Country to Capital ultra

It was a long race, so thought I'd better write something before I forget a lot of it! Loads of info here if you want to see the route etc.: http://gobeyondultra.co.uk/events/country_to_capital_2013

This was not an 'A' race, as I hadn't even planned to run it this year, but had a free place as the organisers let me carry over my unused entry from last year. But it had made me do some good long runs during November and December, which I figured will be good early prep for IM France anyway. I managed about 6 training runs over 20M, the longest being 28M and one weekend where I did 20M both days. But I had still only been running about 3 times a week, so probably not ideal prep.

Given the above, the goals for the race were:
1) Enjoy it and not get injured!
2) Get under 6 hours - I didn't really know how I was going to do given this was new territory for me, but this seemed a reasonably conservative target.

Alex and I drove over to Wendover and arrived at registration in some nice sleet/rain/wind, and I did wonder why I was doing this! But luckily the rain stopped and it was dry for the rest of the day, although there was still a cold wind, which happened to be an easterly - not ideal when the race is mostly run in an easterly direction! With a hat, gloves, longsleeve and rucksack on I didn't exactly feel fast, but I was mentally ready to run slowly for a long period of time.

Ready to go (cold!)

The route is basically 25M across the Chilterns, requiring navigation, with some hills and mud, and then 20M along the canal into London. So as I didn't have a clue where I was going, I planned to run with others at least until the canal, and that would make me pace myself sensibly as well. After about a mile I was in 3rd place following the two leaders, when they took a turning which didn't seem right. I waited for the next runners, who went the other way! So the two in front didn't know where they were going, but they soon caught up again. Eventually we settled into a group of about 8 of us, only one of whom seemed to actually know the way, and no one else even had the map out - I had left it in the rucksack at this point. We got to checkpoint 1, which was about 8M in, and I decided to get the map out, just in case I ended up running alone.

A few miles after the CP1 the group split up a bit and I ended up running with one other guy. He didn't have his map out, or know the route, so I was navigating. I was enjoying this bit as I felt fine, we were ticking off the miles through nice countryside, and we were in 2nd/3rd place. It all seemed to be going smoothly as we approached the canal at about 23M when we got quite lost. In a housing estate we asked a guy in his garden for the way to the canal, he pointed us in the right direction, and when we got there we met the 4th and 5th placed runners - doh! Oh well, I was still feeling OK and all the navigation was done.


Coming into CP3 (25M)

 As soon as we got on the canal, the guy had been running with took off and quite quickly pulled away. I was running about 7-7:10 min/mile, so he must have been closer to 6:30s. I kept thinking "it's a long way to go yet", so took it easy and was pulling away from 4th and 5th place anyway. I was really pleased to see Alex at CP3, 25M, as she wasn't sure whether she would be able to make it there in time to see me, but I didn't stop to chat!

There's not much to say about the next 20M - it was a canal towpath, into a headwind, for over 2.5 hours, with no other runners in sight! I kept ticking along at about 7:15 min/mile, looking forward to the checkpoints, which were about 6M apart. Alex met me at the remaining 2, and as a reward for making it to each CP I allowed myself to walk with her for a minute or so while I ate/drank a bit and she gave me some words of encouragement. That really helped to break it up and it was nice to talk to someone after so long on my own!


Coming into CP4 (32M), starting to hurt!

It got really hard around 32M, but I kept plodding along and was surprised to find I could maintain just under 7:30 mins/mile. I didn't have any injury-type pains, just general fatigue, so I counted down the miles and eventually I came around a corner to see the finishline, and Alex there of course! Apparently I was catching the two guys ahead - the guy I had been running with in the first half ended up catching the leader in the last couple of miles and beat him by 24s. No idea how I was catching them considering how I felt at the time! But I was still about 6 mins down at the finish, in 5h33.


Pleased to have finished!

 A few minutes after I finished I suddenly felt in a massive amount of pain - hard to describe as it wasn't any particular muscle, just a general all-over ache. By the time we got home I felt better though, and the legs actually recovered better than I expected - was walking without too many problems the following day. Much better than after a marathon - maybe the soft terrain and slower pace reduces the impact enough to counteract the extra miles.

Massive thanks to Alex for supporting me - I honestly don't think I would have made it if I hadn't known she was waiting for me at each checkpoint. And despite all her efforts I still got annoyed with her at the finish for leaving the car a bit away and making me walk there - it was in fact about 50m away! Can't believe she didn't give me a slap, I would have.


The podium

I'm now quite happy with my running endurance, so now "it's all about the bike"! And maybe I should do some swimming at some point....