Preamble

So it’s been what? 10 years since my last 24hr race (on a 400m track) and 9 since my last serious ultra. I entered this 14 weeks out having struggled to get back into the swing of things since IM CPH last August.
I knew this didn’t give me much time to build up the running mileage so it was a trade off between a sensible ramp up rate and getting a good amount of time on my feet into the equation. Combine that with near weekly trips to Germany and the usual busy weekends made getting to my maximum planned 80mile running week slightly challenging. Aware that previously that I’d have been pushing for a few consecutive 90+mile weeks (and the old adage that you can run in a day what you train in a week) and with something rather longer than 20miles as a long run I wasn’t too sure how this would go.

The plan got pencilled in at the same time as the training plan and only got tweaked a couple of times, uncertainty about my fitness, zero knowledge of the course (10km trail laps), knowing just quite how slow the night section can be and that I would be running on this occasion with no crew meant I didn’t have great expectations.

That said of course, a race is a race so naturally I planned for a PB. Ambitious? yes.
(right here I’m gonna give you a read more tag cos this may go on a bit)

Set Up & Event / Venue

This being a first event and run by OCR guys it perhaps barely registered on an ultra runner’s calendar meaning those turning up at the campsite were a strange mix of OCR types, those training for longer things and it seemed not that many with much ultra experience.
All pretty low key, which suits me, a friendly welcome, well marked route, 5km water station and a lap counting marquee were all good signs, excessive dry robe wearing less so ;).

Opening Laps

The weather forecast when I looked in the previous week was well, just rain, albeit light rain for the most part.
Before the start it was mostly not raining with a couple of showers to confuse selection of kit, it was still drizzling but I knew I’d be moving and generating heat so started off in shorts, a long sleeved helly and windproof.
The start finish area and what I heard of the course was mostly mown grassland so I was pleased to start off in my Altra Superiors, not the grippiest shoe but for me super comfy and super spacious. Gaiters were rejected due to lack of mud / gravel, a few chose them on the basis of grass seeds but it didn’t look too bad.
Finally on general set up; a number belt for the number & potential costume changes and the fuel belt loaded with nuun, water, gu gels and a bar I was set for the first 2 or 3 laps at least.

First impressions of the course were slightly bemused, clearly designed by the OCR types I thought as it brought to mind tortuously winding routes used at Tough Guy many moons ago.
In many places the route was basically barely leveled fields with some pretty rough earth mostly concealed my mown grass, this was a real challenge to run on and tweaked the ankles in all directions giving me every possible tendon and muscle niggle over the first few laps.

In summary though the first part of the first half was good under foot and meandered through the extremely young trees to approach the start/finish area before heading back away on a fairly level grass track, finally turning back on itself for a couple of short climbs to the 5k point.
The second half quickly dropped into the very pretty woods for a quick OCR style meander up & down the incline before heading through several more mown grass fields. This included my least favourite field which whilst mostly level had some pretty rough patches and a section of shallow dips which crossed the path diagonally meaning you could never run in a straight line for more than a few meters. To finish was a brief track round the pond and two sharp climbs/descents in the last 2km.

To start I mostly ran with Laura who I’d chatted to before the start and had a bit of ultra experience, we’d both debated whether a jacket was needed and although it drizzled a little after the first 100yards the course at least was more sheltered and getting quite humid so the jacket was fairly quickly removed and discarded at the end of the first lap.
After a while we were caught by an american (apologies in advance if you are in fact canadian, a much lesser sin) who I’d heard at the start and thought was a little odd for him to be here. I quickly twigged it was Kurt D of Cotswold Running which made a bit more sense (if not that much), he was here to do “50” as part of training which i think was my hint not to run with them. Luckily his companion was much more brutal saying it’s a 1hr10 lap at best for a 24hr race and everyone is going too fast, I let them go on the climb toward the end by which time we’d dropped Laura off the back (sorry).

I was still a little conerned quite how humid it was, at one point the sun even tried to come through and in these early laps I was easily getting through my bottles plus a good cup of water at half way, something to keep an eye on.
I had to stop briefly I suspect after 40km to deal with a developing blister on my big toe, against the nail so just the pounding from terrain more than anything else. Also applied some more bodyglide round the toes and underneath.

Fuelling for these early laps alternated between a gel or a bar, although the bar went down rather well so i kept at them. 24hr is a long time so I had planned proper food after 40km, rightly or wrongly i decided against it as i was still moving well and 50km is a nice round number right ? Kurt was in the marquee at the end of my 5th lap and I commented how he’d never mentioned which units he meant for “just 50”, he meant miles but didn’t want to beat himself up further on that course, tells you a little about the toughness of it.

I salted my cooked (but cold!) potatoes and munched on those and some cold lasagne which really hit the spot, I think it was washed down with a bit of flat coke too. Once I topped my bottles up I set off walking with some more lasagne as Kurt tried promoted his 6hr race to me.

1 – 0:59 [12:59]
2 – 1:06 [14:05]
3 – 1:08 [15:13]
4 – 1:09 [16:24]
5 – 1:14 [17:45]

Beyond 50

80km was the next mental goal although with such a long lap I really shouldn’t have been thinking so far ahead. Things were slowing but I was still covering ground steadily and it was still light. I’m used to eating on the move and walking a little until it’s settled, I realised tho that on this course that means going slowly on the most runnable section which proved frustrating and so settled for a slow jog or run/walk to make the most of it.

At some point between laps (I forget which) I encountered Laura changing socks in the back of her car which meant I’d just about gone a lap up on her, however seeing her and another set off with me shortly after, they were running well and easily getting away from me which meant I spent the next 12+ hours expecting her to catch me again.

By the time I was on my 7th lap heading toward 70km I couldn’t really remember what my schedule called for but I knew I was dropping behind it, it was heading toward dusk and I knew I’d only be getting slower at that point. I was on my own and went through a really low point mentally, what was I even doing there?… what was I acheiving? I knew if Lisa was there crewing she’d have had a more rational response, a better awareness of the splits & schedule and almost certainly wouldn’t have conceived stopping as an idea. As it was I very nearly called it a day at 70km.

What the organisers (apologies for the impersonal reference here!) thought I don’t know, when asked if I was going straight out again I told them “I was going to the car to have a stern word with myself and then we’d let them know!”. I texted Lisa with a bit of an update (more than the previous distance updates anyway) and having topped up the bottles and food set out with the aim of at least walking a lap to 80km and then reviewing further.

Walking meant that a lap could potentially take 2hrs which even with a halfway feed station is a long time self supported and a long time on your own especially with the mental demons setting in, it also meant that a head torch was in order as it would most likely be dark when I got back.

Two things happened on that lap, one was that I acknowledged how ridiculously ambitious my 160km target was on that course (140 or maybe even only 120 depending how bad things got later) and the second was that walking the runnable sections was still depressing so I set out walking 3 marker posts and running three (with an opt out / in for up or downhill sections). Whilst it wasn’t fast, it was significantly faster than walking and with the benefit of my garmin showing average pace for the whole lap even the harder second half didn’t slow things too badly overall.
So at the 80km point I was reasonably happy with myself, if not exactly on speaking terms (as I again told the organisers).

I got a cup of tea (one hard earned sugar) from “the bar” as i was calling it and sat in the boot of my car with a rug over my legs (still wearing shorts), checked back in with Lisa and enjoyed a couple of slices of cold pizza. I also put a fleece top over my helly (and under the windproof which had gone back on a couple of hours previously).

6 – 1:22 [19:13]
7 – 1:32 [20:46]
8 – 1:47 [22:49]

The Night Section

By now it was midnight and the walking through the night strategy was about to come into effect. The next mental marker was of course 100km, only two laps away although that meant potentially a full 4 hours to get through. I’d also worked out that hey even at walking pace I can still make the revised 140km plan, just.

Can’t recall too much about thee two laps aside from the good humour of the half way checkpoint, the darkness of the spooky woods and having to force myself to look up occasionally just to check i was still on the course.
I do recall however that my garmin was surprisingly still alive and with the same strategy as before the pace was still better than walking so I was fairly content. I had also gone for a slightly risky strategy with no gloves and still in shorts; I was generally cold starting out on the lap and if I walked for too long I was cold, but long as I kept up a fast walk or the run/walk strategy then I was plenty warm enough.
I also recall how ridiculously overhydrated I had been, either that or something was amiss internally as almost every other time I broke into a run I had the urge to pee so it was more like a run/pee/walk strategy, it was almost totally clear so i wasn’t too worried, I just tried to stop drinking so much!

By the end of the walking lap to 100km I was struggling to keep my eyes open and my game of seeing how long I could close them for and still be on course was going to end in disaster at some stage, most likely with me laying on the ground as no way my legs would cope with an unexpected bump or camber.

I Should also mention that early on this lap my head torch gave me the flashing warning that the battery was on the way out, I had spares in my fuelbelt but realised I’d have zero chance of getting them in the right way round in the dark! I hoped it would last out to the midway checkpoint, which it did but I also completely forgot when passed by several roaming marshalls out on the course, brain dead!

9 – 2:03 [01:00]
10 – 1:59 [03:04]

The Kip Conudrum

From experience a 5 or 10minute kip can make a big difference to your energy levels and ability to keep going and I had at least allowed for this as an option at some stage in the plan. Unfortunately the mental process around this was a challenge along these lines…

Ok I’ll have a 10min kip.
Ok I’ll have a 10min kip in the passenger seat.
Ok I’ll have a 10min kip in the passenger seat and change my shoes.
Ok I’ll have a 10min kip in the passenger seat and change my shoes and put my garmin on charge.
Ok I’ll have a 10min kip in the passenger seat and change my shoes and put my garmin on charge and clean my teeth.
Ok I’ll have a 10min kip in the passenger seat and change my shoes and put my garmin on charge and clean my teeth and have a rice pudding after.
Ok I’ll have a 10min kip in the passenger seat and change my shoes and put my garmin on charge and clean my teeth and have a rice pudding after and let my feet dry out while i sleep.
Ok I’ll have a 10min kip in the passenger seat and change my shoes and put my garmin on charge and clean my teeth and have a rice pudding after and let my feet dry out while i sleep and give them a clean and talc.
Ok I’ll have a 10min kip in the passenger seat and change my shoes and put my garmin on charge and clean my teeth and have a rice pudding after and let my feet dry out while i sleep and give them a clean and talc and find some blister plasters in case.
Ok I’ll have a 10min kip in the passenger seat and change my shoes and put my garmin on charge and clean my teeth and have a rice pudding after and let my feet dry out while i sleep and give them a clean and talc and find some blister plasters in case oh and a spoon for the rice puddding.
Ok I’ll have a 10min kip in the passenger seat and change my shoes and put my garmin on charge and clean my teeth and have a rice pudding after and let my feet dry out while i sleep and give them a clean and talc and find some blister plasters in case oh and a spoon for the rice pudding and some fresh socks.
Ok I’ll have a 10min kip in the passenger seat and change my shoes and put my garmin on charge and clean my teeth and have a rice pudding after and let my feet dry out while i sleep and give them a clean and talc and find some blister plasters in case oh and a spoon for the rice pudding and some fresh socks and a towel.
Ok I’ll have a 10min kip in the passenger seat and change my shoes and put my garmin on charge and clean my teeth and have a rice pudding after and let my feet dry out while i sleep and give them a clean and talc and find some blister plasters in case oh and a spoon for the rice pudding and some fresh socks and a towel and a blanket.
Ok I’ll have a 10min kip in the passenger seat and change my shoes and put my garmin on charge and clean my teeth and have a rice pudding after and let my feet dry out while i sleep and give them a clean and talc and find some blister plasters in case oh and a spoon for the rice puddding and some fresh socks and a towel and a blanket and top up my bottles so i can go straight out.

So by the time I got to the car it was quite an effort to remember and get together all the bits I needed for my simple nap, and by which time I had accepted that I’d probably lose the best part of 30minutes doing it.

100 & Up

The alarm goes off and it’s the early hours of the morning but maybe it’s starting to lighten, as I open the door I notice a really thick mist has appeared, it’s probably the coldest it’s been all night and I’m reluctant to let my legs out from under the blanket. Some more bodyglide on the feet and fresh socks & shoes on, this time moving to my Saucony Peregrines, already they feel tight & the toe box restrictive but I’m hoping the additional tread is going to help on the softening course.
Unfortunately my pre loaded bottles have leaked coke all over the fuel belt, there’s no solution so I put it on and get going.

So lap 11 and wow what a difference, I was relatively speaking flying along with the mist picked out in my headtorch and all the grasses and plants taking on amazingly different shades in the LED light. There’s definitely something about that brief nap, previously I’d really appreciated it removing that gritty feeling from my eyes now I’m thinking that mental fatigue really affects your ability to drive the nerves sufficiently to fire the muscles, either way it felt good to be moving.

I was looking forward to treating myself to breakfast around dawn and if “the bar” was open most definitely a bacon sarnie. However to my surprise my faster than walking pace laps had accumulated even with the nap time to mean it felt a bit early for that, plus I was feeling so good I wanted to crack on to the next mental marker of 120km.

There was no leaderboard and I didn’t ask for any updates as I’d never contemplated being in a position of any kind this weekend (or well, ever to be honest). The previous evening the half way marshall had asked if I was the 2nd placed runner and I’d said how the heck would I know but I doubt it! As I ran the next lap I entertained the thought for a few minutes and decided a) it’s way too early in the game to think about positions and b) to be leading at this stage you’ve either got to be good or very confident, I was neither. So I carried on as I was.
The same half way marshall kept feeding me all sorts of random info about who was in the lead, how far they’d gone…. who’d had a sleep and was coming back fast etc etc. I couldn’t verify any of it and in the end it didn’t really help, still, the extra strong mint was a winner.

Not for the first time, the first half of the 12th lap felt ok and went well, by the 2nd half i was regretting my eagerness to get out again as I was once more struggling and forcing down whatever food I had with me. By the end of the previous lap it had been light enough to switch the head torch off although still misty, I’d forgotten to take it off tho which kind of annoyed me for the whole lap.

Finally through to the end of lap 12 and still happy that even walking I could make 140km which relative to the plan and the course I’d be happy with. Some great sights on these laps, most memorably climbing out of the mist to the halfway point, seeing the sun pushing through the clouds being able to look down on the mist with trees peeking out all around.

Kip – 0:30ish [03:40?]
11 – 1:40 [05:21]
12 – 1:48 [07:10]

Sunrise and The Endgame

So in my head I had 2 laps left in me, I was going too quick really since if I was back before 24hours I was allowed to start another lap. If I was back much after 11am I could maybe justify not going out but even on 2hr laps I’d be back by 25hours, a problem we’d deal with as it came.

As I had promised myself, as soon as I got in from the 12th lap I was straight to “the bar” to order my bacon sandwich and cup of tea (one sugar). I was happy to be told it would be about 5minutes which meant I could go to the car, top up my bottles and sort myself out before heading back out, running cap and sunglasses at the ready.
Sunglasses are a great help for me with tired eyes as the sun comes up and although the mist was still holding it looked in danger of getting pretty sunny by the end of play, more than that though the glasses also provide a good mental barrier between me and the outside world.
Those that know me will be completely unsurprised by the sight of me walking away from a checkpoint with a cup of tea and bacon sarnie, the organiser’s clearly didn’t know me well enough!

Even full of tea and bacon the first section was cautiously run/walked and I felt good, just that 5minute pause had again helped with the mental fatigue. The sun was creeping out and even without the fleece and windproof I was feeling it. This is a real danger point for me, I seem to get heat/sun stroke so easily and I’d have been much happier had the mist and rain stayed longer!

Finally heading out onto what was mentally my “last” lap, I had a little less than 3 hours until midday and the crew were trying to persuade me I could do 2 more. With that thought planted in my head I had to think hard about what condition I would even think about starting another, in the end it wasn’t to be a hard choice. My best decision of the event before heading out; swapping to my legionaire’s hat with sun protection over my neck, sun was really getting quite strong now.

With lap timings playing on my mind I pushed myself early on and made it back to 4mph which meant 90minute laps, surely not possible ? Half way wasn’t far off 45mins but as soon as I hit the woods I was falling apart.
I tried to keep my head up and keep walking a good pace but went downhill pretty rapidly and soon could barely keep moving forward.
Once again my eyes were closing and my average pace dropped from 4mph down to 3mph and worse by the end of that lap. Team runners were still charging to the end and I was barely able to acknowledge them.
From my experience through the night I knew how frustratingly long that last 3km felt and this was just as bad. I kept finding myself stopping and bending over with hands on knees, no particular reason, just an excuse to stop I think.

Finally however over the two climbs and onto the finishing straight, some congratulation from some of the teams and over the line sometime after 11.

13 – 1:41 [09:05]
14 – 1:49 [11:25]

At this point I still thought Laura was within the same lap as me, and if she finished before 12 could start another lap and pass me. By the end of that lap however I could not contemplate even another step so she was welcome to it!

I was also told I had completed 15 laps which I briefly argued against but not very hard as I wasn’t terribly coherent (I spent most of the following week working out my splits from my garmin, my notes through the night & text records and could not find an extra lap anywhere, I finally got it confirmed that they double counted a lap at some point).

That last 5km had take over an hour and involved some pretty severe wobbling, it was only 11:20 or so and I could have started another lap. By that stage however I really couldn’t conceive another step let alone staying out until 1pm and 25hrs total, so I stopped.

Post Race

I went for another tea (no sugar) and back to the car, immediately climbing into the back and propping my feet up for an hour’s sleep (result: cold tea). By the time I woke up everyone was finished and Laura was back having come in at first lady supposedly a lap down on me (and that lap finished after midday so I needn’t have spent 12 hours looking over my shoulder!).
(And having seen the results credit to Joe Giddens who also looks to have completed 14 laps, mostly faster than me, unfortunately the results contain lap splits but not actual times so I can’t see quite when he completed that 14th lap)

My silly work schedule didn’t give much for this race, I flew back earlier than usual at Friday lunch time and decided against the 6am flight on Monday and I’ve had much adulation and nice comments from my various friends (thanks!). I must say however I’ve found it quite wearing waiting for confirmation of the miscounted lap and I closing that query on final positions.

I don’t really want to mention it as it sours things a little but whilst analysing my own splits & records I went to see if I could compare to some others and found via a fairly open facebook profile that “some people” had said I was cheating which, obviously, for the record, I was not and I’m totally satisfied that my splits and rest times correspond to the distance given. I am a very happy ultra runner and I’ve always found ultra runners to be friendly, inclusive, supportive and humble, my impression from the outside of the flourishing OCR industry is unfortunately a little brash, egotistical and aggressive and whilst most of the weekend proved me wrong (dryrobes aside) unfortunately this one throw away line in a facebook post has rather undone their hard work!

So many thanks to the organisers and lap counters and supportive fellow runners for an interesting first event, I was pleased to be a part of it.

If you just can’t get enough:
– Published Race Results (pdf)
– Garmin Trace for first 100km (It was charged for last two but seem to have gone awol)
– Trail Attack Website (Forever immortalised with the wrong distance…)
– Photo albums care of Good Sports (Facebook)
– First Lap GoPro (well why wouldn’t you? I get passed @3mins)
– SugaBabes Team Race Report
– RunningMonkey Race Report (Pairs winners)

Closing thoughts on what could be improved:
– A leaderboard, in my experience of 24hr races this is really very helpful even if you’re not racing for position.
– A feed station at the lap count area, if you don’t want to trawl to the car for a drink or a handful of jelly beans this would have been good.
– A sensible lap? I had a love hate relationship with this course, the first section was convoluted and contrived and I’d argue impossible to marshal fairly with so many potential points to cut. Admitedly in head down night mode I was barely thinking between markers let along cutting, but at just beyond 3km you passed with just a bit of tape between you and both the 100m and 1km(ish) points, in the day there was for some time a marshal here but he disappeared as soon as the drizzle started and was never seen again. Similarly several other points later in the lap. Sadly if it’s open to be questioned, at some point it will be.
– A runnable lap? Conditions underfoot improved as things went on but it was brutally uneven and I can imagine more serious ultra runner’s not taking on the course for just this reason. Which may or may not be a reason to change it.
– A shorter lap? Based on the above two points if you’re running it for 24hrs does the length matter?… if it was a logistically easier, un-cuttable 5km loop around the outside of the existing course would it matter ?
– A finishing loop ? I’m not sure how other similar 24s are run these days but the thought of getting in at 11:55 and going out for another 2hrs makes it a 26hr race if you get your timing right. I’m used on much shorter loops to taking a marker and stopping when the horn goes to get my actual 24hr distance measured up. How about at 11am switch everyone to a 1km or 500m loop ? Makes for a better finish for all and spectators, just my tuppence.
– Finally I appreciate this was a first running, if you’re going to refer to lead runners and winners at least have a ceremony to recognise it, maybe a prize would be nice, or at least lunch 😉