race to the stones 2019
Starting a blog as a place to write down things. Late to the game here I know!
Race to the stones 2019 was my 4th race and second ultra.
Summary/ lessons learnt
Pacing worked well. Not super fast for first half, but had energy to keep up pace in second half
Got hydration right
100km is hard on the ankles, no getting away from that. Maybe 100km a sensible distance limit. Even though had energy, not sure legs could get conditioned to more without serious high mileage training,
Ate a lot, possibly even too much, but energy levels fine all race
Mentally mainly positive whole way
Splitting into sections worked as strategy
Nice to chat to people, but music definitely helped in parts.
Very pleased all round with how it went. Awesome fun.
Time 15:06
Plan
Run at 07:30 per km (which seemed reasonable pace based on what we did last year, and given the terrain - not too fast, and probably sustainable all day)
stop for 10 minutes at each stop
stop for 40 minutes at basecamp at halfway
Added up to 14:30 for the 100k
not too hung up on overall time target, just one section at a time
Arrival
Intended to have a good hour at the start and do lots of stretches and warming up, but traffic getting onto site meant i had very little time. Quickly parked, sorted bag, and then time to get into race start area, missed the guided warmup bit. Did a few stretches, concerned about calves, which had been really tight for past couple of weeks. Had done plenty of stretching and foam roller-ing, but somehow struggled to loosen up calf muscles.
Leg 1
Took it pretty easy at the start, walking with long strides while most around me were jogging. This seemed like a sensible tactic, not running where i didn’t have to. Once the field had spread out a bit I started jogging along, and when my average pace had reached 07:30, slowed down and maintained that pace. I wanted to finish each leg of the race with exactly that average pace, even if that felt “too slow”. Walked up biggish hill, and ended up exactly on pace target. Calves not entirely comfortable, and didn’t feel i could have pushed it much faster, but wasn’t going to change strategy and go too fast anyway
At pitstop, stopped watch, put it onto charge and then took 10 minutes to pick up some snacks. Sticking very much to plan here - last year rushed through this stop so didn’t want to make the same mistake.
Ate: two slices left over pizza, one pain au chocolat, one Freddo, picked up a couple of cereal bars for the road.
Leg 2
Put some music on for this leg to give a deliberately different feel, so each leg would mentally seem like a separate run. A little bit quicker given that it was largely downhill, but resisted urge to go fast, calves still feeling a little tight anyway. Ended up just slightly faster than pace target (07:21 average).
Really starting to enjoy the run, and not at all thinking of the overall distance. Through the woods (Grims Ditch) enjoying music. Took out headphones and had a chat whenever I ended up with someone, but somehow in this leg ended up on my own for quite a bit. Fairly treacherous roots in the woods, saw a couple of people trip over. Glad to be under trees while it was sunny, and hoped it would cloud over by the time I was out from the cover.
Again, took pretty much exactly 10 minutes at pit stop. Had a few slices of pineapple. Changed socks, had put tape on feet as some kind of blister prevention but was starting to come off after 20km and couldn;t be bothered reapplying - think clean dry socks helped, didn’t get any blisters all day. Picked up a chicken caesar wrap sandwich to eat on the road.
Leg 3
Looks like easiest section on the route, pretty flat. Last year struggled on this bit, but it was hot and didn’t have any particular plan for pace, so probably trying too hard. Run along river nice this time. Classic rock soundtrack, but ended up talking to a few people.
Ate on the up hill sections, and finally got through the sandwich by the end. Didn’t feel like eating, but advice said that it gets harder to eat the further you run, so was pretty much forcing myself to eat. Figured undernourishment would be more of a problem, overeating would be hard to do.
Crossed paths with pink t shirt guy (never did get his name, we chatted a bit) for first time. By this point i was generally around the same people, back and forth, but he was a new face coming from behind quite a bit faster, he’d started on a later wave.
By now legs had loosened up and I felt comfortable running, really easy to go as fast as i wanted. Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ hit me on an uphill, so tempting to bounce along, but plodded the uphill as planned and kept pace to the 07:30 average overall.
Got into pitstop for 10 minute stop. By this point last year was pretty knackered, but all on plan this time and feeling fine - did have a year more training under my belt, and it was a lot less hot. Left pit stop before pink t-shirt guy, but i’d see him again.
Leg 4
Starts steep up hill and doesn’t really let up. Ended up running with someone about my pace, and he explained he was pacing by heart rate, aiming for 140bpm which he thought he could do all day. His pace seemed comfortable for me, so i stuck with him and talked about heart rates and races he’d done - he reckoned Yorkshire three peaks race would be easy if I could do 100km at this pace, which i didn’t really believe. Slowed when he slowed and just stayed with him for quite a while. Tunnel under the A34, then up hill into the next pitstop.
Hydration wise, filled 500ml bottle with flat coke at every stop and drank it all before next stop. Also had a 1l bottle in bag, which i needed to dip into a few times. Think 1.5 litres about right to carry, could have got away with 1 litre, but better safe than sorry. Needed a wee at every pit stop, so i think i got hydration correct.
Was a slow section - overall pace 08:02 /km but wasn’t stupid about it. Key point about resetting watch each pit stop was that i wouldn’t feel pressured to make up time I’d lost. After a pit stop, the previous bits were over, and all i had to do was the next leg.
Leg 5
Back on the right pace again. Comfortable running, gradual up hill, with a bit of walking. Again got overtaken by pink t shirt guy, and picked up the pace a bit while running with him into the basecamp.
Plan was for 40 mins at stop. Had spoken to a couple of people who thought a long stop was a waste of time, and were only stopping for 10 mins, but wasn’t going to get deflected from planning. Idea was to take a decent amount of time to sit down and cool down. Could have been more efficient, but successfully tuned out of race mode. Bought icecream, had 2 small plates of pasta. Spent most of the time barefoot, which was nice. Sat in a beanbag and a woman commented that my feet looked remarkably good, we talked about shoes.
Leg 6
No music for first leg after basecamp, wanted to take it easy and assess how i was feeling.
Steady, feeling fine. With about 1.5 km to go until next stop, realised i was behind time for this section, and felt i could increase pace, so i did, and got my average down to 07:37 for this leg as i pulled into stop.
Pit stop 6, more pineapple. Pink t-shirt guy arrived while i was eating. Had a bit of a stretch and realised i felt really good to go.
Leg 7
By this point all still going well, so pushed on in good spirits with 1980s pop playlist. About half way though this section, pink t shirt guy caught me again and we ran together for a while. After a bit started to get a little pain in soles of my feet, so eased off pace as a precaution. Still had plenty of energy, but no sense injuring myself with 30km to go.
Pit stop 7 - Took paracetamol for foot pain. Changed socks again. Dunked hat in water again. Stuck to 10 minute stop time and carried on. Pink t shirt guy - who was becoming a sort of benchmark - was at the stop before me when i arrived, but i left before him and wouldn’t see him again for rest of race. Not that i was being ultra competitive, I was running my own race, and obviously he was more or less on the same pace now, despite being faster catching me in the first half after his later start.
Leg 8
This seemed to be when strategy really paid off. I was basically overtaking everyone i came up to and they never caught me again. All the conservation of energy from taking it easy at the start, and keeping up with eating, I’m sure I’d just got that as good as I could have, partly through luck, partly by planning.
Lots of people I met were feeling miserable and drained by this point. A couple of people muttered that there was no chance of finishing by midnight, they were talking about 1am. I wasn’t thinking about the finish time, still working with my one section at a time mentality, but this seemed really negative. My approximate plan was for a 22:30 finish if all went perfectly, and i’d stuck to it close enough. A bit annoyed and a bit baffled by their negativity, I was feeling really good, feeling like this was just another 13km run.
My best section of the race by far. Thankfully did meet a couple of more cheery people as well. One person I overtook remarked that I looked so fresh he had to check I really had a race number. Enjoying the race so much at this point.
Pit stop 8 - poured water over my head and arms to cool down a bit. Had a quick drink, and ran on. 5 minute pit stop, didn’t see any need to stop any longer. Sent quick messages to Clare and Lu, feeling good.
Leg 9
Basically flew out of the pit, and immediately streaked past a bunch of people. Decided to listen to an upbeat playlist of Rancid songs, to keep energy up, which was first change to strategy all day. Had planned for a heavy metal list for this section, figuring I’d be kind of angry with something (e.g. insects) by then. But was absolutely fine.
A fairly big hill, so walked, not being silly, but still catching people all the time and nobody overtaking me. At no point did I “hit the wall” or run out of energy.
Pit stop - toilet and then back out, no messing. Had water and food to spare. 2 minutes and back out
Leg 10
Still running for bits, and overtook a woman in tears, who was clearly in pain and really unhappy. Tried to say something kind, but she wasn’t in a mood to talk. A few minutes later she picked up the pace and stormed past me with amazing determination. Clearly limping, but faster than i felt like running. I was taking it easy ish, alternating running and walking. Foot hurt a bit, and ankles felt very unstable after running for 90km. As path got very rutted, and I had to get head-torch out as it went dark, I started to slow.
For the only time in the race, emotions dipped. I just couldn’t get my ankles to move quickly, I ended up on my own for a large section. Despite only being 8km from the finish, it was looking like it would take well over an hour of trudging along a horrible path. No music, needed to concentrate on the path. Glad this happened, as without a low point i don’t think it’d be so satisfying, and i might have thought i could or should have done more.
Eventually got caught by someone walking about my pace, and we talked for a while. As soon as I got to the flat road, I said, “I’ll try and run”, thinking I’d fail and my ankles would give way or something. Instead, I just ran, and felt fine, plenty of energy. For the first time all day, I checked and thought about the time, it was 22:50. Finishing before 23:00 seemed like an achievable milestone, my legs felt good, so I just went for it.
Pace 06:20/km for the last 2km. With a headtorch, in the dark, along unfamiliar roads, that’s pretty good. Ran round stones, overtook loads of people, apologising as i did so (had thought this was a horrible thing to do at last minute, but I’d spent an hour unable to run and now suddenly could again, so made the most of it).
Sprinted across finish line, got medal, sat down, couldn’t walk so well, legs started to seize up pretty much immediately. Ate burger, wobbly hobble to B&B.
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