Hardmoors 55 race report

Training has certainly been a bit up and down since the Hardmoors marathon race in February. I was more jiggered after that race than I thought I'd be and was forced into a really easy week following the race. The confidence boost I got from my performance in the race easily outweighed the lack of continuity to my training and the week after that I was right back on it with my biggest week of the year so far, including my first back to back long runs over the weekend.

What I was very concious of was the relative proximity of the Hardmoors 55 which I had targeted as one of my main races for the year; I had only five weeks between them and was keen to get in at least two bigger weeks of training. As I've got older, I have realised how much I need to listen to my body and make the required adaptations to my training. I try to think in terms of long blocks of training which need to be done, rather than each individual session - if I need to make a change in order to allow me to keep training, so be it. I made a few adaptations, still keeping my main sessions in and managed to get from those weeks what I wanted.

I might have just bitten off more than I wanted to chew on the Sunday before the race when I was out training with some mates and what should have been a 2:30 hours run turned out to be an hour longer than that. I was very good, realising this was a bit much for me as part of a mini taper, I told the lads to run on ahead of me and I backed off the pace with one eye on the Hardmoors race a week away.

Not hard to see why I overdid the taper run on a day like this!

I spent most of the final week before the race making sure I was properly hydrated and getting enough protein in to repair my muscles after a good training block. Even though I knew I have had a good winter and was running well, enjoying the benefits of speed sessions with Keswick AC, I still found that my head wasn't really focussed on the race, getting a bit too stressed out about work and wondering if running a race of this severity was a wise thing to do. However, as I knew, and as everyone said, once the gun goes, I would be in race mode and forget about everything else.

One factor that did play into my hands was the logistics of the race day. Last year, I slept in the camper van at Helmsley, woke at 4:30am to catch the 6:00am bus to the start. This year John, Katrina, Tracey and I stayed with friends of ours in Yarm, only 30 minutes from the start. Soooo much more sociable. We arrived at the race HQ at about 8:00am, were processed efficiently and spent a relaxed half an hour chatting to Andy.

This year my focus is to try and "race", start nearer the front, not carry my mini camcorder and worry less about splits. I'm trying to think about those folk around me and how am I going to beat them, which seems to take my mind off the nitty gritty of putting one foot in front of the other. I think it has taken me a few years of running ultras to serve my apprenticeship and the speed work I have done this winter means I now have the confidence to have-a-go. In the two races this season, I have been running faster at the start but, fortunately, I am still able to push on and have a good second half to the race as I have always done - maybe I was holding too much back in previous years!?

I'm not doing a step by step account of the race but will report on some of the significant points of how the race panned out. I settled into the top 12 or so, like most others, watching Kin Collison and Paul Nelson disappearing off into the distance - I'm more confident now, but not that much. Things were uneventful until the first dropbag point at Kildale (1:40'ish hours) where we were informed that due to a problem, the bags would be further round the course. Initially, I didn't know what to do; my whole race plan was out the window. As part of the "racing" strategy, I had parred my kit, including nutrition, down to a minimum and was only carrying what I would need for each section between dropbags. I have been working over the last year with the guys at Mountain Fuel, trying to improve my race and training nutrition, one of the key features is that I'm trying not to take very sugary foods so I can avoid blood sugar spikes; I'm working on a more consistent blood sugar level. I realised this was going to be a problem over the next 10 miles due to the options available. I popped in some flapjack, filled my bottles with water and grabbed two gels. I must admit that this played on my mind for 30 minutes or so, but I was running well, picking off runners and starting to enjoy myself. I was later told that I was 13th'ish at Kildale.

I made good progress with the wind behind out to Bloworth Crossing and was quietly impressed with the min/mile pace I was keeping up. I met Jayson Cavill not long before Clay Bank and he informed me that the dropbags were there. Phew!

Photo by Jayson Cavill

After that bonus I was well-up-for-it as I hit my favourite part of the route over the Three Sisters. As soon as we started going up, I pulled back a few more places and found myself running with my friend Adam Stirk who I know from mountain marathons. By the time we reached Lord Stones Cafe, we were in equal 3rd with no one immediately behind. Game on!

Adam and I shared the lead over the stretch to Osmotherley and in my head I was getting myself fortified for a push out of the village, on the climb to Square Corner. I suffered a bit on the climb last year, but was feeling much more positive this time round. To add to the good vibes, Tracey and Katrina were in the village hall in Osmotherley, helping out with the drop bags in the checkpoint and it was great to see them and get some hugs.

I left the checkpoint about a minute before Adam and decided to make a bit of a push up the hill to see if I could open a gap. I plugged my MP3 player in as a little treat and by the top I had pulled away a little but knew I needed to maintain this for a couple of miles if I was really going to break the elastic. By the time I got to the marshals at High Paradise, I was chugging along nicely, thinking I was just going to take it home from here for 3rd place; the final 15 miles were going to prove anything but a cruise in.

Firstly, at High Paradise, I was informed that I was less than 10 minutes behind Paul Nelson. Right, time to put my game face back on. I set off with an outside hope of catching him, I thought I could give it a go since I was secure in 3rd place. WRONG!

I tried to estimate how far ahead I could see along the escarpment edge, hoping to catch a glimpse of Paul, but nothing doing, so started to play it safe for 3rd place again. However, I took a look back as I went through one on the small gates and noticed, to my horror, that a new beast had entered the fray. Casper Kaars Sijpesteijn was closing fast. This was one almighty great kick up the backside. Well, I suppose if I am adopting a race strategy, at some point, I'm going to have to race. Time to see if I have another gear. Fortunately, I was able to find a little something left in the tank.

I spent the last 12 miles of the race working hard to hold Casper at bay, telling myself not to give him any psychological boosts by reducing the gap. It became important to get to each corner before he could see me. This was a bit stressful, but also good fun and extremely motivating. Only in the last mile did I allow myself a smile of satisfaction as I finally felt I had managed to hold him off, though Casper had run the section from Osmotherley 11 minutes quicker than me - and I thought I was going well!

Photo by Jayson Cavill

I was obviously delighted to get a podium finish, but to run 8:24 hours, some 33 minutes quicker than last year, was way beyond expectations. Tracey commented that I looked a little shell-shocked after the race and I think part of that was just trying to get my head around the time I had run. Well-chuffed!

John had a great run too, and his tactic of running to heart rate has kicked off a very interesting debate about ultra running strategy. Check out the comments here. As I watched the race unfold, there seemed to be a number of strategies playing out at the front. Kim, as the class act in the field, obviously had the confidence to set off fast from the start, run solo and smash the course record. Paul too, is a quality runner and seems to like the race approach, mixing at the front of the race from the gun. Casper had a much more conservative approach for the first half of the race but finished like a train, running the 2nd fastest split from Osmotherley. I seemed to be somewhere in the middle, racing those around me in the first half but still having a strong finish (just).

There were a few things that I was particularly pleased with for this race. I really enjoyed the buzz of mixing it at the front end of the race and I'm sure that head to head racing is dragging me along to a faster times. My finish time was way beyond expectations and has given me a real confidence boost going forward into the rest of the season. A few years ago, I think I would have got really phased when my race nutrition strategy was compromised, however, this time I coped pretty well (after the initial panic), trusting that my body would cope. I loved the fact that I got myself ready for a push out of Osmotherley and was able to execute it and then, when required, I was able to lift it over the last 12 miles to keep that podium place. Lots of positives!

I've now got a couple of months to my next race; the 50k trail race at the Keswick Mountain Festival. I've built in a couple of weeks of recovery before I start my next training block and am ready to get more of a focus on 100 mile training with some big back to back sessions in preparation for the Lakeland 100.

Happy running everyone :-)

Where was I, where am I and where will I be?

I guess blogging is as much about habit as running. I have got out of the habit, so thought it was time to bring things up to speed.

Firstly, UTMB sucks your mojo! It was such a long build up to the race from the moment I knew I had a place, it formed a big part of my consciousness for 8 months and when it was finally gone, I had a bit of a hole in my life. I was buzzing for a week or so, in fact I was very emotional for a week, but then had an almighty psychological crash, becoming very apathetic. I slowly got back into doing some running, just the odd 3 miler if the weather as good. September and most of October just got put aside for a good regroup.

I had a few wonderful runs out in some spectacular terrain, just enjoying the moment, not really considering it training.

Loch Lomond

Above Braithwaite

I even slotted in a rare appearance at a fell race, running for Keswick at the Fell Runners Association relay champs.

FRA relays (photo by Andrew Slattery)

By the time I got to December, I had built up my training and started the long build up back to race fitness. It is at this time that I like to sit down with a blank year planner and piece together a battle plan for the next year.

My A race for the year is the Lakeland 100 which I ran back in 2012 as my comeback 100 miler after my operation. Last time out I came 10th in 25:52 hours and said after that I didn't think I could better that, but I think I'm smarter and better conditioned now, so I have set myself a personal target for that one; more of that at another time.

I have blocked off the year into a number of sections, trying to get a nice mix of training and races, with one (enforced) change to the original plan, though, I think the change is actually for the better. December, January and February have all been good solid months with a couple of new focuses; core stability and speed work. So, as I have slightly upped my training mileage, I have been trying to have at least one core session, one speed session and one turbo trainer session per week. Things were going really well up until a couple of weeks ago when I finished a particularly big week for me (65 miles) and realised I felt pretty trashed. I'm old enough now to know that I had just over-cooked it and needed a recovery week, even though the plan had something more substantial. In fact, I eased back for two weeks which coincided with my build up to the first race of the year, the Hardmoors, Osmotherley Trail Marathon which took place this last weekend.

I wasn't really sure what to expect after feeling very jaded on the build up, but come race day, as the competitive juices started flowing, I found I was really ready for a proper race. It was a fast start and I just had to let the leaders get on with it, settling into the top 10 until the bigger climbs over Cringle Moor, Cold Moor and The Wainstones where I started to push on, moving up into the top 5 and then into a share of 3rd place.

30 mins into the race at Scarth Nick (photo by Ann Brown)

I was really starting to enjoy this, running much faster than in an ultra, trying to mix it with others more used to the marathon distance. What I was most pleased about was the comfort I had while still running fast (for me). Over Cold Moor, I tried to pull away from Jerome, making a bid for a podium place and maybe even higher but we were both still locked together at Chop Gate. We were told that the leader was 10 mins ahead and I got quite a lift from this, thinking I still had a chance if he wavered at all. I finally pulled away from Jerome on the steep climb out of Chop Gate and started to put the hammer down on Blisdale West Moor, knowing I was inside the last 90 mins of the race.

1.5 miles to go (photo by Jayson Cavill)

Over the last hour, all I could think of was the finish of the Osmotherley Phoenix where I was leading until cramp hit me in the final mile. Run relaxed became my mantra. I had no problems this time round, finishing 3rd in 4:18 hours for the 28.4 mile course, closing to within about 6 mins of the winner. Absolutely delighted with that! Speed work must be paying off.

With Jon Steele, race director (photo by Tony Holland)

So, that's where I am now; getting faster, confidence up, enjoying racing. Where am I going? Well, I have just over 4 weeks to the Hardmoors 55 which I did last year and really enjoyed it. This will form my longest single run before the Lakeland 100 in July, but I have a 2 month block of training planned after the H55, giving time to recover and then kick on again, I'll be toeing the start line of the Keswick Mountain festival Ultra (50km) in mid May, again giving another 2 month block before the Lakeland 100. During these two training block, I intend to spend lots of time on the Lakeland 100 route - I want to know every blade of grass personally, big back to back weekend runs will be the order of the day.

One final point to mention is the phenomenon that is Parkrun. I absolutely love my Saturday morning fix of 5k, whether I'm having a blast, taking it easy or, as I often do, volunteer as a helper. Whatever the role, it has given Saturday morning a focus. I gave some thought as to how I could incorporate the event onto my training for 100 mile races and came up with a routine that seems to work well for me. I try to do an easy 45-60 mins before the start, do Parkrun (in whatever format) and then carry on and do another 90 mins of trails. A great session and all done by 11am.

After such a good race at the weekend, I'm confident that the tweaks I've made to my training are sending me in the right direction. My next focus is now the Hardmoors 55, which will help to keep my mind off the Lakeland 100 which is still too far away to fully concentrate on yet. I've got some recce runs for L100 planned with John and Marco, which I'm really looking forward to and generally feel pretty good about the year ahead.

Bring on 2015 :-)

Playing in the hills

For a while, I have been planning to go out for a play in the hills, take the video camera and spend a bit of time setting up some nice shots so I could put together a video just showing off the trails around Keswick.

Last Sunday morning was the perfect day to do this, so I set off round Latrigg and the Glenderaterra Loop, just to see what I could come up with.

The process involves lots of setting up the camera, running back down the path, turning round, running past the camera and picking it up. As you can imagine, there is a lot of editing to be done.

My original intention was to just keep this video for myself as it is basically just me out training; there is no race going on for people to follow, there are no disasters, no happy marshals, no rain, no man-suit moments. I thought I'd play the video back when I'm lacking a bit of mojo in the depths of winter, just to remind me what it's all about. However, the few people who have seen it on YouTube have been very positive, so I thought I'd stick it on here too.

So, apologies to those of you not lucky enough to live in Keswick, but here is my back yard ;-)

These are a few of my favorite things....

My name is Dave and I am a kit nerd! There, I've said it, it feels good to get that off my chest. A new item of kit is like knocking 5 minutes off your race time. This is still a relatively new sport to me and I keep discovering shiny bits of kit that I don't yet own - child, sweety shop, etc.

Thought I'd put together a run-down of some of the kit that has served me well, made me smile, ignited my mojo (or maybe even helped me to perform better).

Skechers Go Run Ultra shoes
For the couple of years after my operation, I was a Hoka man. I felt that I needed the comfort and protection that they provided. I have since been working on my running style, having at least one session per week devoted to style (a great way to make use of a run that could otherwise be just junk miles). What I wanted was a shoe that would still give me some of the cushioning of Hoka's but would be more flexible, softer and, dare I say, more like a normal trainer. Flash back to earlier this year when I stumbled on a blog from an American runner raving about the Skechers Go Run Ultra. 20 minutes later, I had found a pair on eBay and won the auction for £20. Result!

I don't want to turn this into a long winded review, but to give you some idea as to how much I love these shoes, when they arrived, I put them on, ran 4 miles along the old railway line, came back in the house and said to my wife "These are the shoes I've been looking for." Within two weeks I had brought a second pair (as I often change shoes during a 100 mile race) and I simply find them a pleasure to run in. In the Hardmoors 110 earlier in the year, I actually ran in the same pair for the whole race without any problem and then just a couple of months ago they lapped up the UTMB route which is about as good a reference as you can get.

Ultimate Direction Signature Series race vests
Being from a fell running background, I initially used a bumbag for my ultra races but when the race vest bandwagon came trundling round the corner, I was intrigued as to how it might impact on an ultra, particularly avoiding any tightness around the stomach and having all your bits and bobs up front for easy access.

Once again, eBay to the rescue. Now, depending on the day's adventure, I use either the SJ race vest (the mid range pack) or the PB race vest (the larger pack in the range). Snug, stable and accessible - everything I need. I've even rocked up at fell races with the SJ pack.

Berghaus Vapourlight Hyper Smock

I kid you not! This fully waterproof jacket weighs only 87g (including storage pouch). I think it is the world's lightest waterproof jacket, yet still has taped seams, an integral hood and a zipped pocket. It packs down to about the size of a tennis ball and is so minimal that I often just carry it in my hand when out on the fells.

It feels like it is just Pertex and I was sceptical as to how it would cope with some spicy weather 2500m up on some Alpine col, I even carried an extra waterproof just in case the Berghaus smock wasn't up to the deal. That turned out to be overkill; despite the weather during the first 6 hours of UTMB this year, I was snug-as-a-bug in this jacket. The material is soft enough to be comfortable when running yet still keeps the worst of the weather out. A comfy runner is a happy runner.

(NB - This product was a prototype of the jacket now available to buy which I was lucky enough to receive from Berghaus)

Berghaus Vapourlight Hyper Therm FZ insulated smock

Continuing the theme of super light yet practical usability, this insulated pull-over is well tricked. Weighing in at a svelte 160g (including pouch) and packing down to a ridiculous size, there is no excuse for being unprepared out on the mountain.

This top has a trick up it's sleeve (literally). It's reversible. Black side out absorbs any warmth from the sun and has a windproof outer layer, keeping you toasty, however, if you warm up you can reverse the jacket with the red side out and it allows more air to flow through. BOGOF!

(NB - This product was a prototype of the top now available to buy which I was lucky enough to receive from Berghaus)

Mountain King Trail Blaze poles
Quite simply, I'm not sure I would have finished UTMB without theses poles, or I would have been out on those cols for many more hours than I was. I always said that if I managed to get a place in the race I would invest in a pair of poles. I only use the poles on the long climbs so didn't want or need a more robust/heavier set, so went with the Mountain King Trail Blaze 4 piece poles which link together rather like a tent pole.

Light, quick to assemble and easy to store, all the boxes ticked without breaking the bank. A word of note though, if you intend to use the poles on descents, you might want to look for something a little more sturdy.

SJ1000 mini video camera
I wanted a video camera to capture the flavour of my races and training adventures and, yes, like most, I wanted a Go Pro but I just couldn't justify that kind of money. As ever, the 'tinterweb came up with an alternative; the SJ1000. It will capture in full 1080HD, though I work mainly in 720HD just to make the editing, formating and uploading that little bit quicker.

It only captures 30 frames per second, so slow-motion is a little blurred, but I can live with that. On the plus side, you get a ridiculous amount of accessories with the camera, including a waterproof case, all for about £50.

I have been using this camera since August 2013. You can get an idea of the quality by having a look back at some of my race videos on this blog, making sure you have the YouTube settings on HD.

Suunto Ambit2 R GPS watch
I've only had this watch for a couple of months but I love the amount of data that I can get from it. I have even stopped using my trusty spreadsheet for logging my training and just upload straight to my Suunto Movescount account. You can customise the watch from the website which makes things so quick and easy, even changing how often the watch takes a GPS reading, potentially taking the battery life up to the 24 hour region, though I had yet to try this out.

There are a ridiculous amount of screens you can have for any given activity, so I have mine set up to record data for trail running, core workouts, turbo trainer cycling and normal cycling. I can add extra activities as I start to use them. Usefully for me, I can also add training sessions to my account even if I wasn't wearing the watch. This is important for someone who does navigation races such as mountain marathons where GPS devices are not allowed.

Interestingly, you are also able to download apps for the watch to monitor various parameters - something I need to investigate further.

My only negative comment is that the smaller data fields on each screen (top and bottom) are not as easy to read on the run, especially in the dark with a head torch. I have my device set up so the important data is in the middle of the screen with the large figures. I can live with that.

Just had a thought - with Christmas just around the corner, Troman's Top Kit List might need updating in a short while. Watch this space ;-)

UTMB nutrition report

The chaps at Mountain Fuel have been supporting me over the last few months with regard to my nutrition in both training and racing. Their advice has been a mix of reassurance that I'm doing some things right, suggestions as to how I could improve the package and outright disgust at the errors I have been making.

I wrote a brief report for them after UTMB, detailing my preparation and race nutrition, again, giving them the opportunity to look for areas for improvement. I know I still have a lot to adjust with regard to my race nutrition, but I really feel that I am now moving in the right direction and, more importantly, feel more confident about what I'm doing. I thought it would be nice to share that report with readers of this blog.

Nutritionally, the preparation for this epic was a mix of “out of my control” and “spot on.”

We spent a week travelling through France, doing our own WW1 battlefields tour, staying in hotels along the way, inevitably eating out for every meal and having cooked breakfasts every morning. My best laid plans of a perfect nutritional build-up were out of the window, but I knew I would arrive in Chamonix four days before the race and, being self-catered, I should have time to get things back on track.

As soon as we were in Chamonix, it was straight to the supermarket to get some basics: lean chicken, couscous, potatoes, rice, you know the kind of stuff. I had brought my breakfast essentials with us so I could start each day with my normal portion of jumbo oats, flax seed, dried fruit, mixed seeds and maple syrup.

Lunch each day was some kind of cold meat/cheese combination along with the obligatory baguette. I was only doing some light training during the week and made a real effort to modify my food intake accordingly, though, once the nerves started to kick in, my appetite dropped off a little anyway.

I made sure I drank a bottle made up with Mountain Fuel Xtreme Energy Fuel on each of the three pre race days along with plenty of water, trying to make re-hydration a long steady process rather than a last minute drinking-fest.

Race day, I tried to keep things familiar, but nerves really started to kick in big time, and taking in food did seem more of a chore than a pleasure. Breakfast and lunch were as normal, I also had a bottle of Xtreme Energy Fuel in the early afternoon. With a 5:30pm start time, thinks were a little more difficult to plan after lunch. In the end, I went with a small bowl of porridge oats at about 1pm and then a portion of Mountain Fuel Morning Fuel mixed with soya milk at about 3:30pm. I love the taste of the Morning Fuel and the small portion is easy to get in and quick to digest.

In hindsight, I probably needed a little something to eat in the final few minutes before the start as we had to stand around for 45 minutes or so before the off. I did not drink any more during this time, mainly due to the lack of opportunity to take a pee!

The most important part of my preparation for this race was getting my head around the fact that I could get most of my race energy from the Xtreme Energy Fuel. Prior to this, I felt that I needed to throw in gels to get me round my ultra races. I had a particularly bad experience earlier in the year and can trace the problems back to too much gel use. This time I was confident in my nutrition and happy that the Mountain Fuel products would get me round in good shape.

Between each of the feed stations, usually 2 – 3 hours apart, I carried 500ml of Xtreme Energy and 500ml of water which comfortably saw me through each section. In addition, I nibbled on Chia Charge bars, which again I just love the taste of, but probably only ate 3 bars during the whole race.

At each checkpoint, the organisers provide an array of cold meats, bread, biscuits and cakes, along with a salty noodle broth, and various drinks. My life-saver was the salty noodle broth. I avoided the cold meats as this would have been a break from the norm and I did not want to get the sugar rush associated with the cakes and biscuits, so at every station, I would have some broth, and as the race went on, I would manage to eat this when nothing else appealed.

Drinks-wise, I found that I wanted something sharp, in contrast to the Xtreme Energy Fuel and plain water I was drinking out on the course. What seemed to hit the spot was varying cups of carbonated water and Coke – this became my routine in each checkpoint; refill bottles ready for next leg, collect a bowl of broth, drink 2 or 3 cups of carbonated water/Coke. A couple of times I mixed up a mug of Morning Fuel with cold water, just for some variety, but I think I much prefer either warm water or milk for this mix and just didn’t really have the time/inclination to sort this out.

Most interestingly, I probably only took 6 or 7 gels during the whole 33 hours of the race and these were more likely to be a psychological crutch rather than a requirement.

The times where I felt nauseous seemed to be associated with altitude (2500m) and I felt slightly better once back down at the feed stations. Energy levels were generally good for the duration, certainly better than I was expecting and must have been a contributing factor to the positive attitude I held for the whole race.

As I was nearing the finish, I was planning my recovery, so I must have been in fairly good condition to be thinking about this! The plan was to get at least 2 servings of the Mountain Fuel Night Fuel in to me before I went to sleep, hoping to catch the optimum recovery window, unfortunately, this didn’t happen. Initially, I was caught up in the emotion and euphoria around the finish area and then, once back at the apartment, sleep was the only thing on my mind.

The following morning, it was back on porridge and all the trimmings, but I didn’t have the same desire to just throw in any old junk food as I would normally have after an ultra. The HUGE mixed grill I treated myself to that evening actually defeated me – not a phrase I utter very often!

This whole event and the positive experience I have gained from it, has really increased my confidence with regard to my nutrition and I cannot thank Darren Foote enough for his advice on all matters nutritional; my first two hour conversation with him was a real eye-opener and a key moment in my development. In addition, having Rupert Bonnington as a sounding board, right here in Keswick has been a great help. When we first spoke in July, the guys talked about marginal gains; these improvements I have made to my training and racing nutrition feel a lot more than marginal gains.

Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc race video

It has been an epic marathon of editing, but the final director's cut is available at last!

Go and get some popcorn :-)

Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc report

Why the hell has someone left sausages all over the track?

I was making the final descent of the most epic race I've ever run, heading back to Chamonix. It was about 2am on a late August Sunday morning, I'd been running for the best part of 33 hours and I actually told myself to stop being so stupid, there were obviously no sausages on the ground - I was hallucinating. I weaved around a bit more, and still the sausages were there, glinting in the torch light. I stopped and took a closer look - Slugs!

As I made the final few turns through the streets of Chamonix, I thought back to the January morning in the PE Department office as I logged on to the UTMB race website and had to ask a colleague to double check that I had read the information correctly - I was in! I hardly slept that night so you can imagine how I was feeling in the final couple of days before the race actually started.

The finish line

Prior to our week in Chamonix, Team Troman (Mom and Dad, Tracey and I) spent a lovely week in northern France, conducting our own tour of the First World War battlefields, cemeteries and museums. My outlook on the holiday changed once we hit Chamonix on the Monday afternoon - this was ultra trail running Nirvana, I was going to love this!

View from outside the apartment

I live in the Lake District, which is pretty dam beautiful, but Chamonix simply takes everything to a new level and for this week of the year, it embraces the world of mountain trail running. I found it really difficult to hold back and remember that I was close to the end of a taper, all I wanted to do was run around the hills for a few hours every day.

We were able to watch lots of other runners finishing their races (5 races as part of the UTMB week long festival), including the winner of the TDS, Xavier Thevenard, who won UTMB last year. It all gets very emotional as you can see what finishing means to all these runners.

Xavier Thevenard, winner of TDS

My pre race thoughts were focused on just three things; I had my fingers crossed that we would be able to race round the full, iconic UTMB route (this has not always been the case due to the weather), I promised myself that I would strive to enjoy myself as much as I could and DNF was not an option. I knew that it was very likely that this would be my only shot at this race and I, therefore, had to get round to claim one of the coveted finishers gillets, but equally, I did not fancy making a 15 hour death march and hate every minute of it. I genuinely had no idea what time I was aiming for - it would be a successful race if I finished and enjoyed it.

Packed and ready to go

At least in the final day and a half before the start I was able to occupy myself  with sorting race pack, running kit, nutrition, drop bag and bossing the registration process. To cut a long story short, I found myself sitting on a curb 50 yards behind the start banner, 45 minutes before the 5:30pm start, managing to stay fairly calm, soaking up the atmosphere; a mix of excitement, trepidation and, for some, outright fear (at least that's how it smelt!). All I was waiting for was the first few bars of THAT music; I just wanted to remember what it was like as I stood there with Conquest of Paradise rising to a crescendo before we were finally set on our way - it was AWESOME :-)

Just before the start

Through the streets of Chamonix

What I have found difficult since getting back is recalling the specific details of the race. I think this is because I didn't have to navigate as the course is fully marked and you can just follow the pack, I didn't even carry a map, subsequently, I have struggled to put the memories in the right order, but I'll have a go.

Running through the streets of Chamonix was amazing; the music, the crowds, the cheering, the high fives. It took me about 8 minutes until I was properly running, but once out of the town I settled into the long line, making our way along the flat valley to Les Houches, the start of the first climb. You've gotta love this; the town of Les Houches is basically just a water refill point for the race yet had a live band playing on a stage opposite the feed station and supporters covering every available space along the road. I was starting to worry that my hands would suffer with all the high fives, but this was a premeditated strategy as part of my "enjoy it" race plan.

On the first climb from Les Houches

I was soon into my power hike with my poles, those endless trips up Skiddaw were going to pay dividends today, passing folk all the way but staying very much within myself. We crested out at around 1800m above sea level and started the ridiculously muddy descent down to the first major support station in the town of Saint Gervais. I think of myself as a fairly good descender, but there are some bloomin nutters out there. You could easily have finished your race there and then, so I just made my own merry way down and breathed a sigh of relief once I reached the tarmac road on the outskirts of the town.

Saint Gervais

If you've run this race (or seen the videos on YouTube) you'll know what I mean when I say - how much fun is that, running through Saint Gervais? I was through just after 8pm and it was bonkers; in a good way! I felt like such a hero and I'd only run for 2:40 hours. I had to think hard to get all my sorting out done, what did I fancy eating, put on rain jacket (as it was starting to rain quite heavily now), remember to put on the head torch, refill water bottles, etc, etc. Although I did not know my positions at all throughout the race, the results showed that I was in 576 place in Saint Gervais.

During the night sections, the contrast from the sensory overload of the checkpoints to the quiet solitude of the night time trails is significant and takes a while to get used to. I know this sounds strange, bit this is, at time a lonely race. You might always be surrounded by other runners but, largely due to the language barrier, I had relatively few conversations. As I left Saint Gervais, I took out the course profile I was carrying and did some quick maths. OK, get your head around this one; for the next 23kms you are basically going uphill! The tracks and fields to Les Contamines (31kms into the race) were a bit of a memory blanc, very muddy I do remember, but in the dark with just a head torch beam to guide the way, hood up, it was just a case of getting through. I do remember overtaking quite a lot of runners which always perks you up, finally arriving in Les Contamines in 4:11 hours (501st place).

What I was now looking forward to was the Notre Dame de la Gorge supporters area which marks the start of the climb to the Croix du Bonhomme (2439m). I've seen the video clips and photos from this place and it looks mad. It did not disappoint - it was like being on a Tour de France climb, with spectators shouting, cow bells ringing, all in the dark with bonfires and fairy lights. Insane!

Notre Dame de la Gorge - Bonkers!

I felt pretty good for the most part of the monster climb, just grinding out a rhythm. The views back down the climb were incredible, with a long line of head torches trailing back down the mountain; quite spectacular. I didn't pass many on the trail, but as soon as we came to any sort of water/food stop (like La Balme), I made a quick stop and turn round while others seemed to stay for longer. Somehow, in the 18kms from Les Contamines, over the Croix du Bonhomme and down to Les Chapieux, I overtook 85 runners, moving up into 416th place. I did suffer on the top half of the climb, possibly with the altitude, but started to feel better at I made the, initially quite technical, descent to Les Chapieux. At the checkpoint, we had to show a couple of items from your race pack - if I remember correctly it was phone and waterproof jacket. I took quite a few extra minutes (12 minutes in total) in the feed station just to collect myself a little which was a wise move as I felt better as I ventured back out into the night.

Les Chapieux, I think?

As I had suffered a bit on the previous climb, I decided that I would just try to hold position over the Col de la Seigne (2507m) and treat it as a re-grouping exercise whilst still ticking off some miles and crossing over the border into Italy. This seemed to take a bit of pressure off me and, though I still struggled at the very top of the climb, the plan seemed to work. I lost a few places on the way up and proceeded to catch them all back up again on the descent, arriving in Lac Combal in 417th place.

I had a quicker turn round here, so I guess I must have been feeling a bit better. I was coming out of a dark patch in both the metaphorical and actual meaning of the words. The sky was slowly starting to brighten and I was feeling a little more chipper, thinking about the run into Courmayeur where it would be daylight and I could grab my drop bag and a good sort out. The climb up and over the Arete du Mont Favre (2409m) went a little better, I could feel myself getting back in the groove and suddenly I could sense my game face starting to make an appearance. The long descent down to Courmayeur was a joy and as I ran down the technical zig zags in the woods above the town I was finally able to switch off the head torch. I'd picked up 25 places, but more importantly, I was in a good place mentally and really looking forward to a day of running through the Alps. 77kms done in 13:20 hours.

Drop bags at Courmateur

I had a laminated sheet in my drop bag listing all the things I MUST do (change socks, shoes and top, replenish some food supplies, etc) and what I MIGHT do (cap, sunglasses, shorts, etc). It was obviously going to be a cracking day, so I went with cap, sunglasses and a splash of sunblock. I took my time, spending about 17 minutes in the checkpoint, but left feeling like a new man (cue joke ...) and really looking forward to the next section, climbing to the Bertone Refuge, sighting Mont Blanc for the first time and running the terraced path to the Bonatti Refuge. I took a look round the checkpoint as I left, and you could already see that folk were starting to suffer big style, sleeping, being sick, head in hands, cramp, etc, etc. These sights would only get more serious as the journey went on. Big smile - off we go!

The field had suddenly thinned out and I knew it would take more effort to catch and pass other runners, but all I could think about was how much I was now enjoying this journey, if I caught others, that would be a bonus - lets get to the Bertone Hut and see Mont Blanc. The view did not disappoint - what a vista. Everyone stopped to take out cameras - how much fun was this?!

Through the Bertone Hut (1979m, 336th place) and along the terrace to the Bonatti Hut (2015m) I found my mojo, settling in with a small group that was running along nicely, overtaking a few but without going into the red zone; exactly what I wanted. Before the race, I had a good look at last year's results and it appeared that, for those runners who had a good steady race (came through the field), the Bonatti Hut was about half way time-wise.

I arrived in 16:14 hours so set myself a tentative target of 32:30 hours for the finish. I had settled on a bit of a routine for the feed stations; sort out water bottles (one water, one Mountain Fuel), a couple of beakers of either carbonated water or Pepsi and a bowl of noodle soup with a lot more noodles than soup. This seemed to work a treat and meant that I was able to just drink from the bottles whilst out on the mountains, making life much easier.

Bertone Hut

It's amazing how you can tick off the miles without too much pain when you simply take in the views and by the time I had been through the Bonatti Hut and dropped down the Arnuva, I had somehow picked off 80 runners since leaving Courmayeur, now in 312th place. It was definitely the long, steep, technical descents where I was making up most ground on others; thank you Skiddaw!

Bonatti Hut

The next climb was significant as it would take us to the high point of the course, Grand col Ferret (2527m) and take us into our third country of the day, Switzerland. I remember saying to myself that I was just going to grind the climb out, hoping to make these good vibes I was having last as long as possible and I was well prepared for the "feeling rough in the top sections" game I seemed to be playing all day long, but, to be honest, I don't remember much about the climb apart from the final gentle path to the col which I had seen so many times before on the TV/YouTube footage. It was a grind, it was hard, I suffered, end of story. The wind was well spicy at the col; if I had stopped like some, I would have had to put a jacket on, instead, I just wanted to get to a lower altitude and tick off some of the distance of the 18km descent, through La Fouly and on to Champex Lac.

Grand col Ferret

Grand col Ferret

I was still picking off runners, but at a much slower pace now as the field really thinned out. On the trail, generally, everyone was moving at a similar pace on the up-hills, my well conditioned quads were allowing me to make good time on the descents, but it was in the checkpoints that I was really making up places. These stations were now starting to resemble casualty wards; the sick, ailing, crying and down right beaten-up were littered around the tables, those looking happy were in a minority. La Fouly (282nd position, 108kms, 19:55 hours) was a typical example, and by Champex Lac (255th) it was getting to the point where I would try not to look at those in trouble, I didn't want any negativity at this stage of the race, but through the gloom I saw a familiar face looking distinctly better than most; my friend Mike Raffan, who has had a magnificent season this year, was just starting to leave the checkpoint and we spoke briefly. I think we came to the conclusion that, between us, we had a good runner; he was great on the climbs and I could cope with the descents. I made the sensible decision to not race after Mike as I wanted to continue my routine in the aid stations.

Champex Lac

Champex Lac is a gorgeous place and I was excited about the climb up La Giete on the infamous Bovine Path seen in so many YouTube clips. Well, what followed was 2:30 hours of hell! Initially, everything was fine, climbing gently on some forest roads, then we hit what looked like a new loose rock and gravel path which didn't take any sort of zig-zag line up the hill, instead it just carved a straight line up into the distance. I found this so tough; I could not got any kind of rhythm, I was taking smaller and smaller steps and, most discouragingly, those around me were powering off into the distance. This was the key moment of the race - I just knew I had to get over this and I was annoyed with myself that I wasn't able to enjoy this stretch - one of the iconic climbs of the race. I knew that there was a chance that a colleague from work (Clare Morley), might be in Trient, the next checkpoint. Clare is also a mountain guide and was taking a party of walkers round the Tour de Mont Blanc route, which, by pure coincidence, would allow her to meet me during the race. She had texted me to say the entire party was really excited to be able to cheer me on and I knew this was just the sort of help I needed at this point.

Eventually, I got over the climb (how many hours did that take?!) and immediately felt better as I started to go downhill again. I was soon passing runners again, but all I could think of was meeting Clare, just to see a friendly, smiley, happy face.

After another 45 minutes of running downhill, I rounded the corner by the pink church in Trient and there she was, charging up the street, screaming and shouting, accompanied by rent-a-crowd.

Clare rushing to greet me :-)

Rent-a-crowd

By the time she reached me, I was in tears, it was magical and exactly what I needed. Hugs from Clare and high-fives from the group; I was unable to thank them enough, it meant so much to me and was, yet another, turning point of the race.

With Clare in Trient

The marshals very kindly let Clare into the checkpoint with me even though she didn't have a pass and we just sat and had a chat about the race, I asked her to text my Dad to let the family know I was going well and looking better than most of those around me. To make the situation even better, Mike came into the checkpoint with his wife, and we had a good regroup together. I had passed Mike just before the checkpoint and it was nice to sit down and have a chat, the comment that there was only two climbs left kept coming up as we both started to think about the finish.

More noodles!

Having a good re-group with Mike

I had arrived in 222nd place (26:51 hours) but, after the horrific time I had over Bovine, I was more than happy to take my time in the checkpoint and, in fact, spent 21 minutes there. However, as I left, I was a new man - the positive vibes from Clare and rent-a-crowd worked miracles on me and instead of continuing to struggle on the next climb, I absolutely flew up. 80 minutes after leaving the checkpoint, I was topping out on Catogne (2009m) and feeling right back in the game, re-entering France. I made the mistake of letting my mind think this game was over - short drop to Vallorcine and one more climb, nearly there. It then took me an hour of downhill, now back in the dark with head torch on, to get to Vallorcine and I started to realise this race was not nailed yet. I was still positive, but this was just a kick up the backside to remind me there was still a lot of work to do.

As I left Vallorcine, now in 209th place, I had now idea I still had over 4 hours to go, I genuinely thought it would be maybe 3 hours at the most. The view of head torches snaking down through the trees towards Chamonix further down the valley only added to the illusion that this was done and dusted. This final climb to La Tete Aux Vents (2116m) was a killer! I had two issues with the climb, firstly, it was much rougher than I anticipated, with rock steps all the way, including some sections where I was just about scrambling and this continued on the top with sections of bare rock where it was hard to make out the path in the dark. Secondly, I had totally the wrong picture in my head of the topography of the climb/mountain. For the race, I carried a profile of the route, not a map. I had the basic shape of the course in my head and things had turned out pretty much as expected, but not on this one. In my head, I had "steep climb, checkpoint, sing and dance down to Chamonix" whereas in fact it was "long steep, rough climb, then 40 minutes of staggering in the dark across bare rock to a checkpoint that would just not arrive, rough track to final checkpoint at La Flegere and then another 8kms steep down to Chamonix". Needless to say, this was one almighty sting in the tail. On the plus side, I still managed to pick off a few more places and was lucky enough to run a short while with my friend, Lee Knight, ultra legend who won the Hardmoors 160 miler earlier in the year.

I stood at La Flegere (198th place), took a breath, smiled and set off on the final drop to the finish - I was going to make it and in pretty good shape too. Emotions were starting to well up, especially once I had got past all the sausages and recognised the track from some of my runs earlier in the week. I guessed there would be a few spectators around at the finish (it was 2:30am on a Sunday morning after all) but knew it would not be the masses you find during daylight hours, but as I ran the final kilometre through the streets of Chamonix, I was thrilled to see how many hardy souls were out there cheering the runners on - what an event! Tracey was first to greet me - Oh, the emotions were now doing a little more than just welling up, Paul was there taking some photos.

Nearly there!

They were able to cut through to the finish as I ran a little loop and then I was confronted by that iconic finish gantry, a small bank of photographers, incredibly appreciative supporters, Mom was there, just before the finish line, even a pupil from school who, by pure coincidence was on holiday with his family and he'd come out to see me finish at 2:30am (cheers Cameron, though I did think it might be another hallucination until I shook his hand).

I crossed the line in 198th place after 32:56 hours of running, hiking, crawling, crying, stumbling, smiling, swearing and any other form of movement and emotion that would get me over that finish line.

I think some thoughts on the aftermath and what I have learnt from this experience can be saved for another blog post, but I was absolutely fine after the race; no sickness, no blood pressure drop (the game I usually play), no cramp, just one happy bunny. I think back now to my targets before the race which were to not DNF and to enjoy the experience - both of those can be ticked of emphatically and to then add a top 200 placing is just icing on the cake. I might have been able to run a faster time but, after seeing what happened to others who tried, there was a high probability that I would have crashed and burned and failed to get from the race what I really wanted.

Looking very tried!

Thanks to all of you that followed the race either online or via social media, it does help, knowing that you are all out there watching me - I thought about this every time I crossed a timing mat and heard the beep. Thanks to Clare for appearing at just the right moment, you will never know how much that meant to me and what a difference it made to my race. Finally, thanks to my family, Tracey, Mom and Dad, it may not feel like it to you, but I couldn't have done it without your support and I'll never forget those moments at the finish.

2434 runners started the race, 1581 finished in the 46 hour time limit (65%).

Did this event live up to the hype and my expectations? HELL, YES!