Archive for September, 2007
Inspiration #1: Dreaming of the Sahara
Sunday, September 30th, 2007 
No Comments »“Once in your lifetime you need the solitude of crossing a desert” (Sven Hedin)
Your maps for the Thames Meander
Saturday, September 29th, 2007
The Thames Meander Entry Form states under section “Compulsory equipment”: “Ordnance Survey Landranger maps 175 Reading & Windsor and 176 West London”. A map is an absolute must, although the thames path between Reading and London is relatively straight-forward to follow. But during the later stages of the race with darkness setting in and you possibly being on your own, you want to have a map you can rely on. If you promise not to tell Kathy and Steve, I’ll tell you a secret. Last year, I didn’t bring the Landranger maps along. Instead I used another map which I found most useful. It’s called “Thames - the river and the path” by GEO projects. It is a very detailed map of the river and the thames path. I found the close-ups of some of the cities quite useful where others got lost in 2006 (Marlow, Eton/Windsor for example), and the fact that it focuses only on the Thames and its path, excluding all other regions beyond the river. 
To get from Hampton Court bridge to the finish at Surbiton School, I will use the “Richmond Kingston upon Thames” map from AA Street by Street, having clearly marked the way on pages 34/35 and 40. The last thing you want to do three miles before the finish is trying to understand your map and how to get to Surbiton from Hampton Court.
Racing Tip #3: My 24-hour race strategy
Friday, September 28th, 2007Taking it slow, very slow, especially during the first 23 hours of the race. That’s the most important thing.
Keeping a steady intake of fluids is vital to finishing 24 hours gracefully. For this reason alone, it’s a good idea to take a friend along to assist you with monitoring your food and water intake. Your helper should also keep an eye on temperature and your clothing and hand you warm things to wear when night sets in.
I’ll be on my own this time, so I will be runner and coach “pro se”, making it even more important to have a clear strategy and schedule I can adhere to even when my brain starts getting a bit muddy after midnight.
Here is my race strategy in table format. Every hour I will leave the track and check the list for what I should be doing, crossing things out as I drink, eat or adjust my clothing.
The music player will come to use no earlier than after midnight. It is meant as extra motivation during the hardest part of the race (midnight to sunrise), and I will need to run on an outside lane, i.e., a lane that is slightly longer than the 400m inside lane, so as not to interfere with runners willing to overtake on the shorter inside track.
What’s next? In the upcoming post I’ll write about the Thames Meander and having a good map to find your way.
Keep running! Just 141 days left to the TM (184 days to the MdS), Andreas
No Comments »Racing Tip #2: Gearing up for my 24-hour race
Thursday, September 27th, 2007Just ten days to go to my 24-hour race October 6th/7th, and my adrenaline level is rising on a daily basis. It will be my first time to race for 24 hours on a 400 meter tartan track and I expect this to be a mental challenge, most of all. I am used to cover long distance and don’t mind running into the night, but I think I will feel like being trapped in a carousel in perpetual motion. We’ll see.
The nice thing about this event is that I will have a water station coming up every 400 meters and that I don’t have to carry any food or gear - no backpack required on this occasion. To keep the things I might need in a clean and waterproof place, I emptied a large plastic box that we keep in our garden for the outdoor toys of our children. This is what I’ll put inside to have next to the race track:
- Four pairs of running shoes, most of them oversized, four pairs of socks
- Warm running clothes - long sleeve shirts, long tights, rain jackets, buffs, hats, scarf, gloves
- Towel, soap, clothes to wear after the race
- Four water melons, some limes, table salt, maltose sugar, tea bags, water bottles
- 2kg cereal, fruit juice, bowl, spoon, knife, trash bags
- Band aids, Vaseline, Rhus toxicodendron (homeopathy), toilet paper, safety pins
- Cell phone, MP3-player with spare battery, photo camera, head light
- A small chair and a large umbrella
- 25 liters of good luck and 17 pounds of fun and motivation
I like to change my trainers every 4 to 6 hours on long races. Since I won’t have to carry my spare pairs of shoes, I’ll take along plenty of them. Knowing how my feed can swell up after about 50 miles, I’ll choose oversized trainers.
The day before the race I’ll check the weather forecast, but I will be prepared for sunshine, rain and low temperatures anyway.
I love water melons, especially with a little lime juice on top. I simply cut them in half and use my spoon to eat them, maybe with a little salt sprinkled on top. It’s a great way to get fluids into your body once you get tired of water and tea. About every hour I will have a bottle of water enriched with maltose sugar, also called maltodextrin, a low-GI carbohydrate that isn’t as sweet as white sugar or fructose. Cereal is another great way of getting plenty of carbohydrates into your muscles.
Rhus toxicodendron is a homeopathic medicine that speeds up regeneration and helps to overcome sore muscles. I’ve used it on all my multi-day events so far and it worked for me - perhaps it was just a placebo effect, but that’s fine with me.
24 hours can be a long and lonely time, so I’ll have my MP3-player for some extra entertainment during those never-ending hours after midnight. On my cell phone I can say good night to my family and text home to receive motivating short messages when I need them.
On top of that, the race organizers will provide vegetarian meals and plenty of water and tea. That should be all I need for the race. I hope.
Keep running! Just 142 days left for the Thames Meander, a few more for the MdS and my race strategy to tell in my next blog entry, Andreas
No Comments »Training Tip #1: Your ideal training plan
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007Thousands of books, magazines and web sites are devoted to the subject of training. Each one of them is an ideal, perfect match - for some runners. So listen to people’s advice, read some books, subscribe to a magazine and get inspired - then throw it all over board and develop your own ideas that suit your values, your running philosophy, your goals, your life style and your daily chores. Then try something new, change your plan a few times and don’t be shy to run or rest on a given day if you feel like it. Nothing is more demoralizing than heading out for a 25km run “because your training plan says so” while your daughter begs you to take her to the swimming pool.This is what works for me pretty well these days:
- Each Friday evening I run home from my office. That’s about 35km along the Thames, carrying my backback that’s filled with my office stuff and some clothing (great training for the Thames Meander and the Marathon des Sables). So, instead of being packed inside a crowded train for 90 minutes I spend a little more than three hours in fresh air running into the night and by the time I get home I’ve completely forgotten about the worries at work.
- One or two evenings each week I head out for about an hour with our golden retriever dog. That takes care of the “evening walk”, freeing up valuable family time.
- On Saturday or Sunday between 6 and 8 in the morning I go for some 18-20km (the first 5km with our dog), or once in a while I run a marathon or an ultra on Sundays. I am an early bird and by the time I get back from my weekend jog with fresh bread and pasties from the local store my family will be getting up and we still have all of Sunday to do what we please.
Sometimes I run more than that, sometimes less, on average about 70km per week. When I have a longer race coming up I taper off a few days before.That’s it, no secrets to my training. This suits my values (family first), my running philosophy (I run for health, pleasure and to reduce stress, I love distance, not speed), it supports my goals (training longer distances, sometimes with backpack and running into the night), it matches my life style (I am a morning person) and I can combine parts of my training with daily chores (walking the dog, shopping on Sunday morning).Have you found your ideal training plan? Please share it on the forum or leave a comment, I love to be inspired by other people’s ideas!It’s just 143 days to the TM and 44 on top of that for the MdS, so keep running and I’ll share my thoughts on my upcoming 24hour race in my next entry. Andreas
No Comments »Racing Tip #1: Your race schedule
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007Stating the obvious, you train for long distance events like the Thames Meander or the Marathon des Sables by running and racing long distances. Therefore, you will have a schedule of races leading up to the big event in February and/or March of next year that allow you to test your fitness and equipment in combat action. Don’t be shy to carry your backpack and water bottles to shorter races; veteran ultra runners will spot you and share their TM- or MdS-experience during the race, if you wish. It’s also a great way to get to know some of the competitors you’ll meet again along the banks of the Thames or the dunes of the Sahara.
This is my personal race schedule for the next six months:
- 24hour race in Tooting, October 6th/7th
- Munich Marathon, October 14th (Germany)
- Five2go trail marathon, November 10th
- Luton Marathon, December 2nd
- Tring2Town, February 2nd
- Thames Meander, February 16th
- Marathon des Sables, end of March
If you need to find suitable races in your region, start with the runners world events web page at
or even better, post a message on the TM forum pages and invite other runners to share their favorite racing venues with you. Races are a great way to spice up your training and getting to know new trails and parts of our beautiful country. Last but not least, races are lots of fun, so enjoy them and give a special round of applause to the organizers and race marshals!
My next blog entries will be about my training in preparation for the 24hour race early October. Keep running! Just 144 days left to the TM (187 days to the MdS), Andreas
No Comments »A few words about myself
Sunday, September 23rd, 2007I have been a long distance runner for as long as I can remember. I went roaming through meadows and forests for hours with my brothers when I was four. In grammar school, I hated those 50 meter sprints as I didn’t see the point of getting changed for such a homeopathic dosage of distance. In high school when we did our first 5000 meter races I suddenly emerged as #1 runner, having gone unnoticed in the short distances. In college, I ran three or more times a week to clear my mind and reduce stress and took part in my first 10km and half marathon races. When I took a job in New York I joined the New York Road Runners and went racing every other weekend, exploring different parts of that great city. Soon after I started with marathons, running up to 10 of them every year.
I stopped counting marathons about 5 years ago when I had bagged more than 40. Then I entered the wonderful world of ultra marathons, and that’s where I truely belong!
The ultra marathon scene is a small one, not as crowded and noisy like the marathoners. The ultra allows you to focus entirely on yourself, to listen to your inner voice on what’s important to you in life. It’s here where you get a chance to make friends with the people sharing your passion. Your finish time, PBs and records are suddenly loosing importance. The challenge is to make it to the finish line with a smile on your face. And on your way through 6, 12, 24 or more hours you might have shared someone’s life story or told your own to someone you didn’t know before.
This is my kind of stuff, and you will love it as well.
Before I forget, I have a second life, too: I am happily married, we have two lovely children and a beautiful golden retriever dog. I am passionate about classical music and opera and I enjoy reading books of philosophical nature or anything else that makes me think and challenges my mind, my preconceptions and habits.
What’s next? In the upcoming posts I’ll write a little more about my running ambitions and my goals for the next months, before moving on to the Thames Meander in particular.
Keep running! Just 146 days left to the TM (189 days to the MdS), Andreas
No Comments »The Thames Meander Blog
Saturday, September 22nd, 2007Keeping a blog for the Thames Meander is as much an honour as it is a pleasure. Why? If you are looking for an ultra-marathon that
- is organised to perfection by two wonderful, inspiring and dedicated people
- leads through some of the most beautiful and historic parts of England
- takes place in the early part of the year where great races are few, ideal to jump-start your running season
- provides plenty of challenges, from keeping warm at low temperatures to reading maps, sliding through fields of mud to parading for the queen at Windsor Castle
look no further, you’ve found the perfect race! Still not convinced? Google the web for some race reports from years past or check out the pictures on the web site and you’ll be inspired!
I’d like to cover a range of topics in this blog, things like my training, other races I’ll run in preparation for the Thames Meander (TM), my excitement for the Marathon des Sables 2008 (MdS), my experiences with the TM and the MdS in 2006 and lessons learned, personal thoughts on nutrition, material selection and a host of other topics. If you’d like to email me questions you might have, please do so and I’ll try to answer them as best I can, either as a blog post or a return mail. Contact me here.
No blog without its disclaimer: I am just an average ultra runner that enjoys his runs and likes to share ideas about running and races future and past. I am not a doctor, nor a coach, nor a nutritional therapist. I will not guarantee or be held responsible for any of the tips and ideas I may present in this blog. They are here for you to judge, and if you like them, try them out, but at your own risk.
What’s next? In the upcoming posts I’ll write a little about myself, why I run, who I am and what my running background is, before moving on to more specific topics for the races.
Keep running! 147 days left to the TM (190 days to the MdS), Andreas
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