa.

As an exercise physiologist / sports and exercise nutritionist I had opportunity to work with Haile Gebreselassie, the greatest distance runner of all times. Over the years I have provided nutrition advice to a number of elite athletes, in various sports, who achieved incredible things, but Haile has always been one of my favourite athletes. With 27 world records, and numerous Gold medals in Olympic Games and World Championships it is no surprise that they call him "the Greatest", "the Emperor".

I flew into Addis Ababa in Ethiopia for a week to do a number of tests with Haile, the goal of which was to help him to break his own world record for the marathon and to get him ready for the London 2012 games (when he will be 38 years old). I had met Haile several times in the past, in Portugal when he was trying to break the half marathon world record, in Beijing at the Olympic Games and at his house in Addis Ababa and he is without doubt one of the most impressive athletes I have ever come across. Haile is not only an amazing athlete, he is also an amazing businessman and person. Always on the phone, employing over 500 people and running a successful business in between two training sessions a day. Clearly he is hardly an average athlete. Although he is extremely busy, he still has time to say hi to everyone on the streets of Addis and is always smiling. He is the nation's big hero and he makes so many people happy by just saying hi or shaking their hands. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world and many live in the streets hoping to find a way to make a bit of money to buy the food for that day. When Haile drives past in his silver Mercedes, which he won when he became world champion in Stuttgart in 1993, the lively Addis Ababa comes to a standstill, everyone looks up in admiration.

Haile owns a large office building in Bole near the airport in Addis where he runs a gym on the ground floor. You will find a coffee shop / restaurant on the first floor and Haile's office on the 8th. In the afternoon when he goes for his second training session of the day you can often find him in that gym. I carried the equipment to measure oxygen uptake and carbohydrate and fat utilization with me in the plane and I set up a lab in Haile's gym. I converted part of the gym into a laboratory to perform the fanciest exercise physiology studies ever performed on Ethiopian soil.

The testing was most impressive, not because of the fancy equipment I brought (although that attracted a lot of attention too) because of the speed and ease that Haile ran on the treadmill. Like a metronome, hardly touching the treadmill, he ran 24 km in 90 min, whilst I was doing all of these measurements. In fact he finished the test at 22 kph after having done a 2 hour hard run session that morning! For obvious reasons I can't share his results but believe me they were impressive. Haile's next goal will be the marathon of Berlin on September 20.

More Philip Graves...

Check out this great interview with good friend of Skinfit UK, Philip Graves, Ironman's youngest-ever winner: http://www.imtalk.me/Podcast.html

More success for friend of the Skinfit UK family

A good friend of the Skinfit UK family, Philip Graves, recently became the youngest-ever winner of an Ironman race when he won Ironman UK in his debut race at the iron-distance.

Skinfit UK would like to congratulate Philip on his great results and look forward to seeing him to him on the race podium many more times.

Here is a great interview with Philip, courtesy of slowtwitch.com.

Ironman fascination

By Asker Jeukendrup

Over the last few weeks I have watched many competitors finish in Ironman Germany and Ironman Switzerland. Both races were held in wonderful weather conditions and with great atmosphere. I have completed 16 Ironman races so far but these were the first two I have watched from the sideline. Ironman is a fascinating sport! Athletes of all levels participate and set out to break their own personal records or to simply make it to the finish line before the cut off. The journey is quite remarkable, often painful, often emotional, each athlete goes through many ups & downs during the race and crossing of the finish line is unlike any other event. The expression on people's faces tell a great story: it varies from extreme relief that it is over, to incredible satisfaction and pride. Some people cross the finish line and immediately state they will never ever do this again! Others will quite happily sign up for the next event as soon as they have crossed the finish line. The one thing these people have in common is the next day they all want to sign up for the next year.

For many people completing an Ironman is a life changing event and the emotions that go with that are obvious when you watch people finish. There are a few things about Ironman that are unique and that make it very special.

Firstly, it is a sport for all people: it is as busy at the finish line when the first guys finish in little over 8 hours as when the last athletes come in at midnight!

Secondly, Ironman is a lifestyle, it is not just a sport. In order to complete the event people have to make changes to their lifestyle and most of us have to fit in many hours of training with work or school and family. Ironman training also makes people aware of healthy living and nutrition (which is my main interest as a sports nutritionist and Professor of Exercise Metabolism at the University of Birmingham).

I will be writing a few blogs about nutrition and preparation for triathlons in the next few months, hoping that this will help others to achieve their personal goals. I find Ironman fascinating because so many factors determine performance on the day. For the perfect race, everything has to be right from preparation, to nutrition, to equipment, to psychology and it is an incredible challenge to get everything right on the day. Although I have often been called a leading sports nutritionist or world expert, there have been plenty of races where my race nutrition did not work 100% and my search for the perfect race continues.

I have been supported by Skinfit for several years now and apart from the fact that I am extremely happy with the quality of the garments, I also think that Skinfit as a brand really embraces everything that Ironman stands for.

In October I will be competing at Ironman Hawaii for the fourth time, I will be reporting on my preparation, i will posting nutrition information here and on my website www.askerjeukendrup.com and I hope the information will inspire and help you in your preparation for the events you are preparing for.

Asker Jeukendrup is Professor of Exercise Metabolism, Director of the Human Performance lab, Exercise Metabolism Research Group, School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham.

Nutrition is the fourth discipline of triathlon

By Asker Jeukendrup

A good diet is for everyone. A good diet and an active lifestyle will help to prevent may of the modern diseases like obesity, type ll diabetes, cardiovascular diseases etc. In fact poor diet and physical inactivity are currently ranked as the number 1 killer, ahead of smoking!

For elite athletes there is another reason to pay attention to the diet. Diet can also affect performance and sometimes can even mean the difference between winning and becoming last.

I don't think athletes always appreciate the importance of nutrition. Elite athletes spend hours and hours training, the efforts they put into their training are quite remarkable. It is then amazing to see that the diet often receives less attention. What you eat before, during and after training will determine how well your body adapts and thus improves from that training session. It is therefore important to give nutrition as much attention as training!

What do we mean by good nutrition? This is a tricky question and the answer may depend on the goal. Good nutrition will be different for a shot-putter than for an ultra marathon runer and will be different if your goal is sprint triathlon or completing an Ironman. It will be different for someone who does not train and someone who trains 2 hours per day. The requirements of different sports and disciplines can vary quite significantly. There are a few common themes though.

Carbohydrate to fuel training

All training will require energy and this energy has to be provided. The two main fuels for exercise are fat and carbohydrate. Carbohydrate is the fuel of choice and since we can only store relatively small amounts of carbohydrate in our bodies, carbohydrate should be a large component of every athlete's diet. Good sources of carbohydrate are potato, bread, rice, pasta etc. It is often recommended for athletes to have a relatively low fat, high carbohydrate diet. Fat sources such as butter, mayonnaise, which contain quite a bit of energy could be replaced with carbohydrate sources.

A balanced diet

A diet has to be balanced which means it has to be varied to provide all nutrients in sufficient quantities. Eating just pasta would result in a deficiency of various micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). To provide a balanced diet, we should consume sufficient amounts of fruit and vegetables, eat whole grain products and other fibre containing foods, eat meat or fish (although meat could be replaced with carefully chosen protein sources).

Hydration

There is evidence that dehydration (a loss of body water) can impair performance. Athletes are therefore recommended to drink regularly and make sure they are always hydrated. One way to check hydration status is by looking at the colour of urine. A light colour usually means you are well hydrated, a darker colour means you are dehydrated. Sports drinks are developed to replenish water as quickly as possible and they provide a source of carbohydrate as well. These drinks are important for endurance athletes who exercise for many hours, and it is even more important if the exercise is performed in hot conditions. The average person who goes to the gym, could suffice with drinks that contain less carbohydrate or even no carbohydrate.

Recovery

Nutrition plays an important role in recovery. After exercise energy stores have to be replenished, lost fluid has to be replaced and damage (muscle damage) has to be repaired. We need carbohydrate, water and protein for this. When athletes are training hard on a daily basis which for most elite athletes is the case, the choice of food and the timing will determine how quickly they recover and how well they adapt. Nutrition can also help to prevent injuries by speeding up repair of damaged tissues.

Immune system

Strenuous training may suppress the immune system and this may be the reason why anecdotally athletes who are training hard are reporting more colds. Nutrition can help boost the immune system and especially carbohydrate intake during longer training sessions has been shown to reduce the suppression of the immune system.

Sports nutrition myths

There are many myths in sports nutrition. In the sixties athletes were advised to eat a large steak on the morning before a marathon. Now we know this is not the best way to prepare but there are new myths...There is a strong belief that large amounts of protein need to be consumed to build muscle. However, there is no evidence for this at all. Protein is important to build muscle but we don't necessarily need large amounts. The timing of protein intake may be more important than the amount.

There are also many nutrition supplements on the market that claim to make your muscles grow, fat disappear, recover faster, and perform better. Most of these claims are not based on scientific evidence! Even worse, some of these supplements do not contain what they say they do! So supplements are not the way to a healthy and optimal diet. Supplements, as the name suggests, are meant to supplement a healthy diet, not to replace it or compensate for it!

Why sports nutrition is so exciting

As a triathlete I have learned how important nutrition can be. Take for instance one of the ultimate challenges: the Ironman (3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, followed by a 42.2 km run). During an Ironman, you expend 10,000-11,000 kcal (a normal person will expend 2,000-2,800 kcal per day) and some of this energy needs to be supplied during the race. Fluid losses can be substantial: in some races it can be more than 10 litres, and these losses need to be minimised. However, although on the one hand there is evidence that refuelling and rehydrating are important, there are also practical considerations that need to be taken into account. For example, it is not always possible to carry that much food and drinks are sometimes the foods and drinks can cause gastro-intestinal problems. This is what makes the field of sports nutrition so exciting. Every sport and indeed every athlete has individual needs that can only be addressed appropriately by working closely with this athlete and finding out what is optimal for them. In a series of articles over the coming weeks we will discuss all these considerations and come up with some guidelines.

Asker Jeukendrup is Professor of Exercise Metabolism, Director of the Human Performance Lab, Exercise Metabolism Research Group, School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham.