I know it’s late but I always like to follow up a race with a “how things went” kind of post. I guess it helps remind me of things to do differently in any upcoming events.
Honestly the race went nearly seamless! Especially considering the limited amount of focused training I did. I entered it as a “something to do” kind of race. It had been a long time since I’d raced due to COVID with my last previous race being in spring of 2019. I wanted something to motivate me to train a bit more. Cotswold was close to home too so travel wouldn’t be much of an issue. I’d also signed up and backed out of it before, I think due to injury.
Training:
I had just been putting in random miles throughout the weeks, usually I try for minimum of 40, but many times without any drive for an important goal other things seems to become priority. Martial arts took over as did my body weight strength routine. I did understand how important my muscular endurance routine was, which is running specific, so focused on that. I’ve had fantastic results from that improving my leg muscle fatigue resistance late in races. Got that routine from Training for the Uphill Athlete and it’s a game changer. They call it the “money workout” and although not easy you’ll get huge gains in leg fatigue resistance. I managed a few long runs with vert, maybe even 4, but nothing like I’m cycling through right now (or last fall) looking at the Arc of Attrition in January. I knew I could finish but honestly had no idea how I’d feel.
Feeding:
ln past races I’d struggled with sugar drops from not eating enough. Basically I’d lose energy because I wasn’t eating enough sugar and would get all bonky and feel like shit. My mind would wander and I’d struggle to keep moving forward, losing focus on the task at hand, relentless forward progress. In the past if I recall I would eat about 100 calories every 30 minutes. This time I tried every 20 minutes. So I’d be getting around 300 calories an hour. I ate Clif Bloks, Tesco fruit bars, and KIND chocolate and nut bars. I also had made some chocolate peanut butter balls but soon found out I didn’t care for them. I tried to cycle through all of this stuff routinely and then at aid stations would eat whatever, usually plain Pringles. It worked very well. I only recall one sugar drop late in the race where I lost track of time and likely missed a feed. My mind was focused the entire race which was great. Food-wise I still get sick of the Bloks, just too sweet, but they go down well and are easy to carry. The Tesco fruit bars are ok, but also too sweet and I grew tired of them, I may axe these next time. They also are a bit on the low side for calories compared to the other options. The KIND bars were a nice change, I guess I don’t have an opinion one way or the other with them! One thing I did have the second half was Clif Nut Butter Filled bars. A gamble to try but they were great. They also have nearly 250 calories per bar! I mentioned the home made chocolate peanut butter balls. I ate some the first half, and although good, just too chocolatety for me. So avoided them and actually didn’t resupply them at my drop bag. At the aid stations I recall having Pringles as I mentioned. Coke too. Those are my go to foods I think. Coke doesn’t travel well though being carbonated so can’t really fill a bottle and go, besides I prefer water. I also had vegetable soup and chili with rice. The only downside to these is they take time to eat at an aid station.
Fluids I carried comprised only of water, except for the one time I tried to carry coke and late in the race it sprayed all over me. I started with three soft flasks, 500ml each, which were required. I usually only have two but due to the potential and actual heat they required an extra 500ml. It seemed to be perfect. Once it cooled off I was ok with only two. I was peeing all day just fine, the first time I’d done this, as I normally manage to dig myself into a dehydrated hole and end up with urine the color of coke. This situation usually ends up in cramping and also I get really worried about my kidney health. I also took a Salt Stick salt tablet about every 45 minutes just in case but wasn’t too strict about this though.
Gear:
I ran with my bigger Ultimate Direction Mountain Vest that I’d gotten for the Arc. It has a bigger capacity for more gear. I ended up using it mainly because the soft flasks carry better in this compared to my old school race vests that are made for bottles. Plus I was carrying food for the first 47 miles, I’d restock from my drop bag at half way. The vest worked great, there’s always something that could be better pocket-wise though as I struggle to find a decent easily accessible place for my cup. Most races are cup-less now so you need to bring a collapsible cup for drinks. It’s annoying to take off my race vest to get my cup.
Over lockdown I got a new watch, a Coros Apex Pro. It’s great but I hadn’t raced with it yet so was unfamiliar with the lap function and also the navigation. I usually use the lap function to try to track how much time I spend at aid stations and also so I know how far I have to the next one. I’m never concerned about total miles or time. Breaking the race up into realistic distances works extremely well. I really should’ve practiced with this beforehand because it didn’t work as my old Suunto had. I also knew very little about how to access, exit, and manipulate the navigation functions. Rookie mistakes I’ll very much need to solve before the Arc. It looks like you can enter aid stations into the GPX file of the race on the watch which could solve all these issues for me. I just need to practice.
Shoes were fine. I’ve come to the conclusion shoes don’t matter for me. Zero blisters. I was going to use my tried and true Altra Lone Peak, even paying full price for a new pair of Lone Peak 5. Normally I’ll get them discounted through work (a running store) but the distributor in the UK is shit and had zero stock. Anyway, I figured I’d wear my Saucony Peregrine 10 on the drive down and switch to race shoes once there. The Peregrine felt so good I ran the first half of the race in them! I switched to the Lone Peak halfway, as well as my socks (tried and true DryMax Light Trail crew height!). Honestly I may end up with Peregrines from here out.
I carried a small bodyglide in my pocket and routinely applied it to the insides of my thighs. I’ve had chafe issues here in the past. Lycra shorts just aren’t supportive enough, many people swear by these but not me. I did end up with the beginning of possibly a major chafe issue but not till the very end, so that worked I guess.
My lights were good. Still using the Petzl Nao. I’d gotten better batteries from Germany but wasn’t sure which was which carrying a spare. It lasted about 6 hours and then gave off the warning flash, I switched to a new battery and was fine. Later I read that the flash is just that, a warning, it’s not dead yet so I could’ve ran it longer. Something I need to be sure about for the Arc is battery life as January with provide a long ass night of darkness. It’s hard though unless I’m racing to use a full battery and be familiar with it.
Other:
The most difficult part is dealing with the exhaustion and sleep deprivation. I guess there’s not much I can do about this though! This is really what seems to slowdown the pace. I’ve also been afraid to push the pace towards the end. I need to realize and act on it. They say the race doesn’t start until mile 70. I guess when I get there I could always hobble in so maybe if all is going well that’s the plan. Focus on a full running stride. No more ultra shuffling.
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