Author: Dave Whiteside

Looking back 8 years ago when I had my hip replacement, I started running to lose some weight. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would run a marathon, let alone a 100 mile race. Yet here I am after completing the most challenging run ever and the good news is that my hip wasn’t even a factor.

5 weeks ago I was planned to run 40 miles on the course, when I had to stop after 26 miles due to a pain in my shin. I had raced a 10K the day before and my hip was a little sore, and I thought this was causing me to over compensate that day. I decided to rest as I was planning back to back long runs the following weekend, including one of my famous bridge repeats, 42 times up and down the Belleair Bridge. However during the week the pain got worse with just light walking and I was now convinced a had a stress fracture. I went to see William Cottrell, a doctor runner who was recommended, my x-ray showed nothing so a couple of days before the new year I had an MRI and got the results back on the 3^rd, no stress fracture but the doctor recommended I didn’t run the race. 3 weeks with no running and only 2 weeks to the race, I also wasn’t sure. My confidence had been sapped, I felt under-trained, and my mind was having difficulties with the challenge. A couple of friends in Facebook Messenger (Kim Vandercook & Stephanie Miller) encouraged me to do it, but it wasn’t until I saw Andy’s post that 6 people had dropped out due to injury that I committed to it. I knew Andy and Amy had worked so hard putting this together with the hope of it being a Western States qualifier, and I also knew many people had signed up to help support that, I even had thoughts about running the WS myself if I won the lottery. Knowing it could come down to the … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

69.3 Miles, new course record – Save the Daylight – 12 hour race. First, many thanks to Justin for putting on a great race on a great course. The volunteers were amazing, every time I came in they asked me what I wanted, I almost felt guilty as most of the time I didn’t get anything, but the bacon avocado wraps were so good. I eat Keto (high fat, low carb) so I didn’t try many of the delicious looking treats that were available. The other runners were great, as I ran past many of them they encouraged me with quotes like “amazing”, “inspirational”, “fantastic”, they were my inspiration. My previous longest race was 46 miles, 7 1/2 hours so this was a big step up for me. Yes I felt tired and several times during the race I questioned why I was doing this and to make sure I never sign up again for anything longer than a marathon. But the words of encouragement kept me going strong and push harder. Seeing many of the other runners, several doing the 48 hour version of this race, completing lap after lap, I’m sure my pain was nothing compared to theirs.

I signed up for this race to use it to prepare for the Long Haul 100 and I think I learnt a lot. Around mile 30 after running continuously apart from stopping to refill my drinks, I incorporated a run 1 mile walk 0.1 mile as I started to feel leg cramps coming on. Next, wearing shoes that are too narrow in the toe box is not good for you. I eventually decided to change them around mile 53 and immediately started running a minute a mile faster. Nutrition is key, I ate more and drank more than I usually do and I think that helped. Lastly I need to be a better organized, at the beginning I forgot to apply Glide, i didn’t go to the bathroom, and then towards the end I couldn’t find my headlamp. Running in the dark cost me a minute per mile, or was … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

This is the third race in the Summer Slam series and feels like it’s equivalent to the Belmont Stakes in the Triple Crown. Having ran the Beat the Warthog 50K seven weeks earlier and the DURTY B-EE-RR-UN 6hr race 4 weeks later you have three weeks to recover for this. I had the fastest time the weekend of the 50K but had to run remote in Miami as we had a concert that evening. For the 6 Hour race, despite my intention of not going hard and saving myself, I ended up winning and setting a new course record of 39 miles. So after the race surely I would rest and recover tapering for the 46 mile race. Well I took the first few days off before heading to England for my cousins wedding and that Thursday morning enjoyed a nice 8 mile run in the Lake District. The following night back in Stockport, jet lag and a late night catching up to me I went for a short 6 mile run before we went for dinner with friends. Saturday morning I decided to run to Lyme Park, 4 miles away, I forgot that it was all uphill. When I got there, cars were in a line paying to get in. I thought it was just a park so decided to run in and see where everyone was going. Another 2 miles uphill later I eventually came to the big house and then run another half mile up to the tower for some great 360 degree views of Stockport. Eventually I made it back home 16 miles in the book. The next 4 days I continued to explore and find new places to run before I took stock of the week. I had ran 7 straight days, 71 miles for my second highest weekly volume of the year, so much for rest, recovery and taper. Now back to Florida with 7 days to the race and have to reacclimatize to the 40 degree plus difference in temperature plus the humidity.

This was my goal race for 2018, having missed the … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

This was my first ultra back in 2015, running in the Florida heat and humidity in the middle of August. For some strange reason I fell in love with racing ultras and have been doing them since. That year I finished second after several severe cramps sent me crashing to the ground and destroyed my chance of winning. The following year in 2016 I returned and won, setting a new course record of 37.5 miles. While that may not be a lot for a 6 hour race, given the conditions it’s pretty decent even if I say so myself. In 2017 I was injured and didn’t race for over 12 months but the winner only managed 33 miles.

This year I had trained harder, not so much for this race but for the Pinellas Trail Challenge (PTC), a 46 mile race in Florida running the entire county of Pinellas on Labor day weekend in grueling heat. I’ve also ran that race in 2015 and 2016 finishing 2^nd and 5^th, my goal for this year is to finish first. It’s a tougher race than the 6 hour race, it starts 30 minutes later at 6:30am and the last 10 miles is on a concrete stretch with no shade. This race attracts a few more runners and several are trained by professional coaches for this race. We still haven’t had a Pinellas resident win this race and I would love to be the first. So my goal for this race was to run 33 miles, perhaps 36 if e everything went well but I wasn’t going to push it, I wanted to save myself for the goal race. I saw Michael Stork at the start line, he’s the race director for the PTC and ran a 2:47 Houston marathon this year. He finished behind me in second place 2 years ago and his marathon time is almost 30 minutes better so I knew he would be going for the win along with a few other regulars. For me it was to see what I was capable of, even though … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

Enjoy your new hip and don’t settle for boundaries others impose on you. Listen to your body, train hard, rest and eat well and you can do anything you want. Today I ran a 50K consisting of 42 bridge repeats, it took 5 hours and it was in about 87 degree heat. I finished around 1pm, and the second half of the run was a 6 minute negative split with my last mile being the fastest at 7:53. It was tough mentally, especially around 16 bridge climbs in and calculating you still have 26 more to go. The last 10 were tough, it was hot, I was getting tired, I was by myself but I had a goal and was determined to see it out. I’m training for a couple of ultras in the summer so wanted to push myself hard today. The good news is that the hip didn’t come into play at all and it still feels great. I think the Keto lifestyle is also helping a lot with my recovery and doing most of my training runs slow. Have fun and take you hip out for a spin.

… (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

I was a little disappointed with my last few races. I felt like I wasn’t committed 100% and was just opting for an easy goal. I think it came about after running the Belleair 5K, it was 1 week after I ran the Clearwater marathon in 3:23, I ran it in 20:09 but my hip hurt more after that than the marathon.

I knew I probably shouldn’t race that close to the marathon but a lot of our run group was racing it so I joined in. 5 weeks later it was the Sunshine Skyway Bridge 10K, I think it’s the tallest bridge in Florida with a 1 mile incline and the same decline. There were over 7,500 runners in this and I didn’t feel confident that I could place in my age group. So during the race I decided to just be the fastest from our run club, I didn’t want to get injured, especially as downhill speed tends to hurt my hip more than other running. I finished in 45:04 and was 2^nd in my age group, 64th overall. I think if I had ran harder I could have placed first.

Next up was the in town 5K, the Rotary Runs the Beach. I had previously won this race overall about 4 years ago in 19.nn something and was hoping I could win again. However at the start line I say Kevin Bacon, he’s about half my age and I know he’s a 17 minute 5K runner. So once again I just set my goal to be the fastest from our run club and finished second overall with a time of 20:29. It wasn’t a bad time as it’s on the beach and it had a bad slope that I knew was going to be tough on my hip.

So my next race was the Miami Corporate Challenge 5K, with over 28,000 participants. Our company decided to enter a team, and even though we only have about 100 people, we had 35 sign up for it. Most people know that I run a lot so … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

Having ran the Portland marathon in October I decided to run another one this season, the race would be the Clearwater Marathon on January 21st, the place where I ran my first marathon 5 years earlier. My time in Portland was 3:29:59 and I felt that I could beat that time as I’ve had a little more time to train and also had 2 10K races under my belt, but with very little other speed training. So race day came and you never feel quite ready, where did all that time go, I was hoping to train harder and then all of a sudden it’s time to taper. Over the 3 weeks leading up to the race I did run 21, 18 and 15 miles as I only had 3 runs more than 10 miles from November 12 with the furthest being 14 miles. I’m not sure why I didn’t train little smarter, I think I was just taking it easy around each of the 10K races and didn’t want to get injured so just took it easy. Then it’s just around the corner and I should be thinking about tapering and instead it’s time to put some serious miles in. For the 21 miler, I decided to run along part of the race course that runs through my town. It was good to run this route and remember some of the feelings and emotions I had on my first marathon. The weekend after I was in Miami and ran 10 miles with my friends then ran another 8 after that. I decided to run 6 miles around my goal race pace, somewhere under 8 minute miles, however I only managed 2 just under that (7:58 & 7:59) and the other 4 around 10-15 seconds slower. It was hard and my legs were tired, not the confidence booster I was hoping for with race day 2 weeks away. For my last run I was only planning on running around 12 miles but decided to run the remainder of the marathon course I didn’t run 2 weeks earlier, it was a … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

This was our 5th year for this event. It’s always tough getting up in the morning after partying hard the night before, but it’s a great way to start the new year. It’s only a short swim and a one mile run on the beach, but you get rewards/penalties for how many clothes you wear and if you drink a beer between the swim and run. I always do pretty well get minutes taken off for both categories.

This year we had been to a 70’s theme NY’s eve party and I was dressed a John Travolta, we had a blast and danced the night away to around 2am. I had 2 costumes planned and decided to go for the Sexy Strappy Hollow-Out Brazilian Bikini Bottom Swimwear Swimsuit as I could make use of the wig Judy wore the night before. It was a good choice as my alternative was the Sexy Collared Bow Tie Bodysuit Thong Butler Teddy Costume but someone else showed up wearing the same, although he did cover up a lot more than I would have. I parked across the road at Crabby Bills where we have breakfast afterwards and strutted down to the beach.

It was a cool morning, overcast, 63 degrees and windy. We waited around for 30 minutes until everyone turned up, we never start on time. By now my jaw was already shivering and we hadn’t even got in the 65 degree water.

The wind had started to really pickup and the temperature falling fast. By now the water had really started to whip up and several people opted not to swim. We did discuss swimming parallel to the shore but opted to do our usual swim out to the buoy, around it and back. We started north of the buoy as we knew the water would push us south and in we charged. The swim out wasn’t too bad, everyone was pretty close to each other as we got near the buoy. Bill was the closest, then me, and the other 3 swimming were just south of me. We were now … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

So for the last 4+ months I’ve been following a Ketogenic Lifestyle and Phil Maffetone’s MAF training to maximize my health and reduce the risk of injury. Although I’ve been relatively healthy I’ve read a lot about Keto and it’s anti-inflammation benefits in addition to a whole host of potential health benefits. If you’re interested in learning more about it and for some great recipes, this is where I suggest you should start www.dietdoctor.com. It’s essentially, low carb, low-medium protein and high fat, and yes it goes against what we’ve been told for so many years but it works, research it with an open mind. So far I’ve lost about 15 pounds and I didn’t have any weight to lose, nor was it my intention to. But I have felt improved mental clarity, high energy level through the day, less fatigue, and did I mention great food every day, at least if you love bacon and eggs. If anyone wants to reach out to me for more info please do so. It’s not about watching or cutting calories, it’s more about eating real food, fattier cuts of meat etc., and eliminating the majority of carbs we’ve eaten for so long that has led to the obesity problems.

As for MAF training, it’s about doing your workouts at a heart rate of 180 minus your age. You do this for 2 months to build your base, regardless of type of activity, and yes it may mean walking some time. Then after that you continue to do 80% of your workouts at that level and the other 20% you can do some speed work. This also helps train your body to burn fat for fuel rather than glucose so it’s a natural fir with Keto. Training at this low level of intensity also reduces stress and inflammation, so again builds on the benefits of Keto. Now when I wake up in the morning I feel relaxed, none of those aches getting out of bed. Now most weekends I get up, have a glass of water and go out for a … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

Well after almost a year of various injuries my Portland Marathon race date was fast approaching. It was about 14 weeks out when I started my 7 Minute Work-Outs as described in this post. 4 weeks later I was able to run more than the 2 miles I had been able to run without stopping.

Here’s my pre-race summary 1 week before the race. “9 week marathon training preparation done, next week is the Portland Marathon. Hoping for a 3:55 time, not sure my legs will hold up. Last 9 weeks total miles 30, 36, 37, 23, 4, 39, 35, 32, 27. Prior 30 weeks total was 350 miles, 11.5 miles/week. The 4 and 23 above were due to my bike injury when I hurt my ribs. I’ve come a long way in 9 weeks, hopefully I will finish injury free and can continue my comeback.”

I did 2, 6 mile runs the week leading up to the race, keeping my heart rate around 123 for Zone 2 training. 2 days before I ran 2 miles with my dog and I was hoping to run a couple of miles when we landed in Portland the day before the race but it didn’t happen as we ran out of time. That night for dinner rather than my usual carb loading pasts dinner I had a low carb high fat (Ketosis) dinner of Prime Rib. Race day morning I didn’t have anything to eat, just a bottle of water, I was going to run my first race fasted and hoped my short training time and method would carry me through the race.

We walked down to the race start area and I did a short warm up. Weather was perfect, around 45 degrees at the start and would only climb to mid 50’s by the end of the race. Although my bib was for Coral A which had pacers up to the 3:30 marathon time, I knew I wasn’t in that shape and decided to go out in the B coral. I was thinking of going out with the 3:40 pace … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

Just a short note to give encouragement to others to set no limits to what you can do after a THR. I keep active with running, biking (ElliptiGo bike, no seat), swimming and boot camp / strength training. Running is my passion but the others all help you achieve your goals. With just 3 weeks to go to the Portland Marathon I had to get a good long run after my short (10 week) training plan had been derailed over the last 3 weeks, first I fell off my bike and then Irma kinda of threw a curve ball. Moving all the furniture in and out, sand bagging etc., aggravated my ribs again. But I set out today and took it easy the first couple of miles. Oh, did I say my 3 hour workout today was running over the bridge you can see in the background. It’s .73 miles across and is about 75 elevation gain. The more I ran the better I felt, no hip pain and the ribs got easier and my pace got faster. In the end I ran over the bridge 27 times for a total of 20 miles. I started around 8:15 in the Florida sun and was running for just over 3 hours, I’m tired now but feeling more confident for the marathon. So don’t set limits, set goals, realistic short term goals and build on them if you feel good. Don’t forget to join the Hip Runners Strava group to keep track of all your runs: https://www.strava.com/clubs/hiprunner… (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

So if you’ve followed my posts over the last 5 years, you know I’ve enjoyed my share of ups and downs. Luckily more ups than down, along with great results I’ve met many new friends and pushed the boundaries of what I thought possible. I have another post I’m in the middle of writing but thought this was too important not to share it with you. I’ve been injured with various injuries since my Ultra last September and I have an upcoming marathon in Portland in October. I had only been running about twice a week, probably around 5-6 miles, and even in those runs I’ve had to stop due to my hip, rest and then start again. So how was I going to run a marathon in 11 weeks. I’ve rested, taken time off, yoga once a week, kept fit riding my ElliptiGo bike, swam, followed a healthy diet etc., but nothing was getting me past a couple of miles. When I was injured about 3 years ago and ended up having to take a year off, I went to the gym and did strength training and stretches and was able to return to running faster than before.

So one day I was doing something and I saw an ad for a 7 minute workout and how they can help you get a 6 pack etc., no I don’t believe the hype, but I thought it could help me get stronger. So I downloaded a bunch of apps and started doing between 3 and 5 of these 4 mornings a week while I’m down in Miami to build strength and flexibility. After about 3 weeks I saw my run on our Sunday morning Triathlons get better, now I was able to run 4 miles only stopping once and the following week without stopping. The week later not only did I run 4 miles without stopping, I started to see my cadence improve and my speed increase, it was the best I had ran for almost a year. The following day I worked from home as we had a … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)

Just got back from my first session and I feel good. For those of you that don’t know what it is you get in a chamber and they use liquid nitrogen to lower the temperature to -230 degrees Fahrenheit and you stay in it for 3 minutes. I wasn’t as cold as I thought I would be and once you get out you warm up immediately. It’s great for inflammation so if your feeling sore from one of those runs you may want to think about incorporating this into your recovery options. The cost is approximately $40 – $45 per session, maybe schedule one the day after your next race. I also believe in massages, I have one every 3 weeks to help treat my muscles and get some additional range in my abductors etc.

Love the new site update Tom, great seeing all the athlete pictures at the top of the page.

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Entering this Christmas period I was thinking about not running for a couple of weeks to try to rest my hip and see how it would go. Well if you know me that’s never na easy plan for me to follow. I knew I had (for charity) to run a half marathon on Christmas Day so we moved our weekly fun triathlons to Saturday, besides who else was going to work out that day.

So Saturday cal group of us met and did our weekly tri, for me 18 miles on my ElliptiGo bike while the road bike group on their 21 mile route try to catch me. Luckily they’re still to achieve that. So Sunday came and I headed out, I hadn’t run more than 6 miles in about 4 months so I knew this would be a challenge, I will write a post about that soon. I accomplished it, having to walk a little each mile between mile 9 and 13.

The following day I took it easy and just did a bike ride, which unfortunately was cut short with a blown tire, and a run. The following day was nice so I started with a bike ride, then went for a run with my dog and decided to swim in the Gulf again as it was around 80 degrees outside. The next day I got up and went for a bike ride again, then took my dog running, then for another swim (you’ve got to love the weather in Florida) and then finished up with the Clever Training Group Run where a ran 6 miles at a pace a couple of seconds faster than my last 2 10K races over the last morted the same wnth (another post coming).

Thursday started the same way so I did another tri, making it 4 in the last 6 days. I decided to rest Friday and just ran a couple of miles with my dog. On Saturday we switched out Sunday Tri a day early again with the holiday and I also added a run with the dog.

On New … (Click Here to View Full Post and Comments)