Preparation
Most people prepare for their first Ultra marathon by building a base of long distance runs - 15, 20 miles over a couple of months.
I on the other hand hadn’t managed to fit in much of the right training. In fact since christmas my training has been pretty rubbish. With the disruption of a strained hamstring and few other things, family stuff happening at weekends, it just hasn’t happened.
So after only running 30k in the last 3 weeks I tried to set myself up for a 55k run along a course with 1200m of ascent.
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| Devon Ultra Marathon Route - image provided by Endurance Life |
It was an early start, so I had to set my alarm for 4:15 (I know, it’s a silly time to get up) then spent 15 mins getting dressed and faffing about.
I’d packed the car the night before and made breakfast, so was able to set off at 4.30. I ate my sensible, but uninteresting breakfast during the 2.5hr journey down to Devon. I arrived in Devon craving bacon rolls and coffee.
Race HQ was at Beesands, just south of Totnes. A nice little place, but difficult to get to. Getting to South Brent on the A38 was fine, but then I put my faith in the SatNag, which took me on a very direct, but ‘rural‘ route to Beesands.
I arrived at 7am and then faffed about with kit before going into the EL HQ tent and chatting to a few of the EL team, Stephan (Mark Pooles mate from Warminster running club) and had a cup of tea.
Weather forecast was bright spells in the morning followed by heavy rain and strong winds from mid-day I decided to buy myself a waterproof jacket at the EL shop, figuring if I was going to be out there for 7hrs I wanted to keep my core warm and dry.
Race start Beesands 8.15am
Not really knowing how I would cope I kept telling myself to just enjoy it and run my own race. So what did I do, dash off at the start, put in a strong first 10k (I was 1st to the 10k marker at Prawle Point) and strain my right calf. Bugger.
Ultra Marathon 55k and 1200m of elevation
The path out towards Start Point lighthouse climbs to about 80m on the way out of Beesands before dropping down to a pebble beach at Hallsands, then climbs steadily up to 100m at Start Point. The views towards the lighthouse were and back towards Dartmout were lovely.
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| Trail from Hallsands to Start Point |
Turning south at the lighthouse the path become very rocky and we had to pay much more attention to where are feet were going. I enjoy these technical bits and can somehow move much faster than others. Some of the lads I was running with reckoned it was a confidence thing, but I do’t know. It takes concentration and reasonable core strength to skip through rocks and uneven ground. I don’t watch where my feet are falling, but look 1-2 paces ahead to where my feet will fall. Don’t know if this is usual.
I was in the lead at this point and feeling very good. I wasn’t going to last though. My pace was too high.
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| Trail from Start Point towards Prawle |
Passing Great Sleadon Rock the path turned west, past the 10k turn (my homeward leg) and on towards Langerstone and Prawle Point. The trail was a mix of grass with small areas of rocks and tricky descents.
Along this stretch I felt the unmistakable ache of a slight calf strain. I’d pushed too hard over the first 5k. I wanted to finish this, so I’d be very disappointed if I had to pull out or just stop at the marathon finish line. I slowed down, and knew I couldn’t push too hard on my right leg.
At Prawle Point (10k) the 5 lads behind me caught up. We ran as a group along the coastal path to Salcombe. This 10k section round to Mill Bay was quite dramatic and had to be, for me anyway, the prettiest part of the whole route. The coastline took on a jagged and dangerous look, but was interspersed with deep yellow sandy beaches. It was lovely to run along.
CP1 Mill Bay 5m 18k. 6th 1:43
We all stopped and had a cup of water.
The trail then went inland and climbed about 100m while following footpaths and minor roads to East Prawle village.
Running along some flat sections of road (Rickam, Newhouse cottages and the high point of 134m) I found a good rhythm and actually started to feel quite comfortable. However, back on undulating trail sections I couldn’t push too hard and finally ended up falling a bit behind the leading group :(
CP2 East Prawle 122m, 25k. 8th 2:23
I reached East Prawle village within 1 minute of the leading pack, but decided to take a few minutes to take stock. I put about 500ml of water and a couple of nuun tablets in my hydration pack, considerd the distance I still had to cover and what sort of race I’d run.
The remainder of my race was predominantly solitary, which makes things harder and requires more discipline to maintain a target pace. I didn’t manage to do this.
The section from East Prawle to Hallsand, where the 10k route joins, was all trail constantly undulating (25m to 130m) and very pretty. From Hallsands the trail followed droves through some small and tight valleys before climbing up to the water stop at Huckham Barn Cross.
Huckham Barn Cross 109m, 33k. 8th
The next section was about 7k long, again very undulating (32m to 110m) and took us to Slapton Sands.
There were some very interesting and quite technical downhill bits from Beeson to Stokenham combined with small isolated valleys and stunning views. Wish I’d had more time to look around.
Oliver, who finished 7th, caught up with me somewhere along this section. We ran together for a while before he pulled away on an ascent.
There was a reasonably long descent along a minor road into Stokenham, where an EL marshals stopped traffic as I staggered across the A379. There was a equally long ascent out of the village taking us from 32m to 109m - I did walk a bit of this.
From the top of the hill above Stokenham there was a long descent down towards Deer Bridge and the edge of Slapton Nature Reserve. This was fast, but difficult. Running fast with tired legs on hard tarmac wasn’t much fun, so I as glad to get onto the nature trail.
The path through the nature reserve was a mix of elevated footways over wetland, trail and shingle beach along the banks of Slapton Ley.
CP3 Slapton Bridge 40k. 9th 4:03.
I stopped at CP 3 to take on about 500ml of water and a couple of nuun tablets. I also took a bit of time to change my kit. The weather was changing from bright sunny spells to constant drizzle and strong gusts and with the forecast being heavy rain and stronger winds, I decided to put my waterproot jacket on.
This was extra time out, but with another 16k to go there was plenty of opportunity to get soaked through, my core to get cold and to start feeling generally miserable. This was my first ultra and I wanted to enjoy the whole thing, even if it was physically tough.
Toby (5th place) passed me as I was faffing about at Slapton Bridge.
The next goal for me was to get back to Beesands and completion of the marathon distance. The 2.5k along Slapton sands is flat, but then there was a 65m climb up to Dun Point before dropping down to Beesands. At Dun Point and looking down to Beesands and EL HQ I did think for a moment “I’ve finished a marathon already. That seemed to pass quite quickly”
Beesands EL HQ - 46k. 10th 4:36
There wasn’t a checkpoint at the marathon finish (46k) so no official time, but I did check my watch - 4:36hrs.
It was difficult to run past the crowds massing around the finish point, welcoming home the 10k and half marathon runners, drinking hot tea and tucking into pasties - oh, they looked lush. There was a small bit of me that felt like stopping, but not a big enough bit.
I seemed to slip through EL HQ unnoticed and plodded on towards Start Point passing hoards to 10k and half marathon runners going in the opposite direction. I’d certainly lost the zip, pace and strength that was in my legs 4hrs earlier. Many of the hills I’d run up earlier now reduced me to a walk.
Though I’d lost physical strength, I seemed to have gained determination. I also knew the route very well, so was able to set and quickly achieve small goals - Tinsley Head, Hallsands, Start Point car park etc.
By the time I got the the south turn at the lighthouse the wind was really blowing. I mean really blowing. At times it was difficult to stand, which made the task of running over rocks virtually impossible. The Start Point coastal section was quite extreme. With fatigue setting in, the rain now pouring down and the wind stopping me in my tracks, I had to dig deep to keep going.
At the 10k junction my spirits lifted though with the sight of two runners ahead of me - Daniel and Darren, who I hadn’t seen since East Prawle, nearly 3hrs ago.
Start Point car park 50.5k. 9th place
I stopped for a few minutes at the Start Point car park with Daniel, had a cup of water and talked about what the last 5k might have in store.
On the way up to Hollycombe Head at 125m there was nowhere to hide from the wind and the rain was bucketing down. This was pretty extreme and I was glad my had a peak to keep the driving rain out of my eyes.
Darren appeared again and asked if we were going the right way, but a quick look at the small laminated map I was carrying confirmed we were. I ran with Darren for the remainder of the route, down a drove to Lamacraft Farm, through Bickerton and up a small valley to Higher Middlecombe Farm.
On the way up to the final right turn towards the finish Darren pulled ahead.
Huckham Barn Cross - 54.7k. 9th place
The smiling EL marshal told me I’d got about 2k to go and it was all downhill. Really! I’d obviously lost my bearings slightly, so was genuinely hen was surprised.
I though I might catch Darren on the final steep descent into Beesands, but I didn’t. He told me on the finish line he was determined I wasn’t going to catch him on the descent, so presumably through caution to the wind.
After skipping down the steep descent in to Beesands village I picked up a steady pace along the final flat section to the finish line. It was good to finish.
Beesands EL HQ 56k. 6:02hrs 9th.
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| Devon Ultra results |
A week ago when asked what my goal was I said I’d be happy to finish and ‘over the moon’ with a time of 5:59. I still felt over the moon.
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| HR - far too high during the first 10k |
Things I would have done differently
1. Done more of the right type of training before the event - more long distance runs. I only managed a few 10k runs in the weeks leading up to the event.
2. Not run so fast during the first 10k. I’m sure this led to the slight calf strain.
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| Speed, or lack of it! |
Happy with
1. Kit. Although I was quite warm at Mill Bay, by 46k I was glad of everything I was wearing and had packet.
2. Amount of water and mix of electrolytes - didn’t get big headaches afterwards.
Shoes. Only been running with 6mm diff shoes for a while and wondered if, over a very long distance, things might happen.
Pre race nutrition
Usual mix of low Glycemic Index carbohydrates on the day leading up to the race. I’ve convinced myself this works for me, so am happy to continue until persuaded otherwise.
Kept well hydrated the day before and ensured my salt intake increased.
Breakfast
Porridge (cold) and honey, malt loaf, left over pasta-bean mush, peanuts and a Zipvit energy bar 30mins before the race. All washed down with lots of tasty water-electrolyte solution.
Race nutrition
Started with 500ml of water, which got me through to 25k
4 ZipVit gels. I’d start to take these after about 20k and 1 every 10k-ish.
500ml + 2 nuun tablets 25k
500ml + 2 nuun tablets 40k
Kit
inov-8 Roclite 233 trail shoes
inov-8 Mudsoc
ronhill compression shorts
ronhill thermal full length running tights
helly hansen full length base layer
tech t-shirt
ronhill windproof jacket
Salamon hyrdation pack
running hat
Packed in Salamon hydration pack
A5 laminated OS maps
maratone waterproof jacket
running gloves
mandatory kit
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