LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

george · Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 567 Location: Paris

I had mentioned that I had written a log of my race two days after it was all done. Someone suggested that I post it here as they really enjoyed reading it.... (it is a really long post!)... happy reading!

Here’s my log of my 2010 Solo race at Le Mans – I skated 113 laps for a distance of 473km – this placed me 8th out of 80 Solo skaters (71 male and 9 female):

• The start of the race was disastrous – being late, not finding the half-way entry point, I ran to the far end of the pit lane just wearing my Easy-Fit’s – then realised I had forgotten my Garmin GPS thus ran back to the pit then back to the start lane –within the space of 5 minutes, and before skating a single metre, I managed to build a solid foundation for blisters on the entire front parts of both feet – fitting the skates took forever
• (Lap 16) Shift 1 had gone well and as planned - later Reinfrid told me he thought I would not finish given the state of my feet but since I wasn’t complaining about any pain in the feet he didn’t draw attention to it – they must have assumed that I had taught myself to ignore pain! Heart rate on the uphill was regularly 190bpm.
• Not wanting to eat anything thinking that I was full – ate 3 tablespoons of pasta and one REGO recovery serving–followed with another 4 tablespoons after 113km and one banana– thus I was doubt quickly setting my body for a great exhaustion 
• The pit-crew took great care of me – all three of them at once – Eva (my sister, drove 1100km from Germany), Reinfrid (who flew in from Vienna) and Erica (who came with from London) - they wiped me down, kept me cool, changed my skin suit, dried the inside of my skates (with a hair-dryer), tried to give me food and drink, massaged me, attended to my feet with kompeed and meticulous detail
• Overall the pit-crew put up with a huge amount of negative and pushy behaviour on my part – apparently I was quite difficult to handle and put up with - like I said they were amazing!
• Shifted 2 started well - Eva had brought old calendars – and were writing messages on the blank pages and showing them to me as I was skating past – “Erica will flash on the next lap” and “We lied – Reinfrid will flash instead” and “Jesus loves you” (which Cyrille was holding), and finally my Brazilian friend Kate did another one about Barrack Obama
• On Lap26 (109km), I suddenly became very exhausted and lost my paceline, my energy levels just dropped significantly – and I seriously thought that my whole race might finish there – I had expected that I would hit a low point on Sunday morning but not five hours into the race – this was terrible, after all the training, all the hype, and commitment from my friends and my sister, was I going to have to stop after just 26 laps? I stumbled up the hill, finished the lap I came in and came off the track – the team were brilliant – they massaged me, gave me a bit of pasta, and told me not to worry - I had expected that it could only get worse from here, that my body wouldn’t just suddenly feel better – this was the lowest mental point of the whole race for me – if I had stopped I would have left the UK in shame and never worn skates again!
• (122-147km) After 30 minutes I came back onto the track, started with a 10:29 lap and then felt fresh – I joined a paceline that was headed by what I can only describe as an angel – a Pari Roller marshal racing in the Female duos- she was so cheerful trying to pick up as many Solos and Duos along the way – it was a huge pleasure skating with her and made me feel a lot better for a whole hour when she switched with her slower partner at around 11pm
• (148km-188km) The rest of the shift went well , 18 laps at average of 10:11– spent just over 3 hours on the track – ending with Benjamin Wai and Rick Johnston from the Dregs Endurance team – it turned out that we were roughly going at similar speeds so it worked out perfectly – we talked a lot which passed the time pass, though I enforced a ‘no speak’-rule on the Dunlop hill
• 1.15am, 45 completed laps - In the break I got told off for not skating a longer shift to take advantage of the cooler night time
• During the next shift there was Markus Thierstein, the infamous LFNS Lead Marshal– he was out for a two hour stretch for his endurance team so we skated together for a long time whilst admiring the full moon
• At 4am we had reached the half-way mark of the race – 60 laps, 251km
• Heated discussion where I lost my temper because I did not like the taste of my drinks and still wasn’t eating anything and bashed my drink bottle on the ground – lots of the liquid came out and sprayed all over Erica – who amazingly took it completely in stride and just laughed – she wasn’t one degree on pissed off – amazing!
• (Lap 61-63) Skating on my own, listening to my iPod for the only time of the race, happy with my technique and my stride, my speed – enjoying the night and enjoying the race
• Unknown to me, around 5am, Eva was madly driving around Le Mans looking for more drinking water to buy (we had run out!)
• Shift 5 was also productive, 19 laps, 79.5km, averaging 10:22 – that’s 24.2 km/h – respectable given the circumstances!
• 7.45am-9am After another ½ hr rest, I had expected that this was the start of the toughest mental part of the race – so when I had the chance to hop on the “Solo Train” – comprising at least half a dozen Solo skaters, but sometimes growing to more than a dozen people, I took the chance – so laps 80-83 I did with them we were going round averaging 11:30 – although this was slower than I liked it took up minimal energy because we were rolling a lot of the time – the “Solo train” seems to exist every year always being jointly led by ‘Chicken Solo’ and ‘Dan Solo’ – they alternate at leading the paceline
• From 8/9am onwards I continuously poured the cold water bottles (from the water stop) over my head in an effort to keep myself cool in the heat – temperature rose from 20 to 32 as the morning progressed – the cold water felt absolutely refreshing
• 9am-10am Cyrille (my duo partner from 2009) skates with me for an hour (giving the rest of his 10-man team an hour off) – this being laps 84 to 89, and we averaged 10:18. He asked me whether I had wanted to stay on the ‘Solo train’ but I was anxious to get some nice striding movement into my legs – on the Solo train we were doing pretty short strides and in the roll we were leaning forward a lot – so eventually this takes a toll on the lower back.
• After Lap 89 (373km) Cecile from LSST gave me a super back-massage in my pit, and made me realise that my back was under quite some pressure – I was groaning the whole time
• Simultaneously, Ed! did some excellent magic with his heat gun reducing the pressure point at the inside front of my left skate, to make sure that my 4th ankle would not start becoming a bleeding flesh-wound!
• Lap90-95 – taking off into another shift (again with basically zero food intake) and being disobedient to my pit crew’s instructions to drink more – they would have loved to pump Electrolyte directly into my veins – I think I bumped into Ben, Rick and Alistair Johnson (also on the Dregs team) again during this time, but can’t remember for sure – now it was more a case of them slowing down to my speed - I skated in front of Ben for two laps and then drafted behind Rick for the next two etc – again lots of chatting
• Amazingly my heart rate just continued to hover around 125-130 bpm– even on the hill it didn’t reach 150 anymore – though getting tired I had no muscle pain and my technique was still acceptable
• Late in the morning, Kate was also interviewed and yelled ‘Go George’ into the microphone to cheer me – I thought I might have heard something like that but at the time concluded that I must have been imaging things!
• Pierre (from the roller enligne website) chatted with me during the breaks from time to time – at the end he said many people had commented about how I was always smiling on the track (presumably this was because I was enjoying it so much LOL) – though this was the stark opposite of what Erica told me after the race – she said she had never seen me so negatively (my thoughts during the race i can really only describe as one of a tough battle – it was me against the clock and against the sun) - he also had expected me to just pack it in at some stage and was very impressed that I had pushed right through to the end
• Bang on midday on Sunday, after climbing the hill for the 95th time (398km) , I stopped in the shade of the Dunlop sign, lay down at the side of the track and then just started throwing up until my stomach was empty – this would have been a great advertisement for the Solo category to all the passing skaters – amazingly just at that time Cyrille skated past and skated me around the track back to the pit – i was paying the price for not eating enough and my body being pushed to the limits – in hindsight I must have been real lucky to avoid cramps, complete exhaustion and/or a stroke!
• This was an unexpected stop – later Eva told me that I just looked white/grey in the face – I felt like a complete pile of crap – at this point in time Riz (Ghizlane Brown, my coach) turned up out of the blue– to see me at my lowest– she was not concerned about my vomiting – after twenty minutes they helped me up only to feel terrible– five minutes the scenario repeated – but this time Riz took off my sunglasses looked me straight in the eye and told me to get on the track and skate – she didn’t care if i was going to throw up again but I had to skate another lap – together with my sister she pushed me out of the pit
• Half past midday – amazingly I made it onto the track (somehow) and went up that hill at snail’s pace – made it round the whole track in a whopping pace of 15:30, didn’t vomit, did another, again well over the 15 minute mark
• I would end up being on the track for a gruelling 3 ¾ hours and clock up another 18 consecutive laps (75km), nearly always skating with a Dregs team member – the pace had now slowed to (the average for the last shift was 12:33 – but I was giving it my all!
• Between 1 and 3pm Eva walked up the hill to the viewer terraces and was yelling out to me cheering me on to make it up the hill – Markus from Dregs was with me at one of those times
• Riz started telling me off for not drinking my electrolyte – in fact she was swearing at me – something that thus far had never happened in two and half years of coaching with he
• My speed on the hill (even on the gentle incline in the pit area) reduced massively, where as my speed on the other parts of the track, though still slower, was not as much as affected as the uphill skating, as gravity and roll play into your hands
• Lap 100 & something - Ben was excited to tell me that he bought some new Powerslide skates during the lunchbreak
• Skated several laps with Alistair from Dregs – i remember at one point (between 2pm and 3pm) him saying that helping me around the track ‘made his Le Mans’ or something like that – not sure whether I understood him correctly
• Maybe around 2.30pm my pit crew poured some water over my head while I had stopped by the track side to let Riz shout at me – this went directly into my boots and then onto my wheels LOL – so when i was skating up the hill my right skate was just slipping away at every stride – I thought about turning around and changing the skate – but then decided to just keep climbing and hope that it would go away
• With about an hour to go I nearly cried on the track (twice!) – this was coming from my emotions finally realising that I might be able to push to the end
• In the last hour I lost my technique on the hill - i let my hands collapse onto my legs, bent over and struggled up – though it was cool to feel the twitching of the leg muscles whilst gripping my quads!
• (Laps 111-113, 464-473km) At the end, for the last 3 laps, Ben put on a union-jack top and another LSST skaters joined us with a Union-Jack flag for the very last lap
• (Lap 113, 473km) After coming across the finish line I hugged Ben – I was so happy to finish the race – then we skated off the track and there was a lot of people who were there congratulating me for finishing – I hugged my sister, and Reinfrid, and my coach – Barbara from Dregs was there, Fred and Gill from LSST and Cyrille

• In hindsight the biggest issue I encountered was the nutrition – I had not planned adequately for this – and did not give my body enough material to feed on during the race, consequently causing a lot of physical exhaustion – I wondered how much difference an adequate calorie intake could have made to my race – could I have avoided the vomiting, and the exhaustion on the 26th lap? Could I have averaged faster lap times? Was it actually a miracle that I pulled through to the end and had not collapsed?
• I always felt full, thought I was already filled up with liquid to the max, and had seriously lost my appetite for most things – it was only when Riz more or less forced me to eat and drink that I realised that my body could take it in – no surprise, burning 600 calories for each hour of skating, a hard-working Solo skater would burn energy equivalent to that normally burned in six whole days!
• The fact that my muscles didn’t hurt must be a sign that my training preparations had been excellent – I mean other than my back hurting a little bit I practically had no muscle pain – neither did my spinal issue give me any problems – which as recently as March had stopped my skating completely
• That said after the race, I seemed a lot more exhausted than most of the other Solo skaters that I saw in the pit – I was the only one incapable of standing – in fact when Riz and Reinfrid had lifted me to my feet (without skates) I nearly passed out!

A few people said that my Solo effort was ‘heroic’ and ‘inspirational’. Only in 2006 I was at Le Mans for the first time, in a 10-person team, working damn hard to skate as fast as possible. Four years later I had worked myself up to the Solo race (which I would have never though possible when I saw Hans doing the solo in 2006). So I didn’t reach 120 but getting 473km out of the target 500 is pretty darn close but of course I am really really happy about it all. The experience was amazing. The experience is not just the 24 hour race (that was the pivotal point), but the six months of hard training that precedes it – it builds character, it requires dedication and hard work – but the lessons you learn from it can be equally applied in areas such as your work, another hobby or any other part of your life. So I am trying to say that you might be surprised what you can achieve if you set your mind to it and work hard - if you are doing something that you love then you can do it!! If my log and my training effort gives someone else some inspiration then I am really glad – you have to realise that sometimes the ‘impossible’ becomes possible. 4 years ago I never thought I could do a Solo – take a big goal in small steps. Work hard and don’t give up – it will make you a bigger person! Maybe reading my log will challenge you to something crazy!! Good luck & see you at the 2011 Solo!

Selena · Joined: 05 Mar 2010 Posts: 206 Location: London

Well Done george! I am super impressed! Very Happy

Hans · Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 7:59 am Subject:

Great post George... clock is ticking to 2011

Kim (KD) · Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 9:12 am Subject:

Very impressive George, Great job. ('_^)b

Barrie · Joined: 21 May 2006 Posts: 1338 Location: Putney

A few weeks prior to Le Mans, when you told me that you might not be able to take skates on/off, I thought your 3rd/4th ankles might be your achilles heel - glad that wasn't the case!

Surely lap 33 was the best one no? Laughing

Having heard how ill you'd been earlier that evening ( someone saw you on the track and said you looked "green" - another colour to add to your repertoire ), I was soooo pleased ( and a little stunned ) to find you happy and looking really quite fresh - an amazing recovery!

Irrelevant Stat #101.a :-
Your fastest lap was 5s faster than my fastest from last year.

Irrelevant Stat #101.b :-
Looking at the timings it must've taken you about 2mins longer to first cross the start line than Merten.

ed! · Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 12:00 pm Subject:

A great read George. Glad you have company for next year.

Lan-Lan · Joined: 24 Jan 2010 Posts: 86

Fantastic post George. Your solo was definitely an amazing effort and very inspirational.

(btw, I was the cheeky LSST member with the flag that went around with you on your last lap, have to say from where I was, you still looked like you were going strong Smile

)

MatthewB · Joined: 05 Mar 2008 Posts: 120 Location: London W9

a fascinating read...what a great achievement!

_gj3000_ · Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 8:13 pm Subject:

Great reading, and an amazing job. Respect!!!

(and you're crazy too!) Cool

Howard · Joined: 24 Jan 2010 Posts: 277 Location: W2 now init.

Thanks for posting this George - it's great insight into what you go through as a solo competitor... and it's funny Smile

blake · Joined: 27 Jun 2004 Posts: 133 Location: 1 mile from Tatem

Thanks for sharing, Georgie boy.

george · Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 567 Location: Paris

hey i am glad that you guys enjoyed the read!

thanks again for all the help & see you around soon!

Glenn · Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Posts: 1082 Location: ST Pauls

Just read your post on the weekend.

Great effort George; you know that next year will be even better. Looking forward to seeing you smash the 120 lap barrier then, keep it going.

G

Xia · Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Posts: 874 Location: Geneva (Suisse)

Thanks for writing.
ENjoyed the reading.

Congratulation!

pazza98 · Joined: 01 Feb 2010 Posts: 248 Location: Hornsey

Finally found a moment to read this, it was worth the wait. About a month on now, any thoughts since then? Are you making preparations for next year or are you taking a breather or concentrating on other areas before you knuckle down again?

Very very impressed with this years performance. Well done!!