It's a little over 12 months since my first ultra marathon, and the last few weeks have been pretty special. I've already written about how I won the Welsh Ultra Distance Championships at the Barry Track 40 Miler at the beginning of March. I followed that up by setting a new Welsh 100 km record (breaking a record that had stood since 1989) and taking third place in the British 100 km Championships in Northern Ireland 4 weeks later. It's been a great experience and as I've now found some time to sit down and reflect on it all, I've definitely learnt a few things in the process that I can use to make me a better ultra runner moving forwards. Race day pacingAs this was my first outing at 100 km, racing with the best ultra runners the UK has to offer, I had no experience to plan my race around. So, after the Barry 40 Miler, I decided to put a plan together. I knew what the world record was - 6:05:41 set by Aleksander Sorokin on 23rd April 2022. I knew what the British record was - 6:19:20 set by Steve Way back in 2014. These times weren't in my sights this time, so I decided to see what the Welsh record was - 6:43:55 set by Trevor Hawes of my club, Swansea, back in 1989. In fact, he was the only Welshman to run under 7 hours until that day in Craigavon. I based my target pace around beating this time - 18:50 per lap for 21 laps, an average pace of 6:26/mile, would break the longstanding record. And everything went almost exactly to plan. My first 11 laps were all well under my target time, giving me some room to play with. I like to race like this because I know that I can dig deep when it gets hard and I'd rather make it really hard and have to hold on than leave it too late and end up being well short of what I'm capable of doing. Lap 12 was over 19 minutes and lap 13 was under target pace again, followed by 8 more laps slower than target pace. But, the work had already been done over the first 33 miles and I knew all I had to do what keep moving at a comfortable speed and the record would be mine. Looking back at my Garmin data, my average pace was 6:28/mile. I went through:
Another interesting find from my splits is that I actually went through 50 miles slower than Trevor Hawes did when he set the old record in 1989 - he went through in 5:16:33, just over 2 minutes quicker than me. I can take some confidence from that in that I am able to dig deep and maintain a decent enough pace when things are hard towards the end of an ultra marathon. My heart rate profile from the race (see image below) was pretty even and consistent, compared to Barry when it dropped hugely for the last hour, taking some intensity out of my performance. I owe this to my nutrition strategy for the race and in the week leading up, and I'll discuss that in the section below. NutritionI took the same approach as the Barry 40 in the week leading up to the race. A reduction in mileage and an increase in carbohydrate intake for 72 hours over Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. As I did leading up to Barry, I found that carbohydrate loading with high fibre and low sugar foods was a great approach. I didn't feel heavy or lethargic, and I feel like I got to race day in a fully optimised condition. I had my nutrition for the day all planned out before hand, and I had my crew there to help with filling bottles up and handing them to me on the day. This really helped as it was one less thing to worry about - all I had to do was keep running and getting the fuel in. As we flew over to Belfast, I couldn't take my gels or drinks with me - we were restricted to hand luggage and, of course, liquids can't come on planes any more. So, after landing in Belfast on the Friday afternoon, we had about 36 hours to find drinks and gels. I usually go for Tesco Isotonic drinks and Science In Sport (SIS) gels, both of which I buy from Tesco, and as Northern Ireland is in the UK and has Tesco, I didn't expect this to be too much of a problem. Still, best to get things sorted early, so on the Friday night the first thing we did was go to the nearest Tesco to get the supplies in. The drinks were there, but the gels - nowhere to be found. I knew I would find them somewhere, and I managed to locate the nearest Tesco Extra where, as expected, I found them the next morning on the way to the Giant's Causeway for a day trip. On the day of the race, I woke up at 4:00 am, without waking my wife up which is always a good win to start the day! The race started at 8:00 am, so as planned I ate two slices of toast with olive spread at around 4:20 am, with a coffee. From then on, I sipped water (I'd sipped electrolytes the day before) for the rest of the morning, being careful not to take too much in. At 6:00 am we set off in the car for Craigavon, with a second coffee. We arrived just before 7:00 am and after I registered for the race, I ate a cereal bar at 7:00 am, one hour before the race. Then, it became a waiting game... As the pace wasn't going to be red hot from the start and 100 km is all about endurance, I didn't warm up. The first few miles would be enough of a warm up. So, I had to just sit down, relax, try not to drink too much water, and wait for the call to head to the start. Most of the other runners took the same approach and were waiting around, still in full tracksuits and coats until 15 minutes before the start of the race. Apart from a couple of trips to the toilet to make sure everything was empty, I waited in calm anticipation. We started the walk to the start at 7:50 am after putting my drinks and gels in place for my crew to hand them to me as I passed on each lap. The race was underway at 8:00 am, and everything clicked in to place. I went around the first lap without any fuel, but after that I carried something with me in a handheld bottle every lap. Every 3 laps I picked up a handheld drinks bottle with 400 ml of isotonic drink and a gel in the side pocket. The handheld fits nicely into my hand and it's comfortable to run with. I took in 200 ml for one lap, then 200 ml for the second lap. Then, at the end of the second lap, I took the gel out so I could pass the bottle back to my crew for a refill. For the third lap I then had a gel to consume before coming back around and collecting a new replenished handheld bottle to see me through for the next 3 laps. The strategy worked very well. No stomach issues and I managed to get all the gels and fluids down. I had to stop for a quick pee on lap 6, but this actually ended up being my fastest lap as I put my foot down to catch back up with the lead group. I learnt a lot about nutrition from this race. I've often been cautious of not taking enough fluids in and have avoided gels, sticking to isotonic drinks to make sure I stay hydrated. But after taking in 10 gels during this race, I know I can handle it, and I think I'm going to favour gels more in future, especially when it's not too hot and dehydration isn't too much of a concern. Gels provide a bit more carbohydrate value per gram and that's something I want to focus on to keep my glycogen levels topped up to maintain a decent intensity. A new National RecordIn the process, I went and broke the Welsh record that had stood since 1989! In addition, I became only the second Welsh runner to go under 7 hours for 100 km, and the 13th fastest British 100 km runner ever. Not a bad day really. This has given me some confidence for longer races now and I definitely feel that with some more training I can improve on my performance. I know that 3 hours provides some sort of barrier that I need to start working on by running fast after 3 hours of running. This won't be easy and a lot of things will need to come together on the day, but I'm going to enjoy seeing how far I can push myself and how my body reacts to it. Lessons learnedSo many things are important when you're racing over this sort of distance. It's not just about the preparation or the day itself, but all of it together. Anything can go wrong at anytime, and I've been there before. This time, I was fortunate that someone was smiling down on me and everything went to plan. However, it's about much more than the day itself. Everything needs to come together for a long time leading up to it. This is why people say distance running is a lifestyle. I simply wouldn't have put in this performance without making running part of my life. Everything needs to fit together so that you can concentrate and focus on whatever it is you are doing at a particular moment in time, whether that's running, working, or spending time with your family. Balance is important and I am so lucky to have had my family's support in the 10 months leading up to this race. Things may have gone well on the day, but it was the 10 months leading up to it that made the difference. My favourite moment of the dayThis was a great day and it was amazing to spend it with my family, and for them to be there to witness it. I am so lucky to have such an amazing support group around me and I can't wait to do more special things with them in the future.
But, the best moment of the day has to be the warm welcome from my son when we got back to the AirBnB. I hope he remembers this day but I want to give some special days to remember in the future too!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
DANIEL ROTHWELL🏴🇬🇧 Archives
July 2023
Categories |