Home Based UK Ultra Runners of the Year

POST UPDATE: Read below before clicking this link to cast your vote

 With the plethora of incredible performances in the UK it got me thinking about what was/is the best performance of 2012 and who were the stand out athletes? In your heads some names will spring to mind straight away, especially more recent performances, and most of you will initially think of people like Ellie Greenwood and Lizzy Hawker.
   However, it seems more appropriate to consider the incredible performances from UK based runners as some of these deserve way more talk time. I think its pretty obvious that UK athlete of the year worldwide would be Lizzy Hawker (Swiss resident) and performance of the year is probably Ellie Greenwood's absurd record breaking run at Western States. But who would you say are the best male and female performances on British Soil? And who would you give the honour of 2012 male and female UltraRunner of the year?
   Below I have put my thoughts as well as a ranking list but I would love you to chime in and correct me of any omissions and oversights. I must also note that there is still time for things to change. Most noteworthy, Neil Bryant is currently 75% of the way through the preposterous 60+ day TransEurope Footrace. If he finishes this then he is definitely a contender performance of the year. We also have the Winter100 coming up in November with 4 runners aiming to be the winner of CenturionRunning's 2012 Grand Slam (4x 100 milers). Those runners are Kenneth Fancett, Allan Rumbles (@ogeerunner), Tremayne Cowdry and David Bird. Worthy of performance of the year too? There are many categories that can be added to this, like Vet categories, distance categories and international performance categories but I have kept it simple for now. Female Performance of the year, Male performance of the year. Male runner of the year and female runner of the year. Ok so here goes.

Male Performance of the year: 
1. Terry Conway; Lakeland 100 19:50 (@terryconway)
2. Craig Holgate; Thames Path 100 15:11
3. Daniel Doherty; UTSW 100 19:31 (@UltraRunDan)

Honourbale mentions-
 * Gary Morrison and Steve Thomspon; The Spine Race Joint winners
 * Jez Bragg; Fellsman in horrific conditions (@jezbragg)
 * Scott Bradley; HighlandFling 7:23
 * Neil Bryant; Hardmoors 110 22:44 (@runningneil)
 * Kevin Doyle; Cotswold 100 16:06
 * Terry Conway; West Highland Way 15:39
 * Steve Birkinshaw; Dragons Back race 200mile winner

Female Performance of the year: 
1. Debbie Martin-Consani; GUCR145 28:01 overall winner!
2. Shelli Gordon; Hardmoors 110 24:19 CR and 3rd overall
3. Mimi Anderson; Fastest Crossing of Ireland on Foot WORLD RECORD (@marvellousmimi) 

Honourbale mentions-
 * Claire Shelley; SDW 100 19:43 (@claireshelley_)
 * Mimi Anderson; Thames Path 100 18:50
 * Rachel Hill; Lakeland 100 28:47
 * Alice Hector; NDW100 20:10 and 4th Overall
 * Emily Gelder; 24hr race Katowice 148miles

Male Ultra Runner of the year: 
1. Neil Bryant; TransGC, Viking way, Trans-Europe, Trailblaze, Hardmoors 110
2. Terry Conway; Lakeland 100, WHW, Fling
3. Craig Holgate; Thames Trot, Thames Path 100

Female Ultra Runner of the year: 
1. Mimi Anderson; Viking way Ultra, Thames Path Ultra, Jungle Ultra, Fastest crossing of Ireland WR
2. Debbie Martin-Consani; GUCR145, Devil o' the highlands
3. Emily Gelder; Iau 24 hour 148miles, 100km performances 8:05 and 8:08

   So what is your verdict of these? Think Neil ahead of Terry may prove controversial and it was really hard to split! I also think 3rd place in runner of the year is wide open but I opted for Craig because his performances are so damn fast . I am sure I have missed so much and with it being so subjective their must be some difference in opinion amongst the Ultra Community. I will update the rankings if many people leave the same comments and the same rankings. What are your votes?

Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc: CCC in Pictures

Kilian Classik Result Summary 2012

Allez Allez Allez Allez Allez Allez Allez! God damn if I could go faster up this damn near vertical ski slope I would! Todays Kilian Classik 45km race was beautifully brutal- this is a quick summary before I do a more extensive post on the differences between European and UK trail races (their are many). Kilian himself, along with Britain’s Tom Owens and Greg Vollet (all Salomon) ran it in today in 4:17 followed closely by Mick Donges in a fraction over 4:30. The women’s race was won by Emelie Forsberg, who by her own comments claimed that she would be taking it easy today! Man that girl can downhill. The course was around the beautiful Font Romeu town in the French Pyreness and as you can imagine it was extremely tough. Only 11,000ft or so of altitude change run between 5500 and 9000ft but it was the most technical trail I have ever experienced! Lots of loose rocks and slate, with some very unrunable descents. Salomon used livepark.fr/salomon to upload videos as the runners went past two points. The first point was a climb up a ski slope- a quick scan of videos on the site suggests that only Jonathan Wyatt and Kilian were able to run it. Any questions that I can fill in before a post something for extensive then please drop me a line on twitter. UKRUNRAMBLES

Update December 2012 and IAU athlete of the year nominations

Been a while since a real posting, basically because in one way nothing has happened but when I look at the bigger picture I guess a lot has happened! Since the Ridgeway in August I have taken a lot of downtime with running to try and keep myself healthy (see training stats at the bottom of the page!). My biggest news is that I have an Entry into UTLD 100miler and I will be putting my silly hat into the UTMB 100 lottery later this month! If I'm in, it will dumb to do both just a month apart and a combined total of 206miles of racing and +50,000ft of vertical but I'll give it a shot. Minimum i will get from it is a ridiculous amount of "experience".
So from now until then its about getting in some good race practice and loads of hill training (plus watch this space for 'ninjering' you heard it here first!)
I have entered 4 races for Jan and Feb to keep me busy and focused in the mean time- Winter Tanners 30, UltraRace 45/90, Pilgrim Challenge 33/66 and London Ultra.

In world news- Hardrock 100 is going to be crazy next year and Kyle Skaggs' 'unbeatable' record could be in jeopardy but that will rely upon a fit Geoff Roes and Anton Krupicka (waitlist 16) to turn up. You also have some old boys in Karl Meltzer, Hal Koerner and AJW (waitlist 6) and some young guns too in Dakota Jones (also a threat to any record, Joe Grant and Dominic Grossman. Cant wait to spectate this from my laptop!

Finally the IAU have released the nominations for Ultra Runner of the year. GBR has one male and no less then 6 females! A bit better than SPOTY! Lizzy Hawker should be a dead cert for the overall gong too, shes simply incredible both athletically and personally. In fact just enjoy her THE NORTH FACE video profile

ChallengeHub 24hour race report

I headed to a sleepy countryside this weekend to test my limits in a 24hour race. Testing my limits was exactly what happened. On paper, I have been involved in tougher races but the way the day played could not have been anticipated. I definitely expected a smoother ride.
I headed to marshside (Kent, near Canterbury) on the Friday night with my stepdad and the dog (let me add that my stepdad, clive was an absolute hero all weekend). We slept under the stars which on paper sounds great but solid ground and howling winds did not provide the greatest pre-race sleep. I remember having the feeling that those winds could play a huge part in the race.....I was right. I still woke in the morning feeling pretty relaxed however, and i felt that providing my ITB held up during the race then i could do something pretty big and possibly even scare some of the big dogs that would run for the win. As i was only 1 of 2 competitors that camped over night (other guy was called Justin, very genuine and cool ex army chap doing his first ultra) I was in a position to see all the other competitors slowly arrive. Some very familiar faces that have definitely developed into race friends arrived so the hour leading up to the 1pm start was filled with some very low key conversations. Most interestingly, Kostas telling me that he ran his last race with an arm in a sling due to a broken shoulder......the race was a 48hour race......and he ran 200miles- he was my pre-race favourite before he even told me that! Turns out he finished joint first with what can only be described as an absolutely epic finish by him. I was rooting for him all the way and to witness first hand how hard he was pushing to catch the leader was inspiring. He was nearly 12miles down with less then 4hours ago, I think the guy that was leading from the start (Kenneth, I guy that I had not met before) believed he had the race all wrapped up very early, he must have been a fraction disappointed to be caught.
The race started with the usual rocket firework, firework goes up, wait for the bang, and away you go.
Lap1:
Usually you get some highly caffeinated and excited folks tear off the front at a very unmanageable pace but this time everything was kept very causal and conversational. As the last two weeks did not involve a lot of running due to my injured ITB i decided to use this lap to get a good awareness of how my body was feeling in regards to tightness, soreness and strength. The weather was mild and very runable. The ground has the hardest ground a had ever run on and later caused lots of foot issues for lots of competitors. The jeep and tractor tracks were solid and horrible under foot so I tried to pick my run lines effectively as I knew they would fatigue the ankles very quickly.
18Th Place 6.55miles
Lap2:
Field starting to thin out a little bit, wind was really starting to pick up on the back route to lap control. Considering it was only about 3pm it was certainly an ominous sign of things to come. Legs not feeling particularly loose yet but felt ok otherwise
17Th 13.1miles
Lap3:
Started to get calories on board as the 4 hour mark was approaching and dinner time. Little and often was the food strategy. I was probably burning 700kcal per hour but the body will only absorb approx 300kcal per hour during performance. Towards the end of the lap I had the first indication that my ITB will play a part in the race but i wasn't too concerned yet.
16Th 19.65miles
Lap4:
BANG, CRASH, WALLOP. Every step with every stride the left side of my lower body started screaming STOOOPPPPPP OR I WILL HURT YOU!!!!! First ITB over my knee starting pulling, every left step was accommodated by an aggressive out swing of the knee as I landed. Minutes later, the hip gives out and I nearly hit the deck. I put my hand over my hip to feel it gliding in a really weird way, it wasnt smooth and it was very painful.....i was in trouble. for the next hour I have to stop and stretch my leg every 10minutes in order to keep running, walking was not an option with less than a marathon on the board. Towards the end of the lap my peroneals start screaming at me and the top of my gastroc is super tight. I spent this entire lap adjusting my stride in order to see if I could relieve tension. Toe in, Toe out, Shuffling, overstriding, understriding, less lower limb rotation, picking up from the hip flexors etc....I could definitely tell I had wasted a ton of energy doing this but I had to find a solution. Somehow I gained a place in this lap!
15Th 26.2miles (marathon)
Lap5:
As you could imagine this started terribly. It also started with me telling Clive that if this left side deteriorates as much as the last lap then it could be over.
Did a have a miracle? Did my body find a different way to run? or did a just dig in so much mentally that my body decided it could not compete with my brain and it decided to give up on causing me pain? The latter is unlikely but I like the sound of it. Things really started to loosen up but definitely at the expense of a slightly sore right knee and overworking of quadriceps and hip flexor muscles on both legs. I knew my quads should not feel this torched after 30miles but I was happy to have it and if it means its saving the lateral part of my left leg from destruction then so be it. The hard ground was also stirring up the balls of my feet which was something that brought an end to a couple of competitors races, once again I could only embrace the pain. I could survive ball of the foot pain and torched quads.....I could not survive what happened in Lap 4 for much longer!
13Th 32.75miles
Lap6:
Things continued in the same vain as lap 5 except for the viscous intensity of wind. I would have preferred relentless rain to soften the ground but right now it was just wind that was hammering my face, neck, eyes and lips....but I was still running and the shear relief of this just lead me to say 'bring it on'. I did notice at lap control that some people had really got away from me, probably during my slow 4Th lap. I stayed positive as I knew I would still run hard during the night and the worse conditions got the more others would struggle and the more I would plough forward and catch them. The deeper into the race and the worse the conditions the more mental strength you would need- after digging down to the depths of despair early in the race I knew I had the mental strength in abundance.
12Th 39.3miles
Lap7:
It got cold! and the wind got brutal and it stayed like this for the next 8 hours! Here's the weirdest thing....I could not run without searing pain through my obliques and abdominals. They were even sore to lightly touch, I have never experienced this! Was it the adjusted stride? Less rotation at the hip causing more rotation in the obliques? Was it the excessive leaning into the wind to drive forward? Whatever the reason, it sucked and it started to make me feel sick. It also caused havoc with my eating. Pasta was going down well but everything with quick release sugar, which I really needed, made me feel ill. Perseverance, come on!
11th 45.85miles
Lap8: The queasy stomach was now effecting my fluid intake and I knew this was not good as I was developing a headache but with every lap I knew I was making good progress and this was enough for me to push forward. This lap represented double marathon mark and I knew everything was hurting more then it should have been at this point. However, I also knew that people will start to crash really quickly at this point. Very rarely do you do training runs at 50miles or longer so this is where people will struggle to push through. I felt that if I keep running for longer then I could make some in-roads on the guys ahead of me.
9Th 52.4miles (double marathon)
Lap9:
Strong winds really starting to piss me off, saw a couple of friends at the timing tent who were considering a nap- for the first time in a race I nearly joined them. So out popped the proplus and a bottle of coke and off I went on another lap.....good choice
7Th 58.95miles
Lap10:
Everything felt shit. Face was wind broken, abs and obliques would no longer hold my upper body straight, stomach wanted to vomit, head was pounding, hips were locking, quads burning, calves cramping, ankles were tired of shitty rutted tractor tracks and the balls of my feet needed replacing.....but no blisters, wahoo, I must fit shoes good haha
7Th 65.5Miles
Lap11:
First signs of my mind giving up. I was in 7Th but the guys ahead of me were way ahead and the guys behind me were very close, that sucked. So far I had gone to the brink of destruction and pulled myself out more times then in any other race. Mentally I was working harder then I had ever before and for the longest period of time. I had a bad combination of mental and physical depletion. I needed help
7Th 72.05miles
Lap12:
Final lap of 'running'. I decided to chug my way through this lap and then decide to bring in the support. I lost a position on this lap for the first time in the entire race
8Th 78.6mile (triple marathon)
Lap13:
Reinforcements arrived in the form of my Stepdad, the dog and Justin who I had met at the start. Justin had blew himself out early and had to have a long sleep but he was up and ready to join me through my last few hours. Running had virtually finished but I knew that if I constantly moved forward then I would make ground on people. Its this point in a 24hour race that people's pace dramatically drops. If I'm walking then i have to walk the fastest. Still 8Th though, damn it!
8Th 85.15miles
Lap14:
Another lap struggled through, couldn't eat, couldn't drink, couldn't run. Only Clive kept me going and the enjoyment of watching Kostas sprinting laps to try and catch the leader. Go on, Kostas you crazy bastard! We've gained a place!
7Th 91.7miles
Lap15:
This was only a half lap to do what I could before the 24hour cut-off. I even ran a little with Kostas (about 800metres) before I slowed to a walk again. He said 'come on my friend, stay with me until the finish' I said 'no my friend, I have been finished for hours'. But I did sneak in one more place. BOOM!
6Th 94.2miles
F.I.N.I.S.H.E.D.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In summery, I have never had to dig so deep in my entire life. All my mental strength was summoned to keep me moving at lap 4. I ended up doing an extra 10 and a half laps after it. Conditions sucked but damn I must be so much stronger for getting through this when it was all too easy to call it quits at various points of the race. A top10 finish was guaranteed from about lap 11 or 12 but and I almost accepted that. I'm glad I didn't because 6Th place is my best finish.

All I need to do now is get myself fit, iron out my left lateral leg issues and a top 5 somewhere will be right around the corner. Still awaiting confirmation of results but here is what I do know:
=1. Kostas 113.75miles
=1. Kenneth 113.75miles
2. John 105miles
5. ??? 96.7miles
6. Me 94.2miles

I will update this as I get official results.

N.B. well done Justin for hitting 52.4miles in his first ever long run. Good job mate and I hope I see yo at a venue before next years 24hour race. I wont be running but I plan to crew for my step dad who will tear up the course.

Fat-Loading and the FITT Principles for Taper Training

I’m a week away from the challenge Hub 24hour endurance race and my taper is in full swing. Every Endurance athlete will have a slightly unique training regime in the 7-21 days prior to an event but the fundamentals are always the same- drop the training intensity and allow your body time to recover. It has also become pretty common knowledge that you should not completely stop training nor change too much. I (as well as many others) tend to follow the FITT training principles in order to slowly drop the demand of training without taking the body out of its naturally rhythm. FITT stands for Frequency, Intensity, Type and Time. For example you should be looking to change just 1 of these 4 principles per week of your taper. If you have a two week taper, I generally do 12 days*, you will adjust one in the first week then add another in the second. I would always keep the Frequency the same as it keeps that rhythm but what you change between the other 3 will be event and individual dependant. For my 24hour race I have dropped TIME in the first week, which translates to the amount of mileage I’m doing in each session. The second week I am dropping the INTENSITY along with the TIME- this now means I am running at a slower speed and at a lower heart rate for the same sessions. I have personally toyed with dropping different things and sometimes everything as a test to see how much benefit my body would get from more rest, I have generally found that I feel lethargic and sluggish at the start of a race after periods of complete rest.
* Lots of interesting taper research in ‘the medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise Journal 2003’
These thoughts and ideas on Taper training have generally been exhausted on internet forums, magazines and journals but the effects on Nutrition Taper tend to be a little more subjective. The Carbo-load conversation is now ridiculously boring yet nobody has decided exactly how long it should be, specific percentages on carb intake to total calories and whether or not you should still be Carbo-loading in the final 24hours before competition ('running light' theory). I have even seen an article suggesting that we ONLY need to carbo-load 24hours before competition and no more (http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/nutrition/ask-the-experts-carbo-loading-and-race-day-nutrition-with-nick-morgan/5078.html)
All the research leads to more questions than answers. But questions are good as ultimately they will drive human performance forward as we seek the solution. And that leads me to Fat-Loading, yup, Fat-Loading. There is some research out but there is way less questions and even less answers. This all comes down to the fact that fat-loading is a concept only ever adopted by ultra distance athletes and there is way less ultra distance athletes than in most other sports. And when I say ultra distance I don’t mean 50mile runners or Ironman triathletes, Im talking about 100mile+ runners and double+ Ironman athletes- proper underground sports performers.
For the 24hour challenge I am once again fat-loading (5days) followed by carbo-loading (3days). Before I continue I am not writing this to say I am right, I am just putting some ideas across about what works for me and to give the less discussed fat-load concept some air time.
So why I fat-load:
The most basic answer is that carbohydrates only provide 4-4.5kcal per gram as opposed to the 8-9kcal provided by fat. During sports performance it is widely reported that we can only consume approximately 300kcals per hour (weight, intensity, temperature and person dependant). When we will be burning in excess of 700kcal per hour it becomes very apparent that we will not have enough glycogen/carbohydrate storage capacity to fuel performance for much more than 3 hours. At this point we either need help from the calories we consume (which will not be enough), from fat oxidation or from protein synthesis. If it comes from protein synthesis within the muscles than this will lead to muscle atrophy. So the ideal solution is fat oxidation, problem number 1......nearly all successful ultra endurance athletes have a body fat percentage under 10. That is not a lot of fat, hence a small increase in the fat consumed before competition can become very useful after 4+hours of competition (especially 24hours!).
Several other methods of increasing fat oxidation have been used such as drugs like heparin and other dangerous methods like the intravenous infusion of fat. But it wasn’t until the arrival of positive studies on medium chain triglycerides that fat-loading became popular use by ultra endurance athletes. In scientific terms-
"The depletion or reduction of bodily carbohydrate reserves is associated with fatigue during endurance exercise. Various carbohydrate supplementation and exercise regimens have been used experimentally to increase carbohydrate reserves before exercise or to maintain the availability of carbohydrate for oxidation during exercise. On the other hand, the improved endurance capability observed after aerobic training has been attributed to an increased oxidation of fat relative to carbohydrate; this carbohydrate sparing presumably delays the point at which reduced carbohydrate reserves cause fatigue. This effect has led to the suggestion that a greater availability of fat during exercise can improve performance via the carbohydrate-sparing effect of "fat loading." Sherman WV and Leenders N. Fat-loading: the next magic Bullet? (International Journal of Sports Nutrition)

The key summerised advantages of fat-loading are all related to delayed onset of fatigue, slower muscle atrophy and better recovery. I could write about this for page after page but I would get ridiculously boring, actually saying ridiculous reminds me of something....what is it with my North American friends all saying ‘ridonkulous’ lately? It is definitely not a real word, it’s a stupid word and it should not replace ridiculous. Have I missed something here? Who started it?

Anyway, if you have any more interest in the fat-load concept then leave a comment with any questions and I can send you some links if I can’t answer them myself. I also encourage you to read chapter 13 in The complete book of SPORTS NUTRITION: A practical guide to eating for Sport by Shelly Meltzer and Cecily Fuller.

Below I have left an exert of what a typical fat-load day looks like for me. You will notice that the fat content is not outrageously high as I don’t want to put on weight. Simply put all it needs is a few grams removed from protein and carbs and added to the fats ratio. This type of diet also makes it very easy to quickly transition into a high carb diet again. Once more any questions please ask- I hope you find this useful

FAT LOADING
BREAKFAST Carbs(g) Protein(g) Fat(g)
Porridge,Milk 75 25 45
Banana 15 0 0
Mixed seeds and Nuts 0 5 15
BREAKFAST TOTALS 90 30 60

LUNCH
3x Pitta Bread w/peanut butter 65 15 15
½ avocado 0 0 10
Banana 15 0 0
LUNCH TOTALS 80 15 25

DINNER
250g Chicken 0 70 15
Cup of rice/pasta 30 5 0
Salad&veg 0 0 0
4 rashers bacon 0 0 20
Mixed nuts and seeds 15 5 5
DINNER TOTALS 45 80 40

SNACKS
100g chocolate 60 10 30
Peanuts and almonds 20 30 90
Raisins 15 0 0
SNACK TOTALS 95 40 120

DAILY TOTAL 310 165 245

The London Ultra Race Report

Well kinda....The 50k London Ultra was just over a week ago so I have decided to log a quick recap, mainly because I barely remember what happened yesterday!
The back drop is the biggest ultra (by number of participants only) that England has to offer with nearly 300 participants- kinda puts the 36,000 london marathon runners into perspective! The route follows 50km of the capital ring route and is generally pan flat (about 1000ft of climb) the only banana slip being the dirty muddy slippy sections near harrow that reaped havoc amongst the 90% of people, including my numb nuts self, in road shoes. Although it did provide some unexpected entertainment when people started to slip and slide down hills and cantered fields. Anyway, end result was a 4:51 for about 29th I think. The day certainly served its purpose, I got to run and chat with some familiar faces which included a conversation about me believing a was a walrus in a previous life- guess that might have something to do with the two energy gels and a flapjack I ate as my entire race nutrition. Dont learn from this.

Off the race subject, my training has been poor through February which is part to work schedules, a dicky knee and moving in with a drunken Australian but on a positive note I have raced 96miles since the new year as opposed to the 31miles I had raced at this point last year. Next race looks like the 24hour challenge in May so until then I am hoping for some pretty solid training weeks.

I have some gear reviews ready to throw up soon that I have tested for a couple of outlets and I have a training plan being put onto www.nwconditioning.com which is a strength and conditioning site based at elite performance. It has lots of research based articles, definitely worth a read!

Finally, an added bonus to the london 50k was seeing Jo Kilkenny who kindly volunteered at aid station 4 and also popped up at the finish. We had a brief chat and she has crazy stuff planned this year. A 24 hour treadmill run in March, followed by a 24 hour swim in April I think. And that's all to prepare her for the epic Arch to Arc attempt later in the year which is basically a triathlon from Marble arch to Arc Du Triomphe (run to Dover, swim the channel and cycle to the arc!). Best of all she does this all for charity, check out her website for some inspirational material and to donate of course! www.jokilkenny.com (if any of the info is wrong I am sure Jo's website can rectify!)

Stay safe folks

ULTRArace 45mile race report

Not entirely sure where to begin with this but unlike the last race report this is largely positive! Saturday Morning I woke up still feeling the effects of the bug I picked up during the week. Hadn't been ill for over a year and sods law is I pick one up a few days before a race! Despite this, I was fairly chilled out about the day ahead and my only stressful decision was shoe choice! I went with Kinvaras, it may be a road shoe but it has great wet mud grip and I decided today is the day I test my feet with a long minimalist shoe run (I will wade into the minimalist shoe debate another day but essentially i'm neither for or against- do what works for you!). Back to the race, the race was just a way of kick starting my year and mainly being used for training purposes, so the race plan? Cruise out the blocks (metaphorically speaking), take it east to halfway point whilst enjoying some good views and fellow outdoor enthusiasts company. The Outcome? Perfect!
0-15Miles:
Race started 8am sharp after a 7am sign up. Apart from the cough, I felt good from the get go. Quickly attempted to settle into a 9:30 per mile pace. I was looking for an overall race pace of 9:36 so coming out a little quicker is necessary due to potential stops etc. Pace felt extremely comfortable all the way to the first checkpoint at 9miles. After a quick mental evaluation I decided I would attempt to hold this pace for the entire race. I noticed a lot of people had been going out hard, probably being dragged along by the epic pace of a former Swedish record holder and a former German record holder. It was certainly evident that this was not training for a lot of people and fast times were on the agenda. I decided to stay patient, run my own race and let them go.
16-30miles:
Cough started to ease which helped to keep me relaxed and pace still had not waned. Biggest issue here was to stop myslef from getting carried away and speed up, I knew if I kept this pace I would slowly start to reel people in. Mile 22 represented my longest run since the 60mile CCER in October. My training had been geared towards speedwork through the winter so my body was not fully trained for a 45mile run! Due to this I kept on top of my fluid and calorie intake, this ensured I put my body in the best position to perform. It was approx the half way point at which I started to catch A LOT of front runners. My pace was still bang on but clearly the early fast pace was telling for others. This was almost an enigma moment for me- usually I like to start hard and try to hold on but everytime someone passes you late in a race it can be quite demoralising, this time round I found that every time I passed someone I would get a mini boost and more so the deeper into the race we got.
31-45 miles:
Holding the pace started to get tougher but as previously mentioned I was mentally prepared for this. In the days leading up to the race I used some imagery tactics (both during and after training runs) of how my body needs to be moving in order to run well (sounds very yoga I know!). I kept reminding myself that my footsteps should be light and quick, arms should be swinging smoothly and straight and my trunk should be kept high. It sounds quirky but practising these mantras certainly made it second nature on the day and undoubtedly aided my performance. Over the last 8km I reeled in and passed no less than 17 people (including a guy racing in Vibrams!). My final 5km split (25:11) was the fastest split of my whole race. A GOOD DAY!
In hindsight if I was racing then you could say that I paced my race terribly as I had so much in the tank at the finish line but training this was and im glad I ran it like I did. I will definitely be using all I have learned about pacing through out my races this year. My schedule is still in pencil (im a poet and I know it) but there will be at least 2 epic journeys. Im in Grand Union canal 145mile race in May should I choose to accept but Im also looking at a hefty performance over a 24hour time trail. I want to smash the 100mile mark but the one im looking at is May also so I cant do both. I'd also love to re-peak my training for a 100miler in the north downs come August- www.centurionrunning.com This race is organised by a fellow London Ultra Runner who has a great running CV including a Badwater finish! Finally I need to get my final 3qualifying points for Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc entry in 2012. This race is THE 100mile race to be at. Best competition, best scenery and best atmosphere in the world. If I can find a solid 50mile race to gain these points then I want to combine that with a 8 hour performance target. 8 hours for 50 miles over rugged hills will do me nicely!
Anyway, for now friends, thanks for reading and keep hitting the site! Gear reviews start with a Socks rant in two weeks time :-)