UT 55k 2019: And you will know me by the trail of blood

Hello to anyone following for the FIT converter. Haven't changed a lot lately, but you might like to know it's embedded in https://www.plotaroute.com/ as the FIT export library there. Good site (I should point out I'm not profiting from it there, other than getting the finest of FIT courses compatible with the latest Garmin kit from an interface where you can tweak the coursepoints nicely).
  This blog isn't about the converter, though it does play a cameo in the paragraph where I got lost running this ultra and this came in rather useful. This one's actually about getting out in the mountains and the rain.

I had plans of editing this better, but let's face it, nearly 3 months later it's probably best if I just post it as it stands before it rusts.

At the risk of nicking a line from Katie (winner of the 100k version of the race) - everything is at risk of turning into a bit of a blur of jumbled ups and downs. I'm going to try to make this coherent enough to jog my memory to advise first-timers in future (and while I think of it, thanks to DG for prep advice, BB for tips on the way round, and a few of my colleagues who've run it in the past and were very helpful with advice & giving me a good idea of what kind of time I could realistically aim for).

Two threads here; one is the two-year-ish buildup to the race, which I think I got reasonably right (that's the bit that needed editing in); one is the weekend itself.

The train journey was a bit of a mess and got me to Ambleside an hour late, but I had plenty of slack in the schedule and got to kit check and registration with three hours in hand. Checker wasn't overly impressed with my waterproof trousers (bought on spec here with a description that sounded fairly reassuring) but was fine with the jacket, and everything else was good. A while back I bought a Petzl rechargeable torch partly for having a removable battery pack where you can swop in a pack with three AAAs, pretty much ideal for this situation. Caught up with DG,KS & CC for a while before heading off for an early night.

Getting the food right the night before and the morning of the race is obviously essential. I've tried everything. For nearly ten years, I've had a banana and a nutrigrain before racing - good fuel which doesn't upset the digestion. Recently, I've decided that fish and chips is my alimentary canal's idea of solid protein and carb loading which will keep it quiet and orderly the following day. There's also the mint Magnum, which started a year ago as a running joke and has turned into some kind of borderline superstition, because oh I don't know I've run a load of PBs while I've been doing it, so it obviously isn't doing any harm, and it's part of the routine now, eat meal, locate Magnum, eat that, sleep. Couldn't find a mint one in Ambleside but I got by on a classic. Seemed to do the job 🙂

B&B was nicely lined up for the 55k, with three or four people doing it they arranged an early breakfast. One of the owners is a fell runner himself, member of the local running club and knows Paul Tierney well, so we had a good chat about him and his amazing Wainwright record - he mentioned them going to join him for their club run one evening, and finding that they could not keep up with the pace he was going to sustain for more than 6 days. Titan.

Kit was exactly what I wore for Coniston marathon, which reassured me (wrongly) that I wouldn't be suffering from any of it. That includes a Wahoo Tickr Fit optical armband for HR. Very comfortable, no chafing, accurate and the 11 hours it was running used about a quarter of the battery. I tried to squeeze a 1.5l water bladder into my pack, but nothing doing, so went with two 500ml soft bottles, which were just about enough. Post breakfast, wandered over to the start, where I found myself sweating just waiting around - not a great sign when you're nowhere near the hottest part of the day. I had an A goal of finishing without completely breaking myself, and ideally still feeling strong enough to run the closing stages, B goal of 10 hours, C goal of beating JM's time, on the grounds that she'd challenged me to do so after breaking down with several miles to go. Yes, I know it's normal for the A goal to be the hardest one, but that wasn't the way I was thinking. I headed off planning to keep things reined in, and was walking within a few hundred metres on a steep road inside Ambleside itself. Took it easy up the Struggle and on to Kirkstone Pass, and was feeling quite happy with the pace I was setting up to that point without taking it out of myself too badly. What I hadn't worked out at that stage is that this opening stretch is easier underfoot than most of the route, and the splits were set to get quite a bit slower. I ran into BB going down Kirkstone Pass and we ended up running together until close to the last checkpoint. At this point,I was dipping my cap in every bit of cool water I came across. Through to Glennridding went smoothly enough, topped up both water bottles, drank some water and had some snacks before heading on. Bit of a queue, but it was definitely a day for drinking and topping up bottles at every stop so it was worth it, and to be expected at this stage).

Heading up along Grisedale up to Grisedale Hause was straightforward enough, long climb and rockier underfoot than the first long climb, so my pace was slowing a bit there. Quick photo stop at the tarn and then I think I actually got slower on the way down - the descent is very solid underfoot, basically steps for a long way down the steepest bit, but it's very steep and I'm still not very skilled at that kind of thing. I could save a fair bit of time next time by working on this. There were a couple of short and easy scrambly bits in this section.

The tarmac section into Grasmere was much quicker (11 odd minute miles in context!). It feels surprisingly far from hitting Grasmere to reaching the very welcome checkpoint, where I had a quick chat with CA, ate sandwiches and crisps, and drank about a bath tub of water. (out of coke there - only one person I saw had the common sense to pick up a bottle from a shop leaving town... warm day, as I say!)

The climb from Grasmere towards Langdale under Silver How is one of the less good memories - it looks like a pimple after the two long climbs, but it is steep and with the sun at that stage, I was just going at the pace I thought I could sustain without overheating. I think this is the only point where I worried about finishing. It got better.

Those two big climbs make the elevation plot deceptive - there's plenty of up in the second half, the individual climbs are just shorter.

I was happy to get into Langdale, which is the part of the route I know best, and has gems like Slater's Bridge to look forward to.

Got through the checkpoint as fast as the queues allowed and through to Slater's Bridge. Half a mile past there is the place I decided two years ago that I was definitely going to do this race after working out that I'd been walking its route for the past few miles. I'd obviously been thinking about it enough to know where the route went, and that particular (fairly easy as it turns out) section was enough to make my mind up.

Next, plodded on to nav error number one where I misunderstood a sign and confidently led half a dozen people into a dead end field. Whoops. Pulled the route up on my watch and set us right again. I think I was trying to avoid the steep road with cyclists whizzing down at high speed!

Coming past Blea Tarn, we came across a runner with heat exhaustion, who was throwing up everything he tried to drink. We were quite worried about him as this point is as far from checkpoints as you get, but there was a road not far ahead and we thought we might find him some help there. Hallelujah,a water station and a harried looking marshal who already had one runner lying down wrapped in a foil blanket to deal with. Another reason to feel very grateful to the excellent support on this race. The water was welcome too, I'd burned through nearly a litre since the last checkpoint.

I almost went over coming down into Great Langdale on loose stones that were just running away under my feet, and slowed down. I did fall once coming down Grisedale, but there was a handy rock to grab and it seems my knackered shoulder is strong enough to deal with that!

Not long after this, near the Old Dungeon Ghyll hotel, nav error number two. Not my fault this time, as far as we can make out somebody had removed the flags in case they confused the triathletes going through the same area (no idea why, what with their flags being a completely different colour). After some very random wandering around, we worked out the route using my watch and another equally geeky competitor's. I think it was nearly a mile before we saw another yellow pennant, though, which was finally reassuring!

By now I could feel a blister sticking to my left sock, and it was fairly uncomfortable when speeding up but ok when I was going. I'd put spare socks in my bag and with hindsight changing might have helped this.

Passing the New Dungeon Ghyll hotel, got great support from the drinkers and pressed on. I was speeding up compared to the hills here, but not exactly fast!

As the route comes towards Chapelstile, I was back on familiar, flat and firm ground and dug in a bit towards the final check point, after whirring past the Wainwright Inn without stopping for a quick pint for possibly the first time ever! I was pretty tired by the time I got to the checkpoint - I even had a cup of tea with two sugars in, for the first time in about 35 years. Stuffed myself with food, had a quick chat with BB, who was suffering worse than me with blisters, and agreed to abandon her without mercy and head on. When my friend JM ran this two years ago, this was the slowest section for her as her hip flexor was playing up badly. She’s tougher than me, but this time I survived better. I had a surprising amount of energy left, and overtook a lot of people between here and the end, clocking my fastest km split in a downhill km and even managing to speed up faster than 9mm for the finish. It actually helped that the weather finally broke about this point, and I ran the last 6k or so in belting rain, which took the temperature and the humidity down nicely. 10:50. Which beats JM, but then my legs were both working still. (The B goal was the time she thought she could have run if she hadn't broken herself - interesting concept, that).

Crossed the line, dived into the nice dry marquee and changed my socks at last. My. God. Once a rat died and rotted away under the floor of a place I worked, and that didn’t smell anywhere near as bad as my feet right then. I’ve washed the socks three times and they’re still not right. The shoes are ok after a nice bath in antibacterial washing liquid. Grabbed some food, stuffed my face, waited for BB to come in (in another sprint finish, overtaking three people in the funnel to the finish line), said a quick hello to DG and Katie (and congratulated her in winning the 100k), and headed back to the B&B. Stairs a struggle, and stuck dressings on my left foot after discovering I was leaving a trail of blood. I have Crossed A Line, because reaction 1 was finding it funny, and reaction 2 was asking everyone what socks to wear to stop it happening next time.

And there will be a next time.