Kielder Ultra

About 3 weeks ago, I headed up North (further than I thought - when I entered I thought it was in the Lake District. It's really not!) to Kielder Forest to 50k version of the Kielder Ultra (there's an 80k and 100k on offer as well).  4.5 hours later I made it, sorted myself out a bed, caught up with Tracey Dean (racing to prove fitness for the GB Ultra-Trail team) and Forest Bethell (recovering from the 3 peaks the day before).  Some very tasty pasta and off to my bunk-house where I met Paul Holt, who was doing the 100, and another guy whose name escapes me that was doing his first ultra (the 50k).

A great nights sleep, woken briefly by Paul at 3 or 4am getting ready for his 5am start!  Ours was a relatively leisurely 9am start so I got a bit of a sleep in which was nice.  Breakfast, registration, chat with a few people on a wander down to the reservoir:

It was shaping up to be an excellent day for racing, sunny but still cool, just warm enough for a vest!  After a fairly brief briefing, we were off.  I had 2 goals for the race - 1) to average under 8 minutes/mile and 2) to get onto the podium. With that in mind, I figured I had to keep the 2 guys in front close.  One of them turned out be just be an excitable starter and dropped off fairly quickly, the other (Ben Matthews) I would run with for quite some time.  The first few miles were on forestry track/well maintained footpaths, and very easy running.  I was thinking, if this keeps up it's not going to be much fun, I'm not used to running flat stuff!  

It soon changed a little, with some nice singletrack, and I soon put a little distance on Ben.  It was soon over though, then back onto forestry track.  Ben soon caught me up again, and we ran together until checkpoint 1, 10 miles on or so, where we already had 7 or 8 minutes on 2nd.  

Ben was slightly faster than me out of the CP, then continued to pull away slowly, but managed to take a wrong turn, then we were back together again, neither of us letting the other out of sight.  I knew there was a big (relatively) climb coming up, so I pushed hard to try and drop him.  Which didn't happen, he stayed hard on my heels.  There was a good descent over uneven ground down to CP 2 at the dam, and I managed to put a bit of time on him there, but we were level again by the time we left.

Running across the dam was horrible, the air was thick with small flying insects, really gross.  Ben left me soon after that (turns out he's a pretty good marathoner) as the terrain suited him - back to well maintained, smooth undulating path.  I ran on, maintaining as good a pace as I could, coming in 2nd in 4:04 to Ben's 3:54, 3rd was John Croft in 4:19.

Tracey Dean managed to prove fitness, and bag 1st Female.

Was pleased with how I ran, although I do need to improve my long-distance stamina. I'm ok with races where I get a walking break up hill, not so much with constant fast(ish) running!

Sadly didn't get any more photos as we beat the photographers around the course!

Thanks TORQ for fuelling my race!

Grizedale Trail 13

As you can see from the title, this one is a little shorter than the usual effort.  Back near the start of January I picked up a niggle in left calf, which progressively got worse as I continued to train and race on it (who would have thought).  Dropped mileage, rested, it got slightly better, increased again it got worse.

Until yesterdays sports massage.  Turned out I had an extremely tight piriformis, which was sending my hamstring into spasm and doing weird things to my calf.  Enter one sharp elbow, some pained giggling (I'm a giggler when it starts really hurting on the massage bed) and it felt a whole lot better!  I had however sent a pleading email to the organiser to drop down from the 26 as I wasn't confident my calf would be either fixed or hold out (I had to maintain my unbeaten record against Charlie Sharpe!).

On to race day - an early start and a trip up with Andy Watson and Mat Needham (both from Erewash Valley RC - the club I belong to) arriving at 9:20 - just enough time to catch up with Ian MacNamee, Charlie Sharpe, Tracey Dean, John Danahay and Andy Horrabin and wish them luck on their race.  Registered (race bib number 1 - no pressure there then!) changed and back to the start line for some strange posing and then we were off.

I could tell I'd had too long off running and a sports massage, the first few miles felt slow and laboured, and I watched as the first 3 runners slowly pulled away from me.  It's a steady climb for the first 5 miles or so, breaking out to the highest point and a bit of a break from forestry tracks onto some open moorland with (normally) great views of Coniston.  Not today, although I did notice that I had ice on my fringe.  A bit cold out.

One short sharp climb later and I could tell my quads were shot from the previous days' massage - a bloke hammered past me and I was down to 5th.  I kept pace with him for a bit, but he was too strong on the climb.  A lovely bit of singletrack, then back onto the forestry trails again.  Mostly downhill from here, with a few climbs which felt like hell on my mashed quads.

Caught back up tp the bloke who passed me - looked like he was paying for hammering up the hills too fast - then focussed on getting to the end as fast as I could.  11 miles gone, 12 miles gone, 13 miles gone, 14 miles gone, surely the end must be close...and there it was 14.5 miles later, 1:39 in 4th place.  Not sure how far back from the podium I was, but 5th was 3 minutes behind me, and it was Andy Watson from EVRC having the run of his life.

A great day out and the first in my TORQ kit for this year - slightly disappointed I was off the podium, but happy with my performance (6:50/mile average pace) considering my lead up.

Thanks TORQ for my kit and nutrition!

The Lakeland 50

Well, that was warm.  And I possibly need to take more photos.  This is pretty photo-less.  On to Friday, July 25th!

We arrived in Coniston after a fairly round-about journey up - found out from Facebook that there was a fairly hefty queue into Ambleside, as the roads were getting repainted.  Cue a nice jaunt round the South, and up to Coniston from the opposite direction  Fun times.  Back to the Sun Inn, for the 5th time, and into the hugest and most amazing pub room ever, it was huge!

Unpacked, and then wandered down to catch up with people.  Saw the 100'ers off, then got ready for the Lakeland 1! I was allowed to run with Esmee this time, which was exciting.  Mel ran with Josie, all 4 of us had a great time, Josie is still obsessed with Mr Fox!  I registered a bit later on to avoid the crowd and met up with the others from the TORQ Performance Trail Team - Jon Hedger, Simon White and Tracy Dean. After a quick chat it was off home to bed.

Race morning - up and ready to go after a good nights sleep, so good that by the time I arrived at the event centre, the porridge and meusli was gone, so I had a bacon cob instead!  Tasty!  Chatted with a few other people, then one of the highlights of the weekend, the race brief double-act by Marc and Terry.  These are highly entertaining, and actually useful - the theme for this one was not to get hung up on meeting times and splits and embrace the challenge.  And how true it was...

Bus time, a quick bye to my wife and girls (ended up on the wrong side of the bus to wave!) then we were off to Dalemain.  The usual interminable wait, along with a quick chat to Nick Wishart, Simon Darmody and Marcos Scotney, then finally we were off.  For once, the leaders (Stuart Mills included) set a reasonably sensible pace - which, scarily, I couldn't quite keep with.  It was frustrating as my legs felt great, but on the slopes they just eased off.  After the fields, we were back on the road towards Dalemain and I needed a burp, and up came some of the bacon cob - oh dear. Swallow, keep moving.  Back past the start and off towards Pooley Bridge, just trying to relax and get some rhythm going. Through Pooley Bridge there was a lot more noise than previous years, which was a great boost, then on to the climb up to the Cockpit. This was the start of a recurring theme for the day - legs were dead on the climbs.  Lost some places, but then on the descent to Howtown, I gained them back.

Met James Adams (again) at the checkpoint, in and out as quickly as possible, then on to Fusedale and High Kop.  Going by the climb out of Pooley Bridge, I knew this was going to be grim, and it was!  In short order Simon Darmody trotted past me with another bloke, then another, then Jo Meek, then another...I think I dropped back to 14th or so by the time I go to the top.  I wasn't in a particularly happy place up there, but I thought back to Marcs' speech, and something else my wife told me - it's the British Champs, there's no expectation for me to be anywhere near the front.  So, doing what I usually do, I tried something new in a race, and this time it was music.

I think my run along Haweswater was the best I've had - and I've had a few.  Passed Simon Darmody and Damian Hall and cracked on towards Mardale Head checkpoint, arriving in 12th.  The Spartans were out in full force, and very efficient, I was in and out in no time - I arrived after Phillip Hayes (ran with him for quite a bit on the High Peak 40) and left before him.  He caught me up pretty quick though, as it was another climb - the massive effort up to Gatescarth Pass.  I'd resigned myself to being reasonably useless on the climbs, so I wasn't bothered when he caught me then passed me.  There was another catching as well, but I managed the top before him.  So, slow on the climbs, average on the flats, what left to do but smash the downs!  Nipped back past Phillip, had a great run to the bottom, then set in for the long drag down Sadgill.  A quick "hi" to Forest (Anthony) Bethell striking a magnificent pose on the bridge, then up and over to Kentmere Checkpoint.

Arrived in 11th, quick smoothie, then out in 9th.  I caught up to Matt Maynard and stayed reasonably close to him to the top (Garburn Pass).  Descent time!  Put a bit of a gap on him by the time I hit the bottom, then up the hill through Troutbeck and along the trail towards Ambleside.  I met Martin Cox along here, who was having achilles issues, which must have been gutting for him - he was in 2nd at Kentmere! A brief chat as I went past, then on toward Ambleside and my family!

I always enjoy the Ambleside stop, as I get to catch up with Mel and the girls, but this time I was also looking forward to getting a bit of salt in - my left calf was starting to feel a little "crampy" on the downs.  Hugs, hi's and a couple of cups of Coke (one with a sachet of salt in - tasty!), some encouragement by one of my heroes Ben Abdelnoor then off over the park, maintaining a good pace over the park where there were witnesses!  Arrived and left in 7th, with Matt Maynard 3 minutes behind.

Arriving at Ambleside, getting photobombed by my youngest Josie.  Photo from Anna Roberts.

Up Loughrigg Fell, still feeling slow on the up but everyone is getting slow by this stage, and the TORQ gels were still going down well - although burning a little where the vomit came up near the start.  Down the fell was great, and on the road toward Skelwith Bridge I caught and passed another L50 runner, but I didn'y know who as he had his number folded.  I made a concious effort to try and push the pace along towards Elterwater to try and get some time in between us.  Another quick Hi to Mel and the girls at Elterwater, with the news that Jo wasn't far ahead, then on towards Chapel Stile.  In 6th, with the other guy a couple of minutes back.

Out as soon as possible, then over the undulating section towards Blea Moss, the climb up to Blea Tarn was hard work!  Still trying to catch Jo, who I see in the distance every now and again, but the other guy isn't far behind, so I hammer down after the unmanned the checkpoint.  I push hard up the next climb, but the other guy is moving faster on the up, nearly catching me by the top of Cloce Hill Coppice, I have to hammer the descent again to gain some more space. Into Tilberthwaite Checkpoint, I can't see him behind me so I grab a couple of grapes, and head off up the steps asap, still in 6th!

I push as hard as I can up the quarry, but not hard enough - The guy behind catches me up on the long steady incline to the top.  I was fairly confident I could catch him on the downhill so I wasn't too concerned about keeping up with him.  The top, then the plan was to hammer the descent to catch Jo and the bloke just in front.  I smash the descent, going nearly as fast as I would have with fresh legs.  A quick Hi to James Harris as I nipped past, down to the last road section ready for the fast last mile to take me into 5th.

My legs, however, had other plans.  After that little section of indignation, my quads said enough, and I was reduced to a hobble down the rest of the hill.  I managed to get a bit of a trot on before I get to the pubs, and a reasonable pace on by the time anyone can see me.  In and done, 7th place in 8:45, just behind Jo Meek and the other bloke, who turned out to be Lee Kemp (he ran 6 minutes faster than me over the last section!).

My quads were brutalised, completely rock hard.  Had a catch-up with Kevin Hoult who had a cracking run at the 100, but was feeling as grim as me - I had to chill out under a tree for a bit!  Managed a few mouthfuls of pasta afterwards, but was in a fairly bad way.

Anyways, I'm going back again next year trying to better my time and result from 2012, and because I don't think I could imagine a year without this event!  It is the single best event I have ever done.

A massive thanks to TORQ for fuelling my run, I went through 16 gels without any issues with them, and the kit from Altura was great!

Looking forward to next year...

Eastridge Trail Half Marathon

A couple of months ago, I received an email about 2 races that TORQ were assisting with - TORQ Non-Stop and the Eastridge Trail Half Marathon.  As I am going to be in Italy for the Non-Stop, I though I might do the Half.  Checked the diary, nothing on that weekend, and it was 2 weeks after the UTPD, so I should at least be able to walk!

I drove over on the morning of the race, and it was quite warm in Shropshire.  Parked up, registered, and met up with Matt Hart (founder of TORQ), Jon Hedger and Tracy Dean (TORQ Performance Trail Team members).  It also gave me a chance to have a look at the course map where I was pleased to see it was almost all off-road.  Hard to see where they got the figure of 2300 feet of climb, but I found that out later!

Got myself ready, packed 3 TORQ gels in my back pocket as although I knew I would be fine on the flat, my "hill legs" hadn't quite recovered.  A slow jog to the start where there was an entertaining race briefing, a bit of info about a steep hill, and a chance to eye up the disturbingly narrow path up ahead.  Best I elbow a few people out of the road then...

At a shout of "GO", we were off and in fairly short order found myself stuck behind a couple of slower gentlemen who had somehow found their way in front of me.  Eventually go round them to see 1st, 2nd and 3rd legging off.  Head down then.  It was undulating for the first 2.5 miles, but managed to hold on to 5th until we came to the steep bit.  Lucky there was a rope to help get me up!  Legs not so happy on this, and the 2 people behind caught up then passed me.  Drink station up the top, down goes a gel then crack on.

Nice little descent, then on to the climb up to the high point.  It's effectively a 3 mile, 800 ft climb, so it's all runnable, but when you are pushing it, and you've left your climbing legs at home, it's hard work!  Poked in another TORQ gel at a water station for a pick me up! Made it to the high point, which is also the turn around point and just over half way, in 8th place just behind Jon Hedger.

A cracking 900 ft descent is next, running back past the rest of the runners (some a bit close!) followed by a cheeky 1 mile/400ft climb on dead quads.  Jon was still in sight so that kept me in focus.  Had my last gel just before the water station up the top, then set my mind to catching him.

A 300ft descent, then undulating/flattish the rest of the way in.  Jon looked like he had switched off, as I was gaining on him quite nicely!  made it to within 30 metres before he noticed I was there,then he picked up to around the same pace as me, but I was slightly stronger on the up.  I made it to within a few seconds by the end - if only it was a few hundred metres longer!

All in all, a cracking day out and a fantastic little race - well organised, and tough!  Definitely be back, next time on fresher legs!

Some photos from the day here

TORQ gels were perfect, as ever and the new TORQ kit was fantastic as well - looking forward to using it on the Lakeland 50!

Thanks TORQ for fuelling my race!

The UTPD!

The UTPD had been on my calendar since early January, but only really as a race I was using for my monthly long run.  As it wasn't a priority race, I hadn't really thought about it much.  Well, at all really.  So with about 4 days to go, I replaced my dead Hokas (upper came apart during the Highland Fling) with some Nike Terra Kigers (tried on the Wildhorse, the model down, thought it was ok.  The Kiger is another animal.  It's Awesome!).  2 days before, treated myself to some replacement race shorts (broke my last pair on the Old County Tops.).  The night before, packed.

As this race wasn't an "A" race for me, I went into it with a slightly different tactic from normal - I was going to try and run "within" myself, not push too early and try and finish strong.  Run my own race, not get pulled along at the start.

Drove to Whirlow Farm, race start, early Saturday morning, got registered, saw James Adams knocking about but was too tired to go and harass him, and I needed to sort my kit and dropbags out.  While I was doing this, I bumped into Lee Knight.  He is an absolute animal, right up there with the ridiculously famous Charlie Sharpe in terms of toughness - he was doing this as an easy race after the previous few weeks of winning the Hardmoors 160 and coming 2nd in the 3 Rings of Shap.  In between then and the start I spent most of the time chatting to him.  He was going steady, aiming for 11.5 hours. Caught up with Matt and Ellie from Summit Fever Media, and Sally Fawcett, the eventual ladies winner.  I also caught up with Ian Loombe, the race director, as I was one of the lucky ones selected to wear a tracker. Looked around, saw no-one I recognised, and thought I might have a chance at taking this race out.  Didn't change my plan though.

All too soon, we were off.  4 people charged off into the distance, but I headed out steady but soon Lee and I caught and passed everyone but one guy in a bright yellow t-shirt.  We kept out pace steady all the way up onto Houndskirk Moor, pulling slowly away from the people behind, and slowly losing ground to the guy in front.  We were running nice and easy, and it remained like that for most of the race.  We got to the first proper checkpoint at Moscar, where the first drop-bag station was.  Lee was working hard (understandable really, a few miles in the legs recently) but was keeping up.  The guy in front looked like he was coming back to us, no-one was visible behind, life was good.  A nice steady climb up onto the edge, then the bloke in front took off, he absolutely smashed the run along the edge and down to Ladybower Reservoir.

It was getting pretty warm, and I was pretty thankful I had opted for the 2-bottle approach, especially considering the scarcity of potable water around the peak district!  We hit the checkpoint down by the reservoir, and they had chunks of melon, grabbed a couple, they were amazing, nice and cool.  from there, it was a steady climb back up to the top of the edge then back to the Moscar checkpoint.  The climb back up was hard work as it was sheltered from the wind, and we cooked.  Once we started retracing our route back, we passed loads of people coming up which gave us a bit of a boost - we had been going 27 miles or so in some pretty warm weather!  Bloke in yellow shirt was nowhere in sight - one of the guys on the way down said 6 minutes in front.  Looking at the splits, pretty sure he lied.

In and out of Moscar checkpoint with a water bottle top up, then the long climb up to Stanage Edge again.  We ran most of it, then it was some great running along the top. I had to restrain myself along here, as I know this part of the course really well - it's near the start of the Nine Edges Endurance race, and I'm usually hammering it here.  My brain wanted me to do the same, and I started feeling like I could.  I made a compromise with myself, and picked it up a little.  Felt great!  Next checkpoint reached, then off the edge and heading for the next main checkpoint, where drop bag 2 was waiting for me.  To get there though, was a lot of road, and a lot of downhill pounding.

Refilled my TORQ gel and Energy supplies, topped my drink up and then it was a good slog up Win Hill.  it was actually not too bad as it gave my quads a chance to recover from the bashing they just received.  As a bonus, it was shaded too!  A nice run down from there to Hope Cross, and oo look, its that yellow t-shirt...nearly up at the Kinder Plateau!  Our hopes of him fading, crashing and burning were fast fading.  We took it steady up, and were informed he was about 20 minutes ahead.  Not too bad with well over 20 miles to go.  A brilliant run along the edge of the Plateau (love it up there), then a quad-busting descent down The Nab, and into Edale.  There was an optional drink station here, although the route was a few hundred metres longer, we took it.  Refilled our drink bottles and were told we were still 20 behind 1st, but also 20 up on 4th.

In hindsight, that was where we lost focus, where we started slipping backwards.  With about 20 miles to go, stuck in no man's land,  we thought we maintained our effort, but in reality we slowed.  Not much, but enough to make a big difference.  There was a long hard slog up from Edale to Hollins Cross (to make matters worse, I usually run it!) and then one of the best descents anywhere down to Castleton.  Steep, technical, fun.  A trot through Castleton, then up Cave Dale.  Lee felt it a bitup here, and dropped back a  bit.  It was like a furnace in there.  I felt alright though, and trotted on up.  Left at the top, along a bit then another long, road descent (there was a pattern forming here) into Bradwell.  Looking over, there was a bright yellow t-shirt just reaching the top of Bradwell Edge.  So no closer then!

Bradwell checkpoint, the 3rd drop bag checkpoint had an absolute stack of food waiting for us.  More importantly, the rest of my gels.  They also had satsumas.  I ate one.  I ate a few more.  They were like Ambrosia.  Then came something I'm not so proud of.  Lee and I had been craving coke for a bit.  Well, about 20 miles or so.  On the way out, there was Eric's coke, sitting against the side of the building.  I know it was Eric's, it had his name on it.  We looked left.  We looked right.  We grabbed it, and ambled off at top speed (relative) whilst chugging Eric down.  It was fantastic.

The track up to Bradwell Edge was dry for once, and not actually a bad climb, powered by a stolen coke.  Checked in, then back down to the river.  Down another road.  Blergh.  I love running by rivers, and I love running through trees.  There were both.  The pace suddenly picked up to below 8 minute miles, not bad for near 50 miles of slog.  Then came the climb back up to Carls Wark (only got slightly sidetracked twice, lost about 2 minutes) then as we were heading to the checkpoint,another runner comes trotting up.

Runners were differentiated between the 30 and 60 mile races by the colour of the bands above and below the number.  He had his folded over and pinned.  So we asked, "you in the 30?" "nope, the 60 mate."  Oh.  That's not good.

It's amazing how the mind can trick the body into feeling certain things.  Say, hunger when you are bored.  Or fatigue when you've been running for a bit.  The other amazing thing, happened right there.  All the fatigue washed away from my legs.  I felt as fresh as I had started.  The descent from the checkpoint down to Burbage was fantastic, I floated down it.  We started up the climb to Burbage Moor, Me, Lee and Mr 4th Place (Ian, it turns out). I took stock of my Gels - 2 left.  One caffiene, one not.  Right, bang the caffeine down, then force the pace.  Lee provides some sage advise - he's got to be hurting worse, he's been pushing to catch us - so I slow a little on the climb.  On top of the moor, we run.  I'm feeling great, no fatigue, but i know if I push too hard it will all come crashing down.

Onto Houndkirk Road, not far now, look behind, we are about 50m clear.  steep section so walk, last gel goes down.  All downhill from here.  Run faster.  Checkpoint 20, just over a mile, down the Limb Valley. Look behind, too many trees to tell.  He kept up on the descent to Burbage Brook, he could be anyway.  I'm feeling good, lets go!  Garmin says 7...6:45...6:30...6:15 a mile...feeling great, in the zone nearly there, 200m to go, last climb, start running up, look behind and I can see Lee not too far back, then behind him just empty track.  I ease off, jog.  Lee comes up, tells me to get a move on (actual words edited for younger viewers) so I head towards the finish.  I wait for him there to dib together, but he yells at me some more so I give and and hit the finish button, in 10:35.  Lee finishes just after.  Backstory time: about 10 miles in, Lee says to me :"I don't know the route, I'm using you for nav and for pacing, so if we get to the end together, you're dibbing first".  A man true to his word.  A few minutes later Ian comes in 4th, followed closely by Sally Fawcett, 1st lady and Ladies CR time.

The usual after match chat, discussion and things ensues, and I find out 1st place (9:45ish) was none other than a fit Ken Sutor.  No wonder he didn't come back!  Downed my TORQ recovery drink (strawberries and cream, Yum!) handed my tracker back in then made my way back home.

Things I learnt from the race:

Nike Terra Kigers are amazing.

My nutrition and hydration is spot on.

In order to race to the best of my ability, I need to start faster.  I'll attempt to explain...  Whatever pace I set out at, my body seems to use as a reference point for effort throughout the race.  If for example I set out at 8 minute miles, later in the race that effort level is the point where I start to feel like I'm maxing out.  However, if I set off at 7's, that is the effort level my body uses.  Obviously too much faster than that is somewhat self defeating as I end up burning out - see the Highland Fling, where most of the first 13 miles were spent well under 7 minute miles, and the big dip I had later on.  Do I think I would have challenged Ken if I had set out faster, to push myself?  Maybe, maybe not.  But to be honest I'm not too concerned about that as I had a fantastic time trotting around with Lee, and I'm back and focussed on the Lakeland 50 with everything ironed out and all of my plans sorted.

Plan is: Go out with the leaders (unless it's a Marcus Scotney-ish sub-20 minute first 4 mile loop!), stay with the leaders, and pop a gel every 30 minutes.  Simples!

Some stats from the race:

  TORQ Gels consumed: 22 (mixed flavours, approx 1 caffeine every 2 hours)
  TORQ Energy consumed:  6 bottles (mixed flavours)
  Water consumed:  6 bottles
  Stolen Coke consumed: 1/3 of a bottle (it works so much better when purloined!) - Cheers Eric!

I'd like to thank TORQ for fuelling me for the race.

Pictures by Summit Fever Media are here.

The Hoka Highland Fling

My first 'A' race of the year, and also my birthday present (thanks honey), was the Hoka Highland Fling.  This year was a bit of a recce-race, as traditionally the Fling had every 2 years been the Ultra Champs race (like last year), and I wanted to give it a good crack next year.

There has been a fair bit of lead-up to this race.  It came at the end of a solid 16-week training block (courtesy of Marc Laithwaite and The Endurance Coach) with no injuries, and only a minor amount of irregular training just after the Hardmoors 55, which took me about 3/4 weeks to fully recover from.  So I was feeling pretty good about it.

The weeks leading up to the race were spent looking at the route, and the splits deciding how many gels to take, how many dropbags to use and how to divide my nutrition between them.  I ended up settling for 18 TORQ gels (mixed flavours, enough for 9.5 hours, just in case) spread between the starting amount and 3 drop bags, with 3 top-ups of TORQ Energy (4 units in total, Lemon Lime to start, followed by Pink Grapefruit, Natural Orange and my fave Natural Blackcurrant).  Packed my bag up on the Thursday night,with everything just squeezing in as I was going carry-on only (seriously, £15 for 15 kg, each way.  No, just no.).  Finished up work Friday and headed to East Mids airport with Mel and the girls, quick drop-offs and goodbyes and very shortly on my way to Scotland for the first time.

The flight, landing, and bus ride in to Queens St Station in Glasgow was pretty uneventful.  At the station though, it got interesting.  So, I managed to buy a ticket to Milngavie, race start and where I was staying.  Could I find the train?  Could I heck.  So after half an hour of scouring timetables and looking around, I asked a bloke and he said it was leaving from platform 8.  In 2 minutes.  It's downstairs,  and it's the last one of the night.  Best I run then!  Jumped on just before it left, massively relieved.  Arrived at Milngavie, and walked in what I thought was the right direction for the Premier Inn, where I was staying,  Luckily, it was.  Registered, bags dumped then off to register at the other Premier Inn (with the Braeburn Pub attached).  Job done, ready to go.  Except breakfast didn't start until 7am, and the race started at 6.  Best I wander to Tesco then!  Picked up some natural yoghurt and oat thing, and some strawberry milk.  Job done, tea time!  Settled for for a Double Bacon Burger with Ultimate Fries!  A bit of soul searching over whether to go with a matching pint of Hobgoblin, but didn't.  This was, after all, my first "A" race of the year so played it safe with an OJ and lemonade.  Unlike the guys on the next table who were also racing, and quite hammered.

A bit of last minute organising everything in the right piles, all the right gels in all the right places, and sleep.  Until 4am, when my alarm went off so that I could eat the amazingly tasty breakfast.  Yeah, it was pretty grim.  Mostly edible though.  Everything sorted, wandered off the the start with all of the dropbags.  Massive credit to the Fling organisers, everything went amazingly well, like a well oiled machine, and so friendly and nice about everything,  Quick wee, brief Hi to Chris Baynham-Hughes, listened to the briefing (can't remember anything about that) then wandered off to the start and made my way to the front (cue funny looks and a pointed question about my projected finish time thanks to my extremely toned and athletic looks!  8 hours was the answer, a look of disbelief was what I got back.  Ha!).

Countdown, 3, 2, 1..go!  Out through the town, on to the trail, and settle in to a nice rhythm.  Catch up to the indomitable Charlie Sharpe, and have a brief chat to him and a mate of his (who asked me which part of South Africa I was from!  The cheek!).  They dropped off, quick head count and I was in 5th (I think).  The trail for the first 12 miles of so was mostly flat, and managed to maintain a steady sub-7 along there (except for the hilly bits) and got to the 1st checkpoint (Drymen, just over 12 miles) in 4th place in 1:24.After that is a decent climb up Conic Hill, slowed a little up there (got through the first 1/2 marathon in 1:32 btw) and dropped a place on the way up.  Although it's a long drawn out climb, the descent to the Loch is quite steep.  In a fell race, I'd batter down it, on the edge of control, but at the start of an ultra I like to take these a bit conservatively.  Then a bloke nips past me quite fast, so I thought I had better speed up a little!  Ran past a bloke who said the guy in front was 2nd Scot (it was a Scottish Ultra Champs Race), then read my race number and was "Ah, Matty, the Dark Horse".  Cheers Grant MacDonald, no pressure there then!

Down to the first Drop bag location (Balmaha, 20 miles in), where I found out just how efficient the Fling crew are. 20 metres out, they shouted my number out, by the time I was at the checkpoint my back was ready and open.  Without fail, all checkpoints.  Brilliant.  Refilled my drink bottle with a pre-mixed TORQ energy, stuffed more gels in and then back hot on the heels of that Scot.  Re-passed him over a small technical section, then we reached the flat and he took off.  Mostly because he was a sub-2:30 marathoner.  It was about here that I realised that I was a bit warm, and a bit dehydrated.  Actually, a lot dehydrated.  I started having a mild panic as I opted to skip the next drop bag location, and I wasn't going to get any liquid for another 14 miles!  and then I thought - "dur, they've got water there. Refill with that".  Seriously.  So I chugged happily away then sped up a little.  Along here I was passed by another couple of runners and slipped back a couple of places, but picked up a couple (the sub 2:30 runner, and a Nepalese bloke who was running with no water or food).  I ended up running with the Nepalese guy for a few miles.

Into Rowardennan (Mile 27), quick top-up with water, then back out, in 5th.  There's a long climb up out of that checkpoint, right on the edge of runnable, which is my weak point.  Passed here by another bloke, but me and the Nepalese guy kept each other going, plugging away and finally got to the top and was rewarded by a nice, long descent to recharge the legs.  I can't remember much else about this section, apart from drinking loads of water, refilling, and then looking around to find out I was running solo again.  Where did he go?  And when?  (Turns out he retired at the next checkpoint after pulling up with hamstring cramp.  As soon as he starts eating and drinking properly on the run, he'll be dangerous!)

Inversnaid.  Dropbag.  Back on the TORQ Energy drink! (Note for next time - pre-mixed drink at EVERY drop bag!) and a few more gels, then on to the bit I was waiting for - the "technical" section.  This was talked about in hushed tones on the Facebook page, and I couldn't wait.  I love rough ground, as I'm generally faster than most across it.  3 people caught me just before it, I perked up then dropped them within minutes. Loved it.  Finished all too soon though, then Charlie Sharpe and A.N. Other caught up just before the last drop-bag location.

Bein Glas Farm (42 miles)  In there together, Charlie and the other bloke a little quicker through (I had pre-mixed Natural Blackcurrant to decant into my bottle!) and set out to chase them.  Checked my gel stock (6), how far to go (12 miles) then decided.  A gel every 2 miles.  Rewards more often, what's not to like!  About a mile out of the checkpoint, with the bloke I didn't know moving really well, I was passed by the first relay runner, which spurred me on a bit, and noticed that I was catching Charlie.  We ran together, having a nice chat, up the hills all the way to Boggle Hole.  It was a surreal experience, because everyone we passed knew who Charlie was.  15-20 people, all cheering Charlie on, by name, even without his number visible.  Literally the most famous ultra runner in the UK.

Charlie stopped briefly at Boggle Hole (I am told this is actually Bogle Glen) as he had a friend waiting for him there.  I had a brief conundrum - do I wait and run in with him, or do I wobble off.  I wobbled off, then set about putting as much space between Charlie and I as possible (sorry mate).  Some cracking undulating trail, then a great descent down to the road.  Across the road, over the bridge and hello, there goes the relay runner and the 6th place runner. And oh my goodness (not my actual thought) does this road go all the way up that hill?   No?  It turns left?  Whew!  And chasing again, pulling 8 min miles on the flat bits, and feeling not too bad!  The relay runner was getting closer, I was knocking back gels, it was going well.  Back under the road, path alongside the river, run past a bloke who says:  just over a mile to go.  Check watch, 7:48.  I can make sub 8!  Yes!  Run faster!  Time tick by...must be close..no...no it's not.  He lied, cruel person.  2.5 miles.  Not just over a mile.  So with about 800m to go, I crashed.  Hard.  But then I heard the pipers, choked up a little, heard the finish crowd and forced myself to pick it up to a respectable pace through the crowd.

Finished, 7th place, 8:04:01.

Extremely pleased with my result, wouldn't have been possible without being fuelled by TORQ, 17 gels and 2L of TORQ energy, amazing stuff.

In for a shower (bonus about being near the front, no queues!), massage, some amazing tomato soup then a fantastic baked potato and a beer (nearly grabbed the 11% one - that would have been very brief, and very messy) and a chat with Charlie Sharpe (8th), Simon Darmody (10th) and Chris Baynham-Hughes (ran it 4 weeks or so after an ankle operation!).  It's amazing what friendships you strike up with people you see only a few times a year at random races!

On the first bus back with the intention of getting the pint of Hobgoblin I missed out on Friday night...failed, didn't leave the room.

All in all, a fantastic and really well organised race.  Would recommend it to anyone.

Some random thoughts

There's a little bit of everything in this, well everything except for a race report.

It's the Highland Fling in a couple of weeks, it will be my first time up in Scotland.  Should be fun.  I have my last long run on Sunday, going on a bit of a tour of Kinder with a mate, with a sneaky couple of descents/ascents along the way.  Quite looking forward to it!

Last weekend, in order to fit things in with family life, I swapped my Saturday and Sunday sessions around.  A nice 18 mile run with about 3000ft of climb on the Saturday, which was nice.  Steady pace, ran all the hills, got it done in about 2:50 which I was quite pleased about - especially as I had McDonalds earlier that day and suffered a bit energy-wise on the run (you think I would have learned after the first time.  Or the second.  Or the third...).  Sunday was an 800m time trial, followed by 3x 300m then 4x 100m.  I was a bit slow on the 800, and a little slow on the first 300, the rest were bang on.  Hard work though, not recommended that way round!

Tuesday I was back up in the Peak District, doing a couple of different things.  First up was a stop in at the Accelerate Performance Centre getting my running analysed.  Took about an hour, a couple of sessions filmed on a treadmill, feet getting manipulated, walking movement checked.  Turns out I'm not the most efficient runner in the world (which I knew), but now have a plan to correct things, like my overstriding,  my inflexible big toes (which my feet somehow weirdly roll around) and a few other bits and pieces.  It will take a while, but I'm confident it will help.

Tuesday afternoon, was another session with Summit Fever Media.  I always enjoy my sessions with Matt and Ellie, am looking forward to dragging Matt out on a run on the next one!  It was the second filmed interview out of 3 in the lead up to the Ultra Tour of the Peak District, and this one was on nutrition.  Which got me thinking about nutrition, mostly because I never really do.  I probably can't call myself a serious ultrarunner because I'm a) not allowed to grow a beard, b) don't obsess over a paleo/vegan/HFLC/Insert acronym here diet and c) have never had a Chia seed. (Actually c is a lie. I did try a bar that contained chia after a race.  I can, and frequently do eat anything and everything after a race. I couldn't even finish a mouthful.  I had to find somewhere discreet and remove it.  God it was grim.)  My philosophy is generally that I run a bit, so I can eat whatever.  I did make a bit of a change in that I swapped from cereal to greek yoghurt for breakfast, but that's about it.  Raceday, however, is set.  A gel every 30 minutes, and 500ml of carb drink ever 2 hours (more or less depending on heat).  TORQ, of course. I cycle the gel flavours to keep the taste buds interested, and I generally avoid any of the dreaded "flat spots" and things like that.  It works for me, and is the end result of quite a few years of trial, some massive errors and reading about what other people do.  Will I ever change my diet?  Maybe.  If I get to a point where it's the only thing to change to improve then I will.  Until then, no.  Will I change my raceday plan?  No.  No intention of going down the "real food" route.  My body uses carbs as fuel, and the best way to get that back in is gels.

So after that (and a very nice coffee,and some hilarious discussion on Linseed oil partway through), I went for a trot from Hope, Lose Hill, Mam Tor (got filmed running - possibly shambling, it was stupidly windy up top, could barely stand up!) then back again.  I also took some pics (below)

 

I do quite like the "dramatic" filter.

I also received the rest of my prize - a pair of Mammut running shorts and jacket.  In blue.  Bright blue.  Which coincidentally match the blue bits on my x-talons, and the blue of my Mizunos.  Both of which I wore - the x-talons for the run, the Mizunos for the drive home.  I must have looked a right plonker.  Thing is though, they are brilliant to run in, really comfy and functional.  Just have to be careful not to wear them at the same time!