Country to Capital 45 mile ultramarathon
This month I took my endurance journey further and completed a 45 mile (70k) ultra-marathon this post summarises my training, preparation and my experience of the event.
I had been training for this event for 3 months and put in some decent training runs up to 35KM, I was running/cycling up to 70KM some weeks and was still putting in 3-4 GYM sessions a week. I increased my calorie intake to around 3000 calories a day and made sure to spend plenty of time stretching and foam rolling to ensure sufficient recovery. Below is a typical training week, as you can see it was high mileage and also incorporated a large amount of gym week to insure I maintained upper body strength.
The long runs were the bread and butter training for the ultra, I used the same kit and nutrition strategy that I would on race day and mixed up the terrain with hills, trail, and road so my body was prepared for anything. I would also aim for my goal ultra-pace of 6:30/km but I found I would often complete these runs quicker as the boredom would set in. The speed workouts were used to break up the monotony of the long runs and consisted of a 1k warm-up followed 3x 800m speed laps and then a 1k cooldown.
My nutrition strategy for the race was taken from previous ultra (Cotswold way 50k), this was a large porridge breakfast in the morning which would get me to 10k then I would eat a cliff bar every 10k and take an energy gel every 6k, I would also occasionally snack on salted peanuts to keep my sodium levels up. Hydration is key to ultra-running I carried a 2Litre pouch in my running backpack which I sipped through a straw every 5-10 minutes. Please bear in mind this a loose guide that I used and may not work for everyone.
The training and preparation went well and I only encountered minor aches and pains after the last long training run. As I had previously completed a 50k and training went well I was confident leading up to the event, I also would not be running it alone my friend Alex Tarrant would also be taking the challenge on with me as his first ultra, having only done a half marathon previously he put in solid training and was following a similar plan to myself.
The race started in Wendover Buckinghamshire and ended up in Little Venice Paddington the first 25 miles was a mixture road, hills, and trails. The final 25 would be a repetitive slog down the grand union canal.
We arrived early geared up and ready to go, I noticed the crowd at this race was a lot more elite than my previous ultra, everyone here was planning to run and completion was not a factor. At the start, I and Alex maintained a steady pace and tried our best to not head out too fast and hang back. I was more eager and would regularly start speeding up to the runners Infront and then realising my mistake I would slow down and return to Alex’s pace. The terrain in the first half was tough, spongy muddy trails and uneven hills which impacted running form, by 12km I was already experiencing knee pain which made it difficult to run I was quite worried at one point that I may have to pull out, Luckily I realised the problem was my running form as the flat foot strides were putting too much pressure on my knee.
After switching to a midfoot strike the pain eased off slightly and I could continue, after this, I kept a slow pace and stuck to my nutrition strategy. Time seemed to go by really quickly with the varying terrain and plenty of conversation this 20-40k block was some of the best relaxed running I had in a long time and was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the race.
Once we reached the canal I knew I could make it to the end and I felt very comfortable with the next 20 miles, however the miles had taken a toll on Alex at this point and he was struggling to maintain running. At the 50k mark we decided I would push on and complete the rest of the race at my pace. I had confidence Alex would complete the race and I was eager to get this distance down so I pushed on.
The last 13 miles (21k) was near my workplace and I had ran this stretch of the canal many times and running down here after already completing 50k was a fun experience, it started to turn to night and the running got harder on my legs I arrived at the last checkpoint (10k to finish) really tired but there was no way I was going to stop. I could not run the whole way so I was splitting the distance with 2km of running and 1k of walking and after listening to “Going the Distance” from rocky on repeat for the last 3k I started to hear the cheers of the finish line. I crossed it and felt that great sense of accomplishment which I had been chasing since my last ultra.
I had been through the war and come out the other side. After 9 hours of running and some walking it was all over and I had conquered 45 miles, Alex also crossed the finish line around the 10 hour mark and had been through hell in the last 10k, he managed to overcome the tired legs which could no longer run , the vomiting and the mental challenge. We live to fight another day on to the next challenge !