I’m indulging myself here again by blogging about something
not on the list. Regular readers may recall a blog entry from this time last
year (Lakeland 50 - to DNS or to DNF) about an aborted attempt to complete the
Lakeland 50 that ended with a torn calf muscle and some hard lessons learned. I
wrote in that post, and will repeat here, that as this event is definitely out
of the comfort zone it qualifies for a blog post.
The Lakeland 50 is an Ultra Marathon held on the last
weekend of July each year in the Lake District along with it’s sister race the
Lakeland 100. The course runs from Dalemain in the North lakes down to
Coniston. As the name suggests it is 50 miles long with the added bonus of ten
thousand feet of assent/decent (that’s two and half Ben Nevises or two thirds
of a Mont Blanc in mountain terms), you get twenty four hours to complete the
course which when you work it out is quite generous provided you can just keep
moving and do without sleep. There’s more on both races here…….. http://www.lakeland100.com/the-lakeland-50
.
I’ve completed the course a couple of times before, each
time in about 17 hours, a perfectly respectable time but since my first go I’ve
really wanted to finish in under 15 and then I can move on to a different
challenge. My last attempt ended badly – I tore my calf muscle and withdrew
after 4 miles – the truth is that I shouldn’t have been running anyway (I knew
there was a problem with my calf) but my ego took a bit of a blow and it then
took 4 months and a lot of physio work to get running again. Despite the
disappointment I knew I had to come back for another attempt so I signed up as
soon as entries were open on September 1st – my friend Scott had
signed up again to and as my recovery progressed we talked about this year’s
race and times/targets, easy to do when the race is more than 6 months away.
Scott was keen to run together and try to go under 13 hours, my ambitions were
a little more modest but I told him I would see how the training went.
Lakeland 50 route
As 2014 started everything was going well – I did a couple
of trail marathons in reasonable times and I started to think that Scott’s 13
hour target wasn’t so mad after all. I’d improved my training regime, it now
included much more cross training and particularly more on strengthening my
calf muscles – this included some particularly painful lower limb circuits
classes at Newcastle Sports Injury Clinic that usually left me unable to work
down stairs the following day but it would all be worth it in the end.
The feel-good factor lasted till around mid-March when the
calf injury came back and was joined by a hamstring strain (both picked up on a
slow short jog with my running club – injuries can come out of nowhere!). I
lost another month of training and my weekly distances were way down for
another month after that – I had to tell Scott that running together was not an
option now and revised my time target back to 14-15 hours. The final blow came
when it turned out I needed minor surgery for an unrelated issue 8 weeks before
the race. My legs were unaffected but running was forbidden for two weeks while
I healed up – I’m not a superstitious person but I was beginning to think that
this race was just not meant to be this year – for a few days I was considering
pulling out altogether as it looked like I wouldn’t be able to complete the
distance, I just didn’t want to have the same disappointment as last year. Thankfully
my mood picked up and I decided to go for it anyway and on the 25th of
July I set off for the lakes.
Registration takes place the night before the race. You go
along and have your race kit checked (all runners must carry a pack with spare
gear, survival blanket, hat, gloves, waterproofs, spare food, first aid kit,
map, compass, hydration tablets and water etc) depending on how much you’re
prepared to spend this can weigh up to 6kg and more when the weather is hot as
you need to take more water. Failure to have all the gear leads to immediate
disqualification and unsurprisingly the race organisers take this very
seriously. As part of the registration all runners are also weighed (slightly
embarrassingly your weight is then written on your race number for all to see!)
and we are given a timing chip which has to be dibbed into a reader at each
check point along the route. The hall where registration took place was packed
and we couldn’t help noticing that the competitors this year looked even more
wiry, athletic, experienced, well equipped than usual. As it turned out there
was a good reason for this as this year the race was the official UK athletics
national ultra running championship, most of the country’s elite ultra runners
were here hoping for a top ten placing and selection for the national team.
Suitably humbled by the company we were in me and Scott got through
registration and headed back to our digs to carb up on pasta and a couple of
beers, secure in the knowledge that we wouldn’t see much of the elite guys
except at the start line.
The morning of the race we fuelled up on porridge –
Saqwindar took a proof of life photo in case she needed to claim on Scott’s
life insurance and we made our way to the race safety briefing. Mark Laithwaite
(the race director) gave a mostly fun but occasionally stern briefing with the
main message being “this is a hard race and the weather forecast is for
temperatures in the high twenties with high humidity and no breeze, if you
haven’t made a plan B yet you have short time to make one, today is not a day
for records. You all signed up for this because you wanted a challenge so when
the heat gets to you and you are thinking of giving up, remember this is what
you signed up for!”. Briefing over we were bussed out to the start – there was
about an hour to wait before the 11:30 start time during which we could feel
the temperature steadily building and go to the loo three times (for non
runners – this sounds a bit weird but is an essential pre-race activity and
leads to some very long queues in front of the porta loos).
Saqwindar's proof of life photo
At 11:25 we were summoned into the starting pen, there was
music coming from the PA system. There were a few minutes to think about
everything that had happened in the year since I was last here on top of the
injuries there had been some big highs (new job) and some big lows (a breakup with my now ex-girlfriend
and other difficulties that I just don't want to post about here) – I always get a bit emotional
before races start and this was no exception. Then there was a ten second
countdown and we were off!
Leg 1 – Dalemain to Howtown (distance 11.7km [7.4miles] –
Ascent 294m [965 feet]) – temperature 25°C, humidity – 61%
and they're off!
The race starts with a lap of the Dalemain estate, mostly
undulating on good tracks – running felt comfortable but with two litres of
water my pack felt heavy, the heat was high but not awful though I could feel
the humidity and was sweating heavily straight away. With the first 4 mile loop
out of the way the track heads to Pooley Bridge and the runners start to spread
out. I got chatting with a chap I met at The Steyning Stinger earlier in the
year, I would keep bumping into him for the rest of the race. We jogged through
Pooley Bridge and there were lots of cheers from supporters. Once through the
track heads uphill for about a kilometre before hugging the contours along
Ullswater. On this section I was passed by Gemma Carter wearing a particularly
fetching bikini top/boy shorts combo but despite my best efforts I just
couldn’t keep up! – the track then headed downhill for a bit until we hit CP1 Howtown
– five minutes to grab a couple of bits of flapjack, re-fill the water bladder
in my pack and add hydration tablets (I’d drunk 2 litres already), and dib in to
register I’d got there.
Leg 2 – Howtown to Mardale Head (distance 15.2km [9.4miles] – Ascent 765m
[2510 feet]) – temperature 30°C, humidity 55%
Out of the Howtown checkpoint the track runs up a steep
south facing valley, the heat was really starting to build by this point, there
was no shade and no breeze. All along the way runners were stopping to either
soak hats in streams to try and cool down, or in many cases just shoving their
heads in. At the end of the valley the path gets even steeper and running is
impossible – the heat was horrendous and walking was hard enough. I just had to
focus on keeping the feet moving and not stopping, after what seemed like an
eternity I reached the summit at High Cop and could see the track dropping down
to Haweswater. As the track levelled out I could start to jog again……… then run……..
and then I was flying down the hill J.
The path eventually drops down to the lakeside and levels off – the heat had
built up again (we later found out it had hit 30 degrees at this point) and it
became an exercise in heat management, I could only run for a few minutes at a
time then had to walk and cool down for a bit, then run again. This kept up all
along the lakeside until at the south end I saw the sign below that showed I
was arriving at CP2.
The checkpoint was well stocked with flat coke (this is
nectar of the gods when you’re running!) and more flapjack. I took 5 minutes to
cool off in the shade, re-filled my empty water carrier and headed off again.
coming up the valley from CP1
Leg 3 – Maredale Head – Kentmere (distance 10.4km [6.5miles]
– Ascent 511m [1677 feet]) – temperature 26°, humidity 51%
The track out of Maredale heads straight up Gatesgarth Pass
– this is another very steep section and I had a chance to think about my pace.
I’d made better time than I was expecting and it looked like I would make
15hours comfortably so long as I kept the pace up. After the top of Gatesgarth
there is a long downhill section, a bit steep in places and very stony so you
definitely don’t want to fall here but it is runnable – the problem was that my
shoulder and back were starting to ache. This is one of the problems with
having to run with so much water, on the downhill sections your pack gets
bounced around and you get shaken to bits. As the track continued the pain got
worse and I had to stop and walk a couple of times, even when the track
levelled off I was in pain – I readjusted the straps and that did improve
things but it still wasn’t comfortable and my progress slowed as I headed in to
Kentmere. The heat had reduced a little but the humidity was still high and
this was continuing to sap energy levels.
The Kentmere CP is an important point on the 50 mile course
as you’re past halfway when you get here and it's a big morale boost – I’d got
here in 6 hours, again way sooner than I’d expected but there was still a long
way to go and I was well and truly knackered. I fuelled up on flat coke and
pasta (many people have described ultra races as merely eating competitions)
and re-filled the water carrier yet again. An attempt at using the loos here
yielded no results – sorry if this is too much information but running these
distances puts your digestive system under quite a lot of strain with all the
shaking about and no-one wants to have to do a Paula Radcliffe in public if it
can be avoided.
Leg 4 – Kentmere to Ambleside (distance 11.8km [7.3miles] –
Ascent 491m [1611 feet]) – temperature 22°C, humidity 65%
Coming out of the CP I started running/walking with a chap
I’d met on the Hardmoors 55 a couple of years ago. We got chatting about that
race and the freezing temperatures/headwinds/blizzards we’d had to run through,
we both agreed that we’d rather have freezing weather than the heat we were
having today. We were also both experiencing difficulties taking in calories
and suffering after effects from the last CP. My companion couldn’t stop
belching (too much flat coke drunk too fast) and I couldn’t stop farting, he
thought this was unfair as whilst I was gaining a small amount of forward
thrust from this he was experiencing the opposite, none of this seemed to
impress the couple of middle aged hikers we came across who seemed horrified by
the noises we were making. We made our noisy way up the Garburn pass together
and then parted company at the top, the track down to Troutbeck is a good
section so I wanted to make as quick progress as I could. The ache in my back
and shoulder had now become a sharp pain that was getting harder and harder to
ignore but I knew I had to make the most of the good sections and could let
this recover one the slower uphill parts. I got an unexpected boost when I saw
Mark Willet at Troutbeck and that gave me some added impetus to push on into
Ambleside. The town was packed as I ran through and got loads of cheers from
folk in pub gardens along the main road – couldn’t resist hamming it up a bit
and doing a Rocky running pose as I went through which seemed to go down well –
lots of the people I passed were shouting encouragement, by this point in the
race it really does give you a lift.
Gave myself 5 minutes to stop at the Ambleside CP, enough
time for more coke and to grab a sandwich – which for reasons I can’t properly
explain I waved at the cameraman waiting outside the CP – I think my head was
starting to go by this point.
Leg 5 – Ambleside to Chapel Stile (distance 9.0km [5.6miles]
– Ascent 234m [768 feet]) – temperature 20°C - raining
There was another chance to walk for a bit over the ridge to
Skelwith Bridge before getting on the path up to Langdale. I was struggling
more and more with downhill sections due to my back and my legs were gone but
then it started to rain and I started to cool off properly for the first time
during the race. I decided to walk for a bit more and did a bit of a self
diagnostic………
·
Feeling light headed – and sucrose tablets/energy
gels weren’t helping
·
Quads knackered
·
Right calf cramping a bit but ok
·
Blisters on centre of both feet
·
Stumbling a little, balance a bit wobbly
·
Back, left shoulder and ribs giving sharp pains
·
Still well hydrated
Not great but not desperate either – started jogging again
through Langdale village and into the CP and Chapel Style. For the first time I
didn’t need more water!
Leg 6 – Chapel Stile to Tilberthwaite (distance 10.6km
[6.5miles] – Ascent 387m [1270 feet])
Leaving the CP I had decided that I wasn’t running anymore –
I knew if I held a good walking pace I would make it to the finish well under
14 hours, exceeding my expectations for the race by a good margin. I was sore,
tired and I knew I wasn’t thinking straight – it was the time to activate the
race directors “plan B”. Another runner passed me and encouraged me to start
running again saying “if you pick up your pace you’ll be in before midnight” –
pah! I thought, but started running again anyway.
The light was starting to go as I jogged up the Langdale
Valley – not dark enough to get the head torch out but seeing the path was
getting harder. I really was struggling and more worrying I also started to see
things. This happens quite a lot to people doing 100 mile races due to the
sleep deprivation but is less common for distances under 50 miles. I suppose it
must have had something to do with the heat but suddenly I became convinced
that all the sheep I was running past were wearing mortarboards and were really
very angry with me. I knew this was all in my head and it wasn’t scary but it
was a very odd experience indeed. I just had to try not to look at them – other
objects seemed transformed to – a rock turned into a big black dog (Sirius
Black from Harry Potter movies). The hallucinations stopped as I got over the
pass at the end of the valley and jogged the last bit of flat track into
Tilberthwaite.
Final leg – Tilberthwaite – Coniston (distance 5.7km
[3.5miles] – Ascent 283m [928 feet]) – temperature 18°C, raining.
Tilberthwaite is only 3.5 miles from the finish once you’ve
got here you know you’ve effectively made it. There is a nasty final sting of a
hill as the path climbs nearly a thousand feet in the space of a mile and half
but you know this is the last steep bit and that helps.
Yet again I was thinking I would just walk this last bit,
even slowing the pace right down I knew I was going to be in in under 13 hours –
the target we’d set 6 months ago but then I got onto the final climb and I
thought no, balls to that, you might not get another chance to set this sort of
time so fucking make the most of it! I threw everything I had left at that
final climb. It was dark and there was no one within 400m of me either in front
or behind, the rain had come in and with my rubbish head torch I could only see
about 3 meters in front of me, I must have looked ridiculous slipping and
lurching up the hill but there was no-one there to see me. After a mile or so
the path levelled off and I got up to running again – all the aches and pains
faded into the background and I got the runners high that we all do this sort
of thing for. I remember thinking there is nowhere else I would rather be and
nothing else I would rather be doing than pounding along this path right now,
and best of all there are no other buggers around to spoil it for me! The
hallucinations came back along this section – this time the ground turned into
a sort of green mist up to knee height (a bit like a bad dry-ice special effect
on a 1970s horror movie), but at least there were no sheep that I could see.
There’s a steep section coming off the hill down into
Coniston that with a clearer head on I might have slowed for but I could almost
taste the finish line. I slipped and stumbled my way down the rocky track onto
the quarry road and all fatigue forgotten put the hammer down for the final
mile into town. There were a few folk about as I went past the pubs and there
were a few cheers – then the final left hand turn and as I had planned I made
aeroplanes for the last 50 meters. Dibbed in to the final CP and it was
over.
Race HQ - Recovery
Within 10 seconds of crossing the finish line my legs went.
Some very nice marshals helped me get into race HQ and I got a massive round of
applause when I got in. I was plonked down on a plastic chair while my timing
chip was removed and a printout was made of my overall timings – the marshals
were a little bit worried about me as so held me there for 20 minutes while I
was force fed energy drinks and crisps and Harribo (the later two mixed
together!?) – once may colour had returned they let me go and get some proper
food. I had a look at my print out and couldn’t believe my eyes – 11 hours 40
minutes and 53 seconds! And a top 100 position! I was absolutely over the moon.
printout of race splits
All finishers are given pasta at race HQ – it can be hard
forcing yourself to eat but it’s pretty important to get carbohydrates in your
system to help you recover. I had an added difficulty to go with the loss of appetite
as my hands were shaking pretty badly – my first spoonful of pasta was inadvertently
flung over the woman sat to my right the shakes were so bad but I got the rest
down without incident.
It turned out Scott was a little way behind me on the
course, he’d had big problems with the heat near the start and had had to slow
his pace a lot. (he finished in a very respectable 13 hours and ten minutes) While I was waiting I got chatting to two veteran runners, they
asked what my finishing time was and when I told them one replied “you have to
do the 100 next year, you’re done with the 50 now”. Bollocks! Was my first
thought but I smiled and said I would think about it. It’s a few days later,
and I have been thinking about it. The 100 is a big step up and there are other
100 miles races which are a lot easier (so I’m told) but well……….. a week ago I
never would have believed I could go under 12 hours (and have so much fun doing
it), maybe it is time to step it up again………
the following morning - very pleased with t-shirts and medals
official post race video........
