North Downs Way 50 2016 - VLOG Special

This weekend was the North Downs Way 50.  Coming 2 weeks after the disaster I call the Thames Path 100, it was always going to be a challenge.  Throw in a chesty cold the week before and we have the recipe for another disaster.

Luckily the ankle held up well enough, the cold only slowed me down and the day itself was quite lovely.  In fact, I even made a little video log:

Ah, fun times.

Made it to the end though, which I'm pleased about. Some serious mental fortitude required to keep going even though I knew it was going to be a very, very long day.  And it was very long - about 10 hours long.

I think I really rocked my Vegan Runners UK kit though:

Made it!

It is indeed better late than never!

South Downs Way 2015 Race Recap

What an amazing race!

This was my second time at the South Downs Way 50, with my previous run being my first ever 50 miler.  That race was a learning experience from start to finish, a run filled with comradeship, spectacular highs and lows, and a whole lot of pain.

Wiser (supposedly) and fitter (hopefully) I lined up at the start line in Worthing again, hopeful of beating my time from last year but unsure of what I was really capable of.

Looking fresh and hopeful in my distinctive canary yellow attire

The training block leading up to this race has been the most solid I've ever done. I had a run streak of 42 days without a break, all the time not feeling like I was pushing too hard or risking injury. I hit all the sessions my coach Emily from McMillan Running had laid out as well. While I was a little concerned with my lack of hill specific training, I was banking on the improvements to my aerobic system from this training period.

I will admit to having quite a few pre-race nerves, as I wasn't sure what sort of shape I was really in and whether I could better my time from last year. Needless to say, beating last year's time was not a problem.

And we are off, thumbs up at mile 0.1

On the day itself, the conditions were pretty good. The previous day had seen a little misty rain, leaving some of the trails a little wet and muddy, but nothing really bothersome. What was a bit of a pain was the very strong (30-40mph+) cross wind for much of the race, which occasionally turned into a head or tail wind. The head wind at about mile 35 bothered a lot of people, based on the finish times this year being a bit slower for most runners. Luckily it didn't bother me too much as I simply saw it as a challenge to manage, rather than let it get to me.

Looking good at mile 17

Feeling a little sore coming into mile 33

Without going into detail on the whole day, everything just clicked into place and I had a stellar race. My original goal was to simply better last year's time (around 8h 50m) and get as close to 8h as possible. But I just kept feeling good all day and was able to keep pushing all the way to the end, smashing my previous time by over an hour. 12th overall out of 311 finishers with a time of 7:44:04! Really pleased!

Coming into the finish loop, still feeling strong

The Good 

• Health. I attribute much of my positive mental and physical changes to my plant powered diet. It got me through some tough training and left me all the stronger and healthier for the race.
• Pacing. This was key. Thanks to my fitness, I was able to push a lot more on the long down-hills and flats. This really brought my average down and made the most difference. It was also a very even split, with only a slight slow-down through the duration of the race. 
• Nutrition. I went with GU gels and Nakd bars (a type of raw fruit bar) the whole day. I didn't feel like anything else and it kept me strong throughout. 
• Hydration. Zero problems drinking. Just plain water, but it did the trick and had no worries at all. 
• Fitness. Clearly my fitness improved and I felt much stronger throughout. While I was tired and sore near the end, it wasn't to an extreme. 
• Mental. I was ready for any demons to come visiting, which they did briefly. I gave them a stern talking to and they were banished, never to return. 
• Training. Everything went well, no injuries and lots of improvements.

The Bad

• The wind on top of the ridge line was nasty...

The Ugly

• Nothing! 

Final Thoughts

I'd like to thank my #1 supporter and crew Julie, for being there the whole way through. Looking forward to Julie's cheers (and extra food) was something that helped me push harder between aid stations.

Another big thank-you goes out to Coach Emily for bringing me so far through training. The progression from last year is nothing short of phenomenal and I can't wait to see where my training takes me next.

12th overall and a giant PB. Plant Power!

On Dropping

Yesterday I dropped out at mile 58 of the Thames Path 100 mile run. I've had had a day to reflect on why I dropped out and here are my thoughts thus far...

I started the day feeling pretty good. I'd slept poorly the night before due to nerves, but that is nothing new to most people. My training since the South Downs Way 50 miler 4 weeks earlier had been okay. I've found it hard to get the motivation up to get out the door and everything was feeling really mechanical.  But no injuries or anything coming into the race.  The weather was just about damned perfect with blue skies and 16 degrees predicted. So everything was looking up from the start.

Also I had the lovely Julie to keep me company at various points throughout the day.  She was the best crew I could ask for, always cheery and ready to help with food, water, salt or hugs.  I especially liked the hugs :) 

The first 11 miles was fairly breezy, with no issues and reasonably high spirits.  On reflection I didn't really feel "in the zone" at all, which should have been a sign that I wasn't mentally in the game. Also, I didn't really feel like talking to people, which is odd as ultras are all about the social connection and the chatting to people as you go.  But things were still looking pretty good.

By aid station 2 at 22 miles I was starting to feel a bit rough.  This isn't entirely unexpected as I always feel a bit of a hump at the 20 mile mark, which coincides with the hard part of a marathon.  It was here that I had an inkling that it was going to be a challenging day.

Beautiful scenery all along the Thames Path

Moving on through the aid stations I was feeling worse and worse. Nothing catastrophic like a ruptured tendon, but a general all-body ache that by about mile 40, made any type of running to be a challenge.  No hills, no excuse to walk, but I just couldn't motivate my legs to keep any type of pace. It was something I couldn't quite understand and the walking bugged me more than it should have.  It made me think of the run not taking 18 hours, but 20, 24 or worse.

By mile 51 I was pretty darn tired and not in a happy place.  But here I had my secret weapon in the form of Raf, my pacer for the next 20 miles.  I was hoping this would keep me focused and motivated to just make it through to mile 70.  From there it would just be little more than a marathon to get to the finish.  Nothing really!

It is all in the mind...

Sadly I just lost it around here and couldn't carry on.  Sure there were physical aspects (which I'll mention later) but ultimately I couldn't bare to consider being out for another 10, 12, 14+ hours for the final 42 miles. Something in my head just went "this isn't worth it" and from that point it was a losing battle. What I realise now is that I didn't have the mental framework to carry on through suffering for the rest of the race.

So I dropped at the aid station at mile 58. Very disappointing, not the least for poor Raf who only got to run 7 of his 19 miles.  He was awesome about everything, but I could tell he was frustrated.

On a side note, the aid station at mile 58 had a special vegan treats table.  There were all sorts of vegan goodies such as vegan jelly beans, pumpkin hummus, vegan wraps, soup.  I thought this was brilliant and I made sure to have my fair share while waiting for Julie to come pick me up.  A silver lining in an otherwise dark cloud :)

Coming into Henley at mile 51

Dropping...

What this has helped me realise is whereas some people have an innate ability to push on, I always hold a little back, afraid of feeling too much pain and suffering. My experience with really long runs is limited, with my 3 longest being - my 5 hour 52k training run, the SDW50 and now the TP100. In these I've not properly learnt the trick of letting the physical pain go and to just keep pressing on, one step at a time. This, more than anything, is the aspect I need to address if I decide to take on another 100 miler. Thinking about it, it is probably limiting my potential at all distances from 5k upwards.  If I'm holding something back to protect myself, I'll never break through that self imposed barrier and see what I'm truly capable of.

On the physical side, it was a rough day, but nothing game wrecking. My shoes weren't cut out for the terrain and gave me blisters (which didn't show on my 30k long run). My hip gave me some issues, but is fine today.  My left knee is very painful today, as is my left foot. Likely an imbalance related to the underdeveloped medial glute the physio gave me exercises to strengthen a couple of weeks ago. But again, nothing that would have stopped me carrying on.

On somewhat weird physical issue was I was getting really bad shivers at the aid station at mile 51. They were seriously wracking my body and I needed an emergency blanked to keep me warm enough to sit and eat some food. It was like hypothermia, but it wasn't actually that cold. I had the same issue after my first marathon, but hasn't bothered me since until now. I will have to do some further research on this one.

Today I think to myself "only 42 miles to go, you had time to walk it all!" while last night I couldn't even think of walking all that way. So disappointment is mixed in with everything, but I know at the time it was all I could give (mentally in any case) on the day.