Race report: 2012 World Coal Carrying Championships

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Steven

Well it was that time again and like the last three Easter Monday’s I was participating in 49Th The World Coal Carrying Championships in Gawthorpe West Yorkshire. Preparation for the race started some weeks back and as is with these things did not get off to the best of starts. With a large part of 2011 being spent involved with a lot of rehabilitation work my foundation training was not at its best. To add insult to injury three weeks prior to competing in my first half marathon I pulled up with issues around the back of my knee which meant next to no training done before the half marathon and then over a week to recover from the excessive soreness before coal sack training could commence far later than I’d intended.

For this years event we completely revamped my training with a “boom or bust” approach. If it worked I would reach the two goals I’d set after last years race. If it didn’t I would either loose time or not complete the course at all. The pressure weighed heavily. What was in my favour this year compared tot he previous two years was the number of races I’d managed to get in in 2011 which helped dramatically improve my cardiovascular fitness and awareness of how far I could push myself. A great confidence booster.

Whilst I’ll not go into great detail in this report about my specific training you can find more details by joining the forum and reading my training journal here.

What I will say is that I completely changed my supplement intake and the main change was switching my protein powder to a product called Phase 3 by Pro Athletic Supplementation. And lets be honest here, after 25 years of using protein powders this product is head and shoulders above anything I’ve ever used. No gas, no bloat, tastes great, mixes well and did what I wanted it to do. In tandem with the new training regime I increased my overall body weight by 6.6lbs (3kg) during the final three weeks of preparation. No mean feat considering my job and on two occasions I was even asked/accused of using drugs the changes were so visible.  The product comes highly, highly recommended with a fantastic customer service who made every effort to correct a couple of issues which cropped up and were extremely generous in one instance by supplying me with an addition free item in an order. Go with quality over quantity and when you do order please free to mention where you heard about their products.

Another product I started to experiment with this year was Xendurance a magnesium based supplement which helps on a number of fronts. The makers do say that the longer you take the product the greater its effects. I will be completely honest here and say that during the short time I was using it, roughly 3 weeks, I did notice small reductions in lactic acid and accumulated blood volume within the muscles when training which helped me to run more smoothly for longer. Nothing worse than your legs over pumping with blood and throwing your whole mechanics out when your trying to squeeze the last bits out of a set. Bad mechanics equal bad habits and injury. Looking forward to using this supplement throughout the rest of year and pushing the makers claims to its limits. I’m in a unique position of doing numerous races at very different intensities and distances so this will help to put the cat amongst the pigeons as they say and give  me very detailed feedback on its effectiveness especially in the shorter sprint events as a lot of people that I see using this product seem to be more involved with the longer distance events of marathons, triathlons and Ironman events. So with the rest of my race season fixed around doing a number of events in the UK Spartan Race calendar it’ll be a great test of the product.

The final addition I’d like to introduce readers to is the POWERbreathe Inspiratory muscle trainer a training device that has a number of uses. For me personally I’m a lousy breather when I run always sucking in air from the chest upwards. The POWERbreathe helps you to training and strengthen the muscles we use to breath which help not only with training but you will find that in everyday life the better your breathing the more overall energy and vigor you have. A very worthwhile training tool and one I found of benefit in this years coal race because I could feel my breathing was a lot deeper and I wasn’t constantly hyperventilating because of bad breathing mechanics. Again this device will be at the cornerstone of my training for my Spartan races because of the way the body is tested not only over various distances but by the simple fact that your body is twisted and turned in all manner of ways which make breathing very difficult.

Right back to the nitty gritty of the day. Talk about nerves. The plan was to have an early breakfast and follow that up with a carbohydrate and protein shake to sip on as need be. Not a chance. Never experienced stomach butterflies like I did all the way to the starting line. There was no way anything was going down because I knew it would be coming straight back up. I was scheduled to run in the first of the men’s races so had plenty of time to pick up my race t-shirt, number and try to settle down a little as we watched the kids races unfold.

Then came the women’s race. Wow they sure do go for it with the winner being nearly a minute ahead of second place.

Next up was my race. Even as I walked down to the starting line and went through some warm ups I was a bag of nerves. Why was I here? What the hell do I think I’m playing at? I’m going to get trounced. I was a mess mentally. Can’t say I’ve ever felt so weak and pathetic on a race starting line as I did then.

I vowed I wasn’t ever going to put myself through this again. I was just going to do this race, come up with some rubbish of why my placing was so poor and never return. I felt awful.

The coal truck pulled up and we went and collected our coal sacks off the back. Oh boy this got worse then. The sack was too heavy on one side and the coal had collected into one solid mass. No amount of jumping up and down like a lunatic would break it up. And to top it off there was no give in the sacks themselves. They were brand new which left the edges quite sharp and made gripping very difficult. There was no way the sack was going to sit anywhere near on my shoulders like the sack I’d used for training. Misery set in even further.

Ready, steady GO!!!!! and we were off. Surprise surprise I set off faster than I expected, the cloud of doom and gloom started to lift as I realised I wasn’t seeing a sea of feet surge past me. 50 meters in and I was still there. 100 meters in and shock, horror I was hanging onto third place. Wonders would never cease. We hit the top of the fist climb and I’d dropped to fourth yet I was going at a better pace than last year and I knew it. As we hit the first flat section by the bakery I attempted to speed up to catch third place but it wasn’t happening. I had to dig in and see if I could grind out the distance between us as the race went on. As we rounded the bend off Owl lane issues with the sack started to show their ugly head. I was struggling to hold it high. My palms felt like there was glass cutting into them. My body position was being pushed over and this was squashing my diaphragm making breathing shallower. And I was blowing hard but I was still holding onto fourth place. The very nature of the event leaves you completely blind to what’s going on behind you. Your bent over looking no more than a few feet in front of you and there’s a dirty great sack on your back stopping you from looking backwards to see what’s coming. Once your out there your on your own. As I hit the bus stop I could start to feel the strength draining from my legs and hips, spectators cheering you on you try to dig in ever deeper. Then I heard one guy shout out encouragement and I had 20 yards on the next guy behind me. I hit the bend by the nursery and onto that last murderous climb determined to hang onto fourth and gain some ground on the final flat section with my kick. As I crested the brow of the hill the pain was immense. 20 rep squats had never left me feeling this messed up. My legs were solid with blood and shot. Breathing so deep and hard I thought I was going to pull something. And not to mention the spittle and snot pouring out of me as I gaped open mouthed trying to suck in as much oxygen as humanly possible. Just a few more yards and I can kick. The very nature of the course in its own right is perfect because as you hit hell on top of the last climb there stand large numbers of spectators clapping wildly and screaming encouragement. This spurs any and all the runners on. But where was my kick, it wasn’t happening I was going to be left high and dry as the rest of the field rushed past. Still onward I went, one painful footstep after another. Legs mashed, hips, glutes smashed and screaming in agony. I could feel cramp wanting to set in around the muscles of the knee. I was in hell, coal race hell. Then I saw the familiar section by the Boot and Shoe I knew the family were only a few more yards up the road I had to dig in and try to force a bit more out of legs that did not want to go on. There was no way was I going to suffer the humiliation of getting passed as I went passed family and friends and into the final 50 meters. Onward, got to keep going got to keep moving, where the hell are the other runs? I could hear them being encouraged by the frantic crowd baying for the runners to push themselves to depths of effort they never knew existed. Then I saw the hay bales by the finish line, just a few my strides and I could dump my sack at the foot of the maypole. The pain would be over.

Fourth I’d done it. I’d reached the first goal. Exhausted I stumbled up and away from the finish bumping into another runner as he came in to dump his sack. Within a few seconds I started to dry heave, bent over and taking self satisfaction that I’d done what I’d been told to do all along. “Run as hard as you can till you know when you cross the finishing line you couldn’t run another step further”. legs struggling to keep me upright you look around and its like a battlefield. Bodies everywhere in pain. All going through they’re own self inflicted hell yet there is a sense of camaraderie through this hell and there are handshakes and words of encouragement and congratulation to each other.

Whether you finished in first or last you can hold your head high knowing you’ve been through hell and back doing quite possibly the hardest, shortest distance race this country has to offer all in the name of tradition and having a right good laugh whilst your at it because lets face it its not fun but its a dam good laugh afterwards.

As mentioned above the first goal was reached with a top five position in my heat and joy of joys the second goal also with placing 7th overall. Not bad for a race just five and a half minutes earlier I’d not wanted to do.

Huge thanks to the Gawthorpe committee who painstakingly organise this event every year. The students of Huddersfield University who come and help with the stewarding and all the other volunteers who give their time so freely and a special thanks to all the spectators who brave all kinds of weather each year to scream encouragement to each and every runner know matter what position they finish.

Special thanks as always to Paul Joseph of New Spartan Gym in Watford for helping in putting together the training plan.

Next year the race celebrates its 50th anniversary and its been said that they’ll be a new addition to the format with a veterans race. I for one can’t wait.

Steven A Barlow, Co founder www.spartan-warriors.co.uk and founder of Spartan Runners “because we don’t just run” © 2012

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Rat Race Legends of Sherwood Night Race Report

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Steven

The Legends of Sherwood night race is situated in the picturesque Sherwood pines. A beautiful area that you wouldn’t expect from first looks to be the beast it was to run in in the black of night.

There were five in the team and no I’m not meaning the “Famous Five” but then again that could be an option name wise for future outings.

Pre race nerves were the norm with Tom requiring some delicate IT band manipulation that brought howls of laughter to all and sundry and winces, tears and a lot of moving up the bench to escape from my probing thumb by Tom. I think from now on in Tom will have to be referred to as “ITB”.

Stay Alert gum, from my favourite energy store Candy Hero, was handed out about 30 minutes before the race started and help to give everyone that little bit of extra focus needed for the job at hand. It went down well apart from the cinnamon flavour which I found was a required taste. Looks like I’ll have to invest in some mint flavoured supplies for future runs. Discount code: SPARTAN-F3HA for 5% off all orders.

With about 20 minutes to go everyone went through their own personal warm up regimes and then we moved on towards the starting line so we could get a decent place and not get stuck at the back when the gun went off. As with all races the obligatory rules, regulations and general information was put out by the MC and then we were hit by a shock. It was announced that there was a thousand runners in this race alone. That sent a panic through me knowing what its like from previous racing experience of getting caught up in the main bunch and loosing a lot of valuable time. It goes without saying that you’ll always get some numpties who pile to the front who really should not be there because a kilometer in they’re blowing out of their rear ends because they’re way out of their depth and are holding faster runners up.

The countdown began and then we were off. We’d already decided as a group what the tactics for the day would be. Donal and myself would be going hell for leather to see what we could manage whilst Kieran, Matt and Tom who were all carrying slight injuries would go at the pace they felt most comfortable at till they felt sure enough to start opening up the engines and going for it. Within 50 yards we hit a wall of hay bales which brought the runners to s standstill as everyone attempted to clamber up and over as fast as possible. Once on the other side you could open up the legs again and hit the trail

Without going into extensive detail of each and every twist, turn and switchback I think its best to summaries the whole race.

The overall course was fantastic, well laid out with challenging areas as it took advantage of the surroundings. Some of the switchbacks were wicked and really shredded the legs as you hit steep hills and slopes which were just as evil on the way down. You had to be very canny and plot your route with care because as we found out a slip or trip could be painful as we saw one individual in extreme agony at the side of one dirt slope. The way the course was laid out it was near on impossible to overtake in the wooded areas and being in the dark made it doubly hard. Because of that Donal and myself would hang back slightly in the spooky woods running in packs and taking advantage of how every runner took care of the runner(s) behind them with calling out whenever a stump came into view or a branch was going to spring back. And there were lots of branches swinging back as we all found out with numerous bruises on our forearms as you protected your face from getting branch slapped.

Once out of a wooded enclave you could unwind the legs and pick off the prey as you made your way through the pack, pushing and pushing to get as far as possible before the next wooded trail had you pulling on the brakes and easing off the gas. To once more be in a dark confined space with numerous hazards, running at speed in the dark.

The obstacle to end all obstacles was the swamp. Oh geez what a place. Small but mighty. You could smell it before you saw it. It was like some hole that arced back to the primordial soup from which we all came. It was disgusting and you had to get down into it and under the logs which left you covered from head to foot in this putrid mess.

Unless of course your name happens to be Kieran who took the meaning of “soup” quite literally and as his head was bobbing underneath one of the wooden cross beams he kept his mouth open as a Tsunami of sludge made by the runner in front slammed into his face, mouth and the back of his throat. There was a lot of retching and even more retching at the end as it became the joke to continually mention the sludge, how it could be infested with dead animals and various other nasties and have Kieran relive the experience and proceed to bend double in a retching encore upon encore.

As the race wore on it wore you out. The race had been advertised as 10k and a bit. Well it was a bit, I would have had it at least 11k maybe 12. By the final few areas where you could get up a burst of speed it was agony in the legs. As we hit the final stretch a few more obstacles were thrown at us to beat the last bit of life out of you. The worst being the two wall you had to scale before hitting the the finish line. As we approached these all I could hear from the side of me was Donal screaming his lungs out as he attacked each wall. Me I got over the first wall and only just managed to drag my weary body over the second.

Once your over the finish line its off with the timing chips and your handed a bottle of water and a chocolate bar. Me I got a Marathon (showing my age) and it last all of about 3 bites as we waited for the rest of the gang to finish. As we waited the MC announced the 100th finisher and it was at that point me and Donal realised we’d cracked the top 100. Something I’d been secretly harboring as we tore through the course. Top 250 would be an achievement and all of the gang managed that. Top 100 would be a major accomplishment given there was a thousand runners competing.

After everyone was back safe, sound and covered in sludge it became quite evident that everyone had given everything. Cold and exhausting was setting as was hunger so the planned feeding as we checked out the after party became an after thought and it was priority that we got off the wet clothes and into clean, dry ones asap.

To say everyone enjoyed themselves was an understatement and a credit to the organisation of the race. With everyone having the same opinion of more races of this nature had to be run.

After thoughts: We all agreed that the course needed more obstacles. The layout of the trails and distance was just right but we had all expected more in the way of things to climb over, under and through and it was a little disappointing on that front. The hay wall was in the wrong area. It caused far too much of a bottle neck at the beginning and any decent runners unfortunate to get caught behind slower runners are further up the starting pack would have lost a lot of valuable time. It would have been much better either midway or right at the end of the race before you hit those two wicked walls.

Race numbers we found were not really needed especially after you’d gone through the swamp with large numbers of people either loosing them because of them being dragged off with being soaking wet or completely covered in the sludge and unreadable. A much better option would have to done what was done at the Spartan race we attended and write the number on forearm and forehead of each runner. All your details are in your timing chip so the race number just seems surplus to requirements.

The biggest letdown seems to be the photography. We understand that shooting pictures in the dark has its problems but after trawling through them all we’ve found that there’s a distinct lack of quality pictures for each racer at each position. Something we didn’t have at the Spartan race which showed clear pictures at each obstacle for each racer.

Overall though we want to do more and have penciled in at least two of these notorious night runs for next year and highly recommend you do too.

See you there.

Steven A Barlow, Co founder www.spartan-warriors.co.uk and founder of Spartan Runners “because we don’t just run” © 2012

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Company Review: Candy Hero

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Steven

I first became aware of Candy Hero when I was doing a search for a UK supplier of Stay Alert energy gum. An order was put in. Unfortunately the order was wrong. I noticed that some of the packets of gum were a piece or two short and I duly contacted Candy Hero to let them know. Straight away replacements were dispatched with an apology and explanation that I wasn’t the only customer who had had this happen. Later on I would find that Candy Hero would have to rectify this issue themselves as the manufacturers wouldn’t compensate them. To me that says a lot about a company and its commitment to its customers.

From that initial order I’ve gone on to order quite a number of times and have always received orders quickly, well packaged and on one occasion the wrong item was put into the order. This was rectified with the correct item and I was told to keep the item which was wrong. Needless to say the kids were ecstatic at having more than they bargained for.

Nearly all the products I buy from Candy Hero are their caffeine orientated products. These come in very handy for early morning training sessions or prior to any race competitions I am doing. My favourites are Stay Alert Gum and the Pulsin Energy Bomb. Both I can easily consume or carry around with me if need be.

A normal run up to a race would be to eat 1 Pulsin Energy Bomb about 60 minutes prior to race start time then as we line up for the off to chew on a piece of Stay Alert Gum as this only takes 5-10 minutes to take effect which ties in very nicely with the slow release of caffeine from the guarana contained within the Pulsin Energy Bomb. An ideal combination which has served me well in 2011 and I’ll continue to use it in the 2012 race season.

The other benefit of both these products is that on very long runs were extra calories maybe be needed midway they can be easily carried in the back pocket of your running shorts. And once eaten the Pulsin Energy Bomb is very easily digested and does not sit in your stomach like a lead weight. With the Stay Alert Gum because its just chewed the caffeine hits your system very quickly via your mucus membranes and you get a bigger, quicker hit than you would from taking on a caffeine infused energy gel. Energy gels are notorious for causing stomach issues which is the last thing you need half way through a race.

So for all your caffeine based training and racing needs I would highly recommend Candy Hero not only for its range of products but most importantly its commitment to giving its customers the best, quickest service possible.

Candy Hero Discount code: SPARTAN-F3HA

Steven A Barlow, Co founder www.spartan-warriors.co.uk and founder of Spartan Runners “because we don’t just run” © 2012

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