Watershed Running
Mountain running and ultrarunning in Scotland. This is also a picture blog about a 650 mile run on Scotland's Watershed in 2012 - and the training and recovery involved.
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IT Band Injuries
Everyone who runs a lot expects an injury now and again. But what is it about an IT Band injury that’s so infuriating? I’ve struggled with an IT Band problem since the Ayr River Way Challenge. Things are improving but…not very quickly.
The IT band injury I had last year kicked in after about 6 miles while in the last few weeks the pain has me limping after just 1 or 2. Obviously you can’t go to a doctor complaining about how you can only run two miles. You’d rightly be shown the door.
Other injures - such as shin splints, cartilage problems or pulley strains seem to be easier to define and while the recovery phase may be long - the actual treatments are well established. But there seems to be very little consistent advice about IT Band injury. Well, the advice I’ve been given isn’t consistent. As ever, the best advice appears to be written by runners - for runners. So - following my own instincts and reading around, I’ve focused on cross training with lots of open-water and pool swimming. I’ve been doing a lot of stretching and some speed work in bare feet on the beach. I’ve combined that with run-walks on easy ground.
Here is some advice I’ve found (really) useful:
Research on 100 mile ultrarunning tactics
There isn’t much research on ultrarunning and even less on tactics many ultrarunners take for granted - such as starting out slowly, using NSAIDs etc. But here’s a good paper on a survey of ultrarunners competing in the South Downs 100….
http://www.centurionrunning.com/assets/files/research/SouthDownsWay100Report.pdf
September 15th: RAW 12. River Ayr Way Challenge Ultra. 41 miles.
The River Ayr Way is Scotland’s oldest long distance way-marked trail which is a true ‘source to sea’ route that follows the river from Glenbuck Loch to the west coast. The ultra route starts on undulating ground over farmland and open moor with some riverside bog but quickly reaches beautiful wooded sections with steep climbs through dramatic gorges as the river winds west through Ayrshire. A great trail that is often divided up into two or three days of running or walking with plenty of places to stay on the way.
Finishing time - 6 hours, 37 minutes.
25 August: Speyside Way Ultra. 36 Miles.
The Speyside Way Ultra starts part way along the trail at Ballindaloch and heads directly north following the line of the disused railway and then some rough trails to the north coast. It has two significant climbs close to the middle of the route. Inexplicably, I ran passed a checkpoint without refilling my bottle and ran about 14 miles without drinking. I’m sure that’s why I had a horrible dip in form in the second third of the race. Either that or I just went out too fast. Who knows - probably a combination of both.
Finishing time: 5 Hours, 38 Minutes.
UKHillwalking.com asked me a few questions about my run and published this feature last week.
Awesome kit #4. Exped Ultralight Drybags and Waterproof Organisers. You are on a multi-day ultra, running to a deadline and you need to keep your kit organised and dry. What I’d want is colour-coded see-through drybags that are reliably waterproof. Just as importantly they need to be ultralight. I’d also want a couple of smaller transparent organisers for a small first-aid kit, lighters and an ultralight stove etc.That’s exactly what I used from Exped . I know some people advise against using multiple dry-bags for lightweight adventures. They argue that using just one waterproof bag in your ruck-sack saves on weight. But the problem with that logic is that when you have to access kit in the rain, the whole pack contents get slightly damp every time you get something out or push something back in. You definitely risk getting your whole kit wet if you have to set up camp in the rain.
For this reason, I’m a convert to a small number of ultralight dry-bags.
One last point - see the small zip toggle on the organiser? That’s luminous. I didn’t know this before I woke up in the middle of the night during a wild camp at 500m needing painkillers. I found the organiser within seconds. What a good idea.
Awesome kit #2: Inov8 Race Pac 2. Review. I’ve recently started to appreciate the ‘rapid access’ zipped waist pockets on back-packs designed for mountain or ultra running. Over the months, I started to put more and more into these pockets - like small cameras, phones and maps. Just before I set off on the Watershed run I became aware of the Salomon S-Lab trail-running packs which allow access to a range of chest and side pockets without having to take the back-pack off. Those packs, however, were too small for many of the days I was planning. Instead, I opted for the Inov8 Race Pac 2 which I clipped onto the shoulder and waste bands of the Inov8 Race Elite 25l sack. Fitting the RacePac was no hassle as it uses a simple plastic slide clip and taking the whole sack off is simply a matter of detaching one extra push-fit clip. I used this front pack for my GPS, phone/camera and a range of snacks. It actually has two litres of volume and you can easily fit a folded map case in the mesh pocket behind the zipped pockets. On some days I didn’t take my back-pack off once until well into the afternoon. Overall, I’m a complete convert to front packs on any day when you have to move fast and light.
Mud Sweat and Tears article about my run.
