Daylight had replaced utter darkness but the sun had yet to fight its way through the massive wall of clouds. The road continued uphill, elegantly passing between massive walls forming part of the Hajar Mountains. It must have been around 7am on that particular Friday morning, February 11th 2011. 7am is the time when people usually still enjoy a good sleep after a long night out in Dubai or after a nice barbeque with plenty of beer outdoors in the mountains of Oman. Instead, I found myself more than 2 hours into racing the Wadi Bih Run, the oldest expatriate sporting event in the UAE, as a solo runner. After having covered 25 kilometers my mood started to turn. The terrain was becoming increasingly difficult to navigate and the ascent continued mercilessly. A blister was slowly forming underneath my right foot. This is when my mind slowly drifted back in time, trying to make sense of the decision to join that race in the first place.
As with so many things in life it was the result of different events coinciding. Though having played sports all my life running was never on top of the list. I found my passion for running late at the age of 34 just after having moved from Istanbul to Dubai in 2006. After 5 years of working out only in the gym it was just great to be in a place where I could step out and go for a run. The occasional run turned into regular, longer runs and soon I found myself training for my first marathon in Dubai. Ever since, I have been running regularly at various events in the UAE and the passion eventually spilled over to my wife, Semra, with whom I ran the Dubai Marathon jointly in 2010.
So it was in December 2010, well into the preparation for the 2011 Dubai Marathon, when Christopher McDouglall’s “Born to Run” was given to me as a present by one of my adidas colleagues. “Born to run” has already achieved classic status among running books and it’s a fascinating and inspiring read not only for those interested in long-distance running or the mystic secrets of the fleet-footed Tarahumara Indians. It was my first venture into ultra-running and truly influential in the decision to participate as a soloist in the Wadi Bih Run 2011. The factors that ultimately pushed me into registering were rather coincidental: Receiving an email announcing the opening of registrations for the Wadi Bih Run after having completed a solid 40k training run on January 1st. As usual, my wife was more than supportive even though her first reaction was to pronounce me “crazy”. By the evening of January 1st the deal was sealed – registration for the first ultra-distance run of 72k was completed.
Registration was easy. Getting prepared was a totally different matter. Until now I was well into the 2011 marathon preparation. Training was based on previous race experiences and tailored towards the objective of undermining my personal best by 7 minutes, clocking 3h.15m. The Wadi Bih Run added a completely different angle. Advice and training programs for various ultra-marathon distances are available on-line – plentiful. The search criteria I selected was “training for a 50 miles run”. Now, 50 miles is roughly 80.4 kilometers, approximately 8 kilometers more than the Wadi Bih Run. However, it is a well established long-distance and hence easy to research. I also figured with the difficult terrain and altitude difference of 900 meters, the 50 miles anchor would provide best guidance. Programs available on running sites provided by Runners World or Run 100 Miles usually cover a preparation period of 18 weeks. Commonly found are plans covering 5 runs a week, slowly building up long distances on the weekends. 10 weeks prior to the race the “to be” ultra runner would clock 100 km per week with 3 and 4 hour runs on Saturday and Sunday respectively. Reflecting back on my schedule I could ascertain that such preparation would remain out of reach. So far I had already completed about 6 long runs of 30k. However, the average weekly distance was well below 60km and only once had I crossed the 3 hour mark for a single run. Were I to follow the recommended schedule I would have had to complete 4 and 5 hour runs just the weekend before, completing over 115km within the week. This was unachievable with barely 6 weeks to go, some travelling ahead and a marathon in between. So I decided to follow my prior schedule but intensify the long runs on the following 2 weekends and again the week after the marathon. Other recommendations commonly found are, for example, doing your preparations on terrain which resembles the actual race course. Also, the really long preparation runs should incorporate some walking in order to train the hiking muscles. Even elites hardly run an entire 50 mile distance, especially off-road. Weight training of core muscles and speed training once a week will assist in reducing (though definitely not eliminating) the beating your legs will finally encounter during the race. Now living in Dubai provides easy access to weights and well paved streets. But where would I find off-road, graded gravel tracks ascending and descending 900 meters? I quickly dismissed the option of training on trails similar to the Wadis and decided to stick to the flat road and hope for the best.
As so often in running there is a thin line between euphoria and disappointment. A day after registering for the solo run I woke up with severe pain in my left foot. Injuries are common among runners. The impact of running on your legs can be multiples of your bodyweight. So it is not surprising that, according to McDouglas, 65% to 80% of runners each year suffer from injuries of some kind. Following Semra’s advice I visited the Dubai Physiotherapy where Chris Page diagnosed problems with my peroneal muscle in the left foot. In simple terms, it was an inflammation of the peroneal muscle, actually not really a common running injury. Total recovery would take weeks but with proper treatment and rest it would be possible to race again earlier. To make matters worse, I caught a bad cold the same day. Here we stand, 17 days to go until the marathon and I was literally kicked off the preparation track. Taking a deeply pessimistic view I started to write off any chance to either beat my personal best at the marathon or run the Wadi Bih solo. What saved me from total destruction were the following events. First, Semra kept encouraging me despite the setback. Second, the cold subsided fairly quickly. Third, Chris Page put me back on track – psychologically rather than physically. During the 2nd day of treatment Chris worked out a plan with me on how to balance the need for recovery and restarting the training. We worked out the minimum training I felt was necessary to run both the Marathon and the Wadi Bih. Accordingly, I rested for 5 days and started a slow 20k run on the 6thday. Having finished without further pain another 20k run was added the following day at a slightly faster pace. In between I followed strict advice on massaging, stretching and cooling. 10 days prior to the Marathon I was back, completing 35k. On the last weekend prior to the Marathon I ran my longest preparation run of the season stretching 46k.
For the Marathon the week after, I decided on a “run and see” strategy. I started at a speed of 0.7km/h faster than required to beat my personal best. Throughout the race I was able to maintain the pace until km 35 when I started to slow down. Eventually, I was able to finish in 3h.12m, underscoring my personal best by 10 and my initial target by 2 ½ minutes. Accordingly, I was quite happy with the result which also provided encouragement for the upcoming Wadi Bih Run.
The 3 weeks after the Marathon was dedicated to a full week of travelling in which I could manage only few smaller runs and upon return 4 longer runs covering maximum distances of 15 to 25k. The biggest fear factor was my left food. It would take weeks for the peroneal muscle injury to fully recover and naturally I was afraid that the foot would not hold during the entire 72k distance. Eventually, just 8 days prior to the Wadi Bih Run and just after completing a last 25k run I felt confident enough to throw myself into the adventure of running the first ultra long distance.
If you want to know how the race went - see my next post - Running the Wadi Bih Solo
If you want to know how the race went - see my next post - Running the Wadi Bih Solo
