Training had been quite good with several 100 mile weeks and lots of long runs/races. Then 5 days after the London marathon I came down with tonsillitis. My planned long runs didn't happen and hardly ran the following week. The next weekend (2 weeks out from the race) I wanted to do a final long run but was still so tired (due to a bad night cough keeping me awake - after about a week I started on an inhaler which helped) so only managed 12 sluggish miles. After that it was taper time so too late. I wasn't sure if the almost 4 week taper was going to be a good or bad thing - my last long run was London 4 weeks out.A few days before the race my night cough started to make a come back (not as bad as before though. Needless to say although my legs felt well rested I was not!
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| Skechers Gorun4 |
I had a fairly rough race plan - number of laps per hour (with a built in fade!) and time per lap on a pace band. As always the plan was a one lap (400m) walk per hour to take on food then later probably walk a bit more. I wanted to start slower than normal in the hope that the fade would be less but always find it hard running slower when well rested - my legs want to go faster than they should and slowing down too much feels awkward.
First lap was 2.05, far too fast but felt easy; I slowed down. Kept adjusting my pace and checking each lap and ended up settling in at a pace which was a few seconds per lap faster than planned but which felt very easy - it was slower than I would usually start 12/24 hour races so I was a little bit successful at slowing myself down! I was recording my laps on a stopwatch - for the first few hours my laps were all a few seconds faster than they needed to be.
It was a really warm day with not a cloud in the sky. The heat started getting to me after a couple of hours and I think this is the reason for my early slow in pace. Normally I alternate 9bar/powerbar protein bars/bananas for about 8 hours before getting bored and moving on to the junk food but today I was struggling to get them down after only 4 hours - it took a full walking lap to get down a small 9bar which is only about 4 or 5 bites!!
Although I was still on track at 5 hours this was because of the cushion I had built up earlier. My lap paces were getting slower quite quickly as I was struggling with the heat. I made a few errors with fueling......
I only had 4 small bottle of Pepsi Max so didnt have some when I really wanted it as wanted to save it until later - first mistake as I ended up have one left! Second error was that I should have bought normal Pepsi! I wasn't really thinking when I bought the Pepsi Max (sugar free) just bought what I normally drink. Finally to do with the Pepsi Max was that shortly after having it one time I realised that I needed some calories but couldn't stomach any food - normally I would have chocolate soya milk in these circumstances. My stomach was full from the Pepsi so I couldn't have much soya milk without getting stitch and therefore couldn't get the fuel in - I forgot I had gels!
Somewhere around 6 hours I started to consider just doing 100km rather than the full 12 hours. I was going to get a rubbish distance so what was the point? 100km would still have made the journey worthwhile. 6 hours felt like a very long time to go but 100km was less than a marathon which felt a lot more doable.
There didn't seem to be any rules about pacers - other runners had people walking with them for several laps, some of them more than one person as if they were on a family afternoon stroll; some even in the inside lane which made me cross. After about 8 hours I decided to get Phil to walk with me on my walk lap - which got extended to 2 laps! This gave me a chance to have a bit of a moan. He needs briefing next time on what to say as I was grumbling about it being hot his response was I shouldn't enter races in the summer its always hot and I should know better by now!! Not exactly the comforting/encouraging word I needed!
By about 9.30pm I started to feel a lot better as the sun had gone in and my core temperature was finally falling. However, I was not able to muster up much speed. I occasionally ran a few laps with other people who were running a bit faster but it was not a pace I really wanted to hold on to for long so I was glad when they decided to have a break. One thing I noticed about this race more than others is that everyone seemed to take time off the track for a sit down - I only left twice to go to the toilet and twice to do some squats (it helps stretch out the tight hip flexors).
Once I was no longer struggling with the heat I decided that I could manage to keep going for 12 hours - I had got into a plodding pace which when I was moving wasn't really all that bad. My cough which had not previously bothered me running was now quite bad, I am sure a few runners gave me a wide berth!
My struggle with solid food continued! I would walk with Phil trying to get down a packet of crisps and only manage half. I ended up getting my fuel from poweraid (luckily this was provided); chocolate soya milk and marzipan balls. It took me a whole running lap to get a marzipan ball down by biting little bits off but at least I was getting them down. I was surprised to see how many I had got through when packing away at the end!!
Once my watch ticked over to 12 hours I completed the lap then stopped. My final distance was 110km. At this point I was 1st lady and 2nd overall. Another lady stopped at 12 hours but I think everyone else went on until the end although there was heavy rain for a few hours in the night so I think a fair bit of resting/hiding in tents went on! By the end of the 24 hours I had moved down to 2nd lady.
Overall a bit disappointed as I have done 120km in the first 12 hours of a 24 hour race in the past. However, taking into account my excuses - hot day; missed training at a key time; still had a lingering cough - I suppose it wasn't too bad.
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| After 7 hours |
Somewhere around 6 hours I started to consider just doing 100km rather than the full 12 hours. I was going to get a rubbish distance so what was the point? 100km would still have made the journey worthwhile. 6 hours felt like a very long time to go but 100km was less than a marathon which felt a lot more doable.
There didn't seem to be any rules about pacers - other runners had people walking with them for several laps, some of them more than one person as if they were on a family afternoon stroll; some even in the inside lane which made me cross. After about 8 hours I decided to get Phil to walk with me on my walk lap - which got extended to 2 laps! This gave me a chance to have a bit of a moan. He needs briefing next time on what to say as I was grumbling about it being hot his response was I shouldn't enter races in the summer its always hot and I should know better by now!! Not exactly the comforting/encouraging word I needed!
By about 9.30pm I started to feel a lot better as the sun had gone in and my core temperature was finally falling. However, I was not able to muster up much speed. I occasionally ran a few laps with other people who were running a bit faster but it was not a pace I really wanted to hold on to for long so I was glad when they decided to have a break. One thing I noticed about this race more than others is that everyone seemed to take time off the track for a sit down - I only left twice to go to the toilet and twice to do some squats (it helps stretch out the tight hip flexors).
Once I was no longer struggling with the heat I decided that I could manage to keep going for 12 hours - I had got into a plodding pace which when I was moving wasn't really all that bad. My cough which had not previously bothered me running was now quite bad, I am sure a few runners gave me a wide berth!
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| left over marzipan balls |
Once my watch ticked over to 12 hours I completed the lap then stopped. My final distance was 110km. At this point I was 1st lady and 2nd overall. Another lady stopped at 12 hours but I think everyone else went on until the end although there was heavy rain for a few hours in the night so I think a fair bit of resting/hiding in tents went on! By the end of the 24 hours I had moved down to 2nd lady.
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| Leaderboard after 11 hours (not in order) |
Overall a bit disappointed as I have done 120km in the first 12 hours of a 24 hour race in the past. However, taking into account my excuses - hot day; missed training at a key time; still had a lingering cough - I suppose it wasn't too bad.
For future races in warm weather I must remember plenty of full fat coke/Pepsi; sports drink (I don't usually drink this but in a few hot races where it has been provided I have been grateful for it; marzipan balls (supermarket marzipan made into bite sized balls)gels and chocolate soya.
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