Well all of my training culminated in failure!
Obviously i hit a DNF. Missed the final checkpoint by 5 minutes and they wouldn’t let me continue on towards the finish. Annoying as I was making up time in the last few miles and was well on track to finish under the final cut off.
The first 15 miles were lovely. Mainly smooth dirt trails and i was making great time with an expected finish under 12 hours. Obviously i'd never continue at that pace, but i felt confident.
Here's a photo i sent the wife around 8 miles in, absolutely perfect conditions all round and i was loving it.
The hills were all in the middle and I really struggled on them. Obviously hard to replicate in the UK and where i'd done scrambles in the UK (such as up Phen y Ghent and some parts in the Lakes), they're always been quite short and then followed by runnable sections to allow recovery.
Whereas in Spain it was fairly relentless and just rock for multiple miles dropping up and down following the ridge line. This really impacted my stamina and i often stopped to recover. Absolutely wiped me out and then a lot of the terrain was very rocky even on the flatter sections so again struggled to run as again it’s not something I’m experienced with.
Some examples being a scramble up this scree slope
Followed by a climb up here
This brings you out on the left of the mountain. You then follow the ridgeline along the top to the right
At some points, they have ropes on ~8m climbs. Certainly not used to that!
There was a cut-off at the 48km mark and i worked out that was around 30 miles. I was at around 24 miles at this point and had just come down off the mountain onto lower level terrain around 2 mins/mile behind the required pace of 20 min/mile. I assumed it was unlikely i'd make the cut off, but hit a spur of motivation and really pushed on and made up the time and just about squeezed through.
From there i thought i would be ok, however i had no grace periods and when 1 mile took around 34 minutes up another scramble i was on a losing course as i'd struggle to make up the time to hit the next checkpoint. I walked for a while over some very rocky ground getting frustrated as my legs felt fine but i didn't want to risk turning my ankle being reckless on the terrain.
It was at this point i text the wife suggesting she meet me at the next town where the cut off was as i wasn't going to finish. This was what i was trying to run over
It eventually smoothed out and i made the decision to push on. I figured that hitting 14-15 min miles would only leave me 10 mins late at the cut off and hoped to be given some leniency. I made up that time well but sadly they were strict on cut-offs.
Annoying as i'd have then had just under 3hrs for the last 8 miles which would've only involved 2000ft ascent and on mainly smooth trails which i believe i'd have comfortably managed.
I ended with disappointment and some annoyance at the organisers for not letting me continue even if not well placed. The volunteers were excellent throughout and the event itself was excellent.
Strava Link for anyone interested
https://www.strava.com/activities/6814027485
So then over the last few days i managed to get some reflection.
Positives
I managed to run 39 miles covering 11000ft of ascent. In itself no small feat and a good achievement given my previous longest run was 28 miles and on canal tow path.
At the checkpoint my legs still felt good. I'd managed to run all the sections i felt able to run on, whereas even in previous marathons i'd walk a lot towards the end even on descents/flats
My ankle held up perfectly and no niggles
Energy levels were good. My previous longest outing was 8hours, so this was considerably longer and i coped well
Recovery was excellent. Felt ok the next day and managed a short run Monday to ease off.
I genuinely believe i'd finish the event if i did it again in a few weeks. Now i know what to expect i'd be much better prepared. I'll likely enter again next year as it's the 10th anniversary run.
Events/goals
Events/Challenges
1 - George Fisher round. Having looked at next challenges i think this matches my current levels/goals well. Will likely aim for it when weather is nice in April.
2 - Howgills marathon (May) - No set goal here beyond completing the run and enjoying the day.
3 - 3 Towers Ultra ~52 miles and 8000ft ascent (October) - As above, no set goal, beyond finishing the run and enjoying the day.
4 - Run the Lancaster Canal - This was suggested to me a few years back but never materialised, i quite like the idea of getting a train to Kendal and running back to Preston along the canal - One for summer
Goals
1 - As mentioned previously, i want to improve pace/bring down times. A sub 4hr marathon would be nice. I know this happens naturally but i'd like to be a little more aggressive with it so more speed based workouts, rather than just some strides at the end of a run once a week
2 - Work on more technical running. I'm naturally clumsy and have size 12 feet, so being agile and nimble on rocky/technical terrain is always a challenge. Would like to improve this area as it would help a lot
3 - Generally improve stamina on hills - Again i know this happens over time with training, but i fatigued massively on the steep climbs on Saturday. Being ~100kg i'm always going to suffer compared to lighter runners, but i think increasing quad/hamstring strength would help here.
Today i've been out for a fastish run. Generally still in Zone 3 so i'd say a tempo run. First mile was 8:42 and then i increased speed throughout so mile 2 was 8:28, mile 3 was 8:04 and the last 3/4 mile was 7:45. Felt like a really good session and will try and incorporate this into future weeks and see how much i can get this down.
