Katrina and I have entered the Rouken Glen 10k next Thursday 12th June so I decided to run as hard as I could for 10k at lunch time today to see what sort of 10k shape I’m in.
I ran my normal Pollok Park Loop and pushed it hard right from the start. I was blowing hard from about a mile in and tried to keep the tempo up right through. I reckon I went through 10k in 43mins so that will give me a target to aim for next week.
My feet are completely fine now which considering how they looked just 10 days ago I’m very pleased with. I’ve always found that the fitter and better prepared I am the quicker I recover from a long ultra.
I always like to note down some lessons from each ultra I do so here are a few thoughts from the Hardmoors 110 in no particular order …
1. Preparation/Taper
I was really pleased with my preparation. I have been building up to this race since the end of November. I had a month build up to the HM 30 on New Year’s Day, then another build up to the HM 55 in March.
After that I had an easy 2 weeks before building up to the HM 110. The 2 recce with Dave T was a key block in the training and gave me lots of confidence and positive vibes about the course and how I was running.
My two week taper had gone well and I arrived at the start line feeling prepared and ready to go.
2. Pacing/HR
I decided to try a very different tactic in this race. I knew I wanted to reach Saltburn (60 miles) feeling very comfortable so I could enjoy the second half of the course. I really wanted to be able to finish strongly with a smile on my face.
To be able to do that I needed to start easy so I decided to run to a heart rate of 124 for the first 4-5 hours. It took a lot of discipline as many times I wanted to push on but I kept to my plan and I really feel it paid off.
I love to look at the split positions so volunteered to sort them out for Jon & Shirley. The Saltburn ones were soaked so couldn’t be read but the rest were fine and make for interesting reading!
61 runners started at Helmsley at 8.07am on Saturday morning. Here are my positions and split positions for each checkpoint …
I was really pleased with that because it shows I started steady and worked my way up the field. My best two splits were the last 2 which again shows that I achieved my goal of being able to finish strongly.
The one I’m most proud of is the last one because that was the only split where I was faster (by 6mins!!) than my friend Dave who finished 2nd overall!! I told Dave that if the race was twice as long I would have caught him!!!
So I feel really happy with my pacing overall. I never went through a really bad patch and felt I was consistent throughout.
3. Nutrition
A key factor in these long ultras is getting your food and drink right and I feel I just about got it right this time. I ate most of what I had planned to eat and a bit more at some of the excellent checkpoints.
Here is a summary of what I ate and drank (as far as I can remember!) …
I think that’s about it! Maybe a few jelly babies as well. I never felt that I ran of energy so I must have been getting enough fuel on board. It wasn’t very hot so that helped with the fluid intake.
4. Kit
All my kit is tried and tested and didn’t let me down in this race. I wore the same Hoka Stinson Evo and Drymax socks for the whole race. Same with the shorts and Skins base layer shorts. I changed my top once at Saltburn. I had planned to change into a short sleeved top at various checkpoints but it never felt warm enough.
I wore my OMM jacket a few times especially through the night. My Petzl head torch worked well though it wasn’t as dark dark for as long as I expected.
My North Face Evo rucksack was very comfy and I hardly had to go inside it which saved time.
5. Dealing with low points
I think everyone goes through some low points in a race that takes almost 28hrs and a key thing is how you deal with them. If you allow a low point to linger and take over it can result in a dnf.
I went into this race with a very positive attitude based on my training and the recce runs I’d done. I knew the course. I had all my mini-splits sorted so I had a good idea of what I was going to face on each leg.
I was determined to have a race and time that I could be proud of and put to bed my 31hrs 10mins from 2009!
I would say I had three low points that I had to deal with …
6. Overall attitude
In conclusion I would say that my overall attitude really helped me. I wanted to enjoy this race, do the best I could and finish feeling strong. I felt I did achieved that and I’m very happy with my time of 27hrs 58mins 10secs.
My gold goal was sub 27hrs but I always felt that was at the upper end of my ability! To run sub 27hrs everything including the weather would have to be right. I was happy that I got most things that I could control right. Things like the weather were out of my control but I was happy with the way I dealt with it.
So overall I feel that this ultra is in my top 5, even top 3 !!