My first ultra, part of my training for Snowdon UTS 100 in May. 52k Endurance Life Sussex
My goals – to understand fuelling, pacing, practice using poles and the experience of being on my feet for substantially longer than I have been before:
Pre race context – Had a hip strain Jan 29th to Feb 19th which knocked running back, so transitioned to Zwift & lifting to maintain aerobic base. I’d booked this race some time ago as it seemed a good starting point to assess where I would be for Snowdon in early May.
The race is 52k with 1600m of ascent, around Beachey Head & South Downs
Fortunately my hip cleared up and I’ve had a decent 3 weeks worth of running.
Last week build – as this was a training race I didn’t put a proper taper into place. Compromises here were to completely drop any lifting / strength work, reduce my volume a little Thurs / Friday and change the hills workout for an easier 5 x 1k @ tempo off 90s on Tues to get some leg turnover and prime my body – which historically I know helps for running.
So this week pre race: Mon 16k easy (80m)
Tues – AM – 7k incl 2 x (4 x 40s hard off 40sec walk) hour cycle easy to / from teaching / PM 5 x 1k @ tempo off 90sec walk
Weds – AM – 30mins easy / PM 80mins rucksack on trails in muddy puddles
Thurs – AM 30mins easy on Zwift / PM 30mins easy / 30 mins progression from marathon pace to 10k pace
Fri AM 30mins easy run
So Up until this point 90 mins on the bike, 70k running with around 85% easy, 5% mararthon pac e / 5% tempo / 5% 10k down.
Drove to Eastbourne on Friday evening.
I looked at the only other trail mountain race I’d down to give me some kind of indication of time, which was 23k 600m elevation in Chamonix in 2019, ran in 3h 30m so an avg of 6.7KPH. So I was now prepared to run for 8 hours (which I thought was long, but wanted to listen to previous experience)
Day of the race itself – got up at 7:00, hadn’t slept brilliantly in hotel. Got to race HQ for 8, start at 8:30. Had Nike Ultrafly trail shows on as my Salomon Slabs wet still wet from Weds trail run. Long socks, short race shorts, merino wool LS top, hardshell, gloves & cap. Backpack around 3.5kg. which was a Salamon 12l pack, with a quiver for Leki poles
Realised phone was only charged to 30% & had forgotten down jacket – good learnings for future race. Decided not to have breakfast, rather a flapjack energy bar, which went down well.
In terms of fuelling I had checked out what was at the 5 aid stations, had 2 Clif bars, 2 Maurten 160 mix, 2 x Maurtan non Caf + 2 x Maurten caf gels. I would have liked to have taken food but wanted to see how this would work.
Race itself went really well, far better than I expected, 5h 47m which I was overjoyed with.
EDIT – 22nd overall, 2 in my age cat (by a small 6.5mins) but these are meaningless to me as I wasn’t racing and wouldn’t have been able to go faster. I suppose just nice to see more than something I was driven by.
In terms of the race – I had intended to use poles, I never go them out. The longest climb was no more than 1k and I didn’t feel the need and decided today was not the day to practice. I do need to do this pre Snowdon
I decided to chat wiht volunteers at every aid station, not rush, consider how I felt and then move on. This worked well as I felt fresh most of the race and was reinforced by the friendly volunteers.
Fuelling – I stuck on a bar or gel once an hour to supplement with something at the aid stations. I then only had a bag of jelly sweets aroudn 80mins in, a ginger biscuit and half a banana from the aid stations. I stuck to using my clif bars / and 4 Maurten gels and this worked well. Snowdon I’ll fuel similarly with what I carry – but eat the proper food that the stations have available, to keep down the weight of what I need to carry.
Big success was making friends early – first hour I spent running & chatting to an ex GB fell runner. She was great company and made the run to the first aid station fly by. I then left her and hooked up with a guy running the marathon course. W kept one another company to his race end, which was incredibly helpful. We both had a lull / down moment from 36k for around 15-20mins and just staying together helped massively.
When he left me something switched in my head, I decided to have my caf gel, put music on and decided it was race time. I then had a wonderful 6k of feeling strong and ran my fastest k (4:15 although was downhill) from 48-49 and the last 10k quicker than I had just done.
Comparisons for like for like KM, as the last 10k was a loop back round to rerun the last 10k of the marathon course
KM6: 4:49 / KM48:4:15
KM39: 8:16 / KM 49: 6:34
KM40: 7:07 / KM 50: 6:20
KM41: 6:25 / KM 51: 5:34
So really pleasing to see me pick up the pace at the end and run it in.
I was really helped by a guy called Jamie, who I was having a bit of back and forth with on the last loop. KM50 was pretty challenging, as a gentle slope into a strong wind. He went back past me and I decided to just sit on his shoulder, we had a chat and gladly accepted to run it in together. This was a massive, massive help at the end of the race.
Water – I drunk little and often from my flasks, ensuring I always had one full at all times, refilling at the aid stations. Weather was a little windy, but a nice 10-11 degrees C.
Main learnings for me: Make friends to work with.
Engage with the aid station staff, consider how you feel when they ask you and be honest with yourself.
Don’t rush the aid stations, get everything I need then leave calmly
Eat on the uphills
Drink little and often.
Keep to an all day pace for as long as possible, wait until that trigger happens when I am sure I can run strong and reach the end.
Today was a big success – but this was one race, on one day and the next one could be very different. Be pleased with the result but don’t assume it will happen again.
BreatheToMove 