Trail Running - Beacons Ultra Dec 09

scottreynolds

Okay, so a few months ago I posted some q's on routes etc as I said I was training up for this race which is a 50 mile two lap race in Wales. This past weekend I went over and did a loop to know what I got myself in for.

Just so you don't think I'm stupid here's some background.

1. Started Running 4 mouths ago but have a solid cycling base
2. Longest run to date, in my life, is 22.2 miles
3. Have never attempted to run off road in the mountains
4. ..... from NZ some I'm reasonably hard

Here's a quick report.........

Being my first trail run in another foreign country I didn't know what to expect but everything I thought in general about trail running was all wrong.

Firstly I so of expected a nice path, like the Wicklow way around Glendalough, that I could run on. You know the wide open tree free paths with stairs etc. Boy was I wrong. This route was totally and utterly not a path in that sense. I found myself going up a small creek, crossing farmers fields, running over loose uneven stones and fighting my way through a small gap between hedge rows. Secondly, I expected that I could run it all. Apart from the path beneath my feet the hills were impossibly step for me to run up and the same on the way down. Lastly, My PMP for the dublin marathon 26 miles is 3:50. I was thinking 6 hours for this 'training 26.2' would be sufficient all in including navigating etc.

I couldn't run the course all the way round at all because of the terrain and we, my training buddy, and I got round in a little over 7 hours for the 26.2. The first few miles were along a canal I thought I was a gazelle striding gracefully along.... until we turned up gaining about 150 metres in elevation in about 30 mintues all walking. Once this initial uphill was done we then had to siddle round a hillside and then descend into a valley. This was where we got off track (not lost). We ended up about 25 minutes up in the wrong direction but our trusting navigating skills using the GPS location of our watches and an OS map, a compass, the sun, and the hills around us we figures out we were about 2 miles out of the way so ran back down and found our way ontot the correct path. This is am important lesson for me as it made me realise that mountain running doesn't have sign posts.

When we got ont the track again we were running across soft mud/grass and our feet were getting wet. Another lesson here, don't wear shoes to small my toes were killing me and my calf was cramping. We slowed to a walk for about 30 minuites while gaining another 150 meter -- my training buddy read somewhere in your first ultra run the up hills. On the Friday I said I wasn't walking anything as I was here to push my self.

The rest of the path to the top was pretty gradual and easy and we passed a whole bunch of people doing a race in the other direction. We even meet some guy walking his kids who said he hoped we enjoyed our 3 hour 18 mile run home -- he was doing the same race and gave us good tips about the route.... which we forgot almost immediately. He also warned us abouth the cattle chasing us.... which I remembered as this simple phrase - 'Cow's charging, Scott Running'

Once we got off the tops I was looking foward to a slow jog down to the bottom but instead got uneven wet slippery ground which wew almost lost our balance on a few times so going was slower than we thought. Near the bottom we had to go though a 'tunnel' of trees and bushes with a stoney uneven base I could hardly walk through it let alone run it but eventually it ended after about half a mile and we were out in the open for a while on a country road.

Eventually we turned back onto the trail and had to cross a bunch of fields. The second field was full of cows and all I could remember were the words of the local but my training buddy assured me everything was fine.... UNTIL THE COWS CHARGED. Now I know the cows weren't charging and they thought I had food but we both turned and ran -- me slding under a bush to get to the nearest fence where I proceeded to climb over it getting my short torn and catching my skin. Ades (training buddy) run back to the start of the field and climbed the fence gracefully. That was the funniest thing ever and we laughed and laughed for the next 10 mins until another guy caught us -- he was training on the route as a recce for the Beacons Ultra too. He had run past the same cows without incident. We were about 6 miles form home now and ran in to the villages and back along the canal. Stopping frequently cause 7 hours on the legs they were starting to get tired.

All in all it was a great day a brilliant recce and a fun time. I definately earn't the beers we had and today I'm still recovering and in pain.... not from the beers I think. Trail running is alot different to what I thought but I'm excited about the challenges ahead....

kennyb3

scottreynolds wrote: »

Okay, so a few months ago I posted some q's on routes etc as I said I was training up for this race which is a 50 mile two lap race in Wales. This past weekend I went over and did a loop to know what I got myself in for.

Just so you don't think I'm stupid here's some background.

1. Started Running 4 mouths ago but have a solid cycling base
2. Longest run to date, in my life, is 22.2 miles
3. Have never attempted to run off road in the mountains
4. ..... from NZ some I'm reasonably hard

Here's a quick report.........

Being my first trail run in another foreign country I didn't know what to expect but everything I thought in general about trail running was all wrong.

Firstly I so of expected a nice path, like the Wicklow way around Glendalough, that I could run on. You know the wide open tree free paths with stairs etc. Boy was I wrong. This route was totally and utterly not a path in that sense. I found myself going up a small creek, crossing farmers fields, running over loose uneven stones and fighting my way through a small gap between hedge rows. Secondly, I expected that I could run it all. Apart from the path beneath my feet the hills were impossibly step for me to run up and the same on the way down. Lastly, My PMP for the dublin marathon 26 miles is 3:50. I was thinking 6 hours for this 'training 26.2' would be sufficient all in including navigating etc.

I couldn't run the course all the way round at all because of the terrain and we, my training buddy, and I got round in a little over 7 hours for the 26.2. The first few miles were along a canal I thought I was a gazelle striding gracefully along.... until we turned up gaining about 150 metres in elevation in about 30 mintues all walking. Once this initial uphill was done we then had to siddle round a hillside and then descend into a valley. This was where we got off track (not lost). We ended up about 25 minutes up in the wrong direction but our trusting navigating skills using the GPS location of our watches and an OS map, a compass, the sun, and the hills around us we figures out we were about 2 miles out of the way so ran back down and found our way ontot the correct path. This is am important lesson for me as it made me realise that mountain running doesn't have sign posts.

When we got ont the track again we were running across soft mud/grass and our feet were getting wet. Another lesson here, don't wear shoes to small my toes were killing me and my calf was cramping. We slowed to a walk for about 30 minuites while gaining another 150 meter -- my training buddy read somewhere in your first ultra run the up hills. On the Friday I said I wasn't walking anything as I was here to push my self.

The rest of the path to the top was pretty gradual and easy and we passed a whole bunch of people doing a race in the other direction. We even meet some guy walking his kids who said he hoped we enjoyed our 3 hour 18 mile run home -- he was doing the same race and gave us good tips about the route.... which we forgot almost immediately. He also warned us abouth the cattle chasing us.... which I remembered as this simple phrase - 'Cow's charging, Scott Running'

Once we got off the tops I was looking foward to a slow jog down to the bottom but instead got uneven wet slippery ground which wew almost lost our balance on a few times so going was slower than we thought. Near the bottom we had to go though a 'tunnel' of trees and bushes with a stoney uneven base I could hardly walk through it let alone run it but eventually it ended after about half a mile and we were out in the open for a while on a country road.

Eventually we turned back onto the trail and had to cross a bunch of fields. The second field was full of cows and all I could remember were the words of the local but my training buddy assured me everything was fine.... UNTIL THE COWS CHARGED. Now I know the cows weren't charging and they thought I had food but we both turned and ran -- me slding under a bush to get to the nearest fence where I proceeded to climb over it getting my short torn and catching my skin. Ades (training buddy) run back to the start of the field and climbed the fence gracefully. That was the funniest thing ever and we laughed and laughed for the next 10 mins until another guy caught us -- he was training on the route as a recce for the Beacons Ultra too. He had run past the same cows without incident. We were about 6 miles form home now and ran in to the villages and back along the canal. Stopping frequently cause 7 hours on the legs they were starting to get tired.

All in all it was a great day a brilliant recce and a fun time. I definately earn't the beers we had and today I'm still recovering and in pain.... not from the beers I think. Trail running is alot different to what I thought but I'm excited about the challenges ahead....

fair play scotty!!

RacoonQueen

Now I wanna run it.

scottreynolds

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Now I wanna run it.

Its funny cause I thought my friend was going to pack it in..... but we fight on. Still sore but went for a quick run -- starting to feel better now.

godihatethehils

Great report Scott, you are seriously hard. What do they feed kids on in kiwiwland, milupa fortified with pure adrenaline???

Looking forward to hearing how you get on in the marathon.

scottreynolds

godihatethehils wrote: »

Great report Scott, you are seriously hard. What do they feed kids on in kiwiwland, milupa fortified with pure adrenaline???

Looking forward to hearing how you get on in the marathon.

Sheeps milk and baby lambs-- what else...

godihatethehils

Hey Scott, how about next year's Wicklow 200, we'll cycle it....you run it?!

Loser buys the pints

scottreynolds

Here's a report -- if anyone wants to do this race in the future do it its awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I've never been so exhausted in all my life after the 45 mile walk / run around the 45 miles of the Beacons Ultra so here's a report as possible.

Firstly let me start off by admitting we were slow and that it doesn't matter too much. I'm totally preplexed why I feel a bit down about the speed when a) Our only goal was to finish and qualify for the UTMB CCC and b) after running one lap in August we said 13 hours was our target. Still I guess hindsight is a different story.

13:14 minutes is a long day. It started well trundling along the 3/4 miles of the Canal to the big climb of the lap. I was fgeeling full of beans and started walking up the hill and thats when I knew the day was going to be long... My poor buddy, Adrian, doesn't have the amount of training I had in my legs nor the strength probably from cycling so we started to slip back down the field -- again this wasn't a problem at all cause we were here to qualify. I guess I'm silly like that I was too caught up with what everyone else was doing. About 50 minutes later we got to the top of that hill and the main field was now gone - never to be seen again. All was okay we had made it up and there was no talk of quitting -- although Adrian secretly inform ed me later it crossed his mind. Well from the top of that first hill the path is fairly gradual again from mile 6 I guess to the top of the Gap at mile 12 (approx). The gap (which I thought was the main hill of this race) was nothing more than a consistent gradual slope up to a pass. Nothing special there... and we were sticking with the plan of run / walking the flats / descents and walking the uphills. The track of the gap isn't the best footing so we just took it easy -- a DNF from unjury wawsn't worth 30 minutes faster through any section. The worst part of the course for us was off the bottom of the gap through a hedgerow -- underfoot conditions, and the fear of injury, meant again we were slow through that mile or so. After that we were onto the flat / easy section of the course about 6/7 miles across roads / farms / canal back to that start. Adrian had great pleasure for part of this sections as I started to feel like I hadn't eaten enough sugar and was on a real downer... on the other hand Adrian was at the peak of his day .... all thoughts of his sore hip were gone. We eventually trundled into the start / finish 6:15 after the start having achieved another massive goal -- not getting lapped.

The best things about being so slow on the first lap is that the second lap was in totally different conditions. Wind and rain. The paranoia has set in now for the second lap and that hill loomed large on our minds so there was little running in the second canal secion up to the bottom of the hill. No problem though we had budgeted time. The seconds hill felt longer / steeper / tougher for Adrian -- I was fine enjoying it almost. For a second I thought it was all over and Adrian was going to fall into a heap. On the way up we even saw two walkers travelling down the hill with poles which I offered to buy from them if they had a credit card machine... they didn't but they cheered us up a bit -- its funny how someone elses company can pick you up a little. Well the top of the second hill arrived and awaiting us was one of the marshalls who kindly took our photo and looked at us jealously as we ran off into the wind and rain thankful that we had spent 400 pounds on new gear -- thanks to the organisers company www.likeys.com for that. The rest of the second loop was fairly uneventful with walking becoming the norm and runnig rare. The top of the gap was colder, wetter, windier than before and I couldn't wait to be down from there. I even contemplated taking off my jacket and putting on my windproof fleece. Mind you I had also though about cutting a sheep up and wearing his coat to keep warm.... it sleeping inside a sheep carcus wrong? (This is a question for welshman as we know things that seem wrong to the rest of world are okay in Wales and NZ).

Off the gap things started to get chillier while walking the descent in the cold and dark (run I hear so of you say). the same hedgerow had now become a torrent of water -- a mini river if you will so we had to charge through the water without abandon for our own personal safety. Remarkably we travelled this section faster than before. The good news at the end of this section is we had about 6 miles flat to go, some muddy stuff but flat, so the run walk was back on for two miles. Then the lady (a pirate for those in the know) we were running with left us for dead. Some marshalls (or maybe marshall wannabe's) saw us shortly after she left us and laughed at us at being dropped by a granny... it was dark but she's didin't look much older than 50 . A slowwalk home and we were done.

Now, if ever in my life have I used the phrase I deserve a drink this time I truly meant it. So a quick shower and down to the oub for a hard earned meal and a few beers. We had done one lap and about 10 beers in August so 20 pints was on the cards. We ordered our food and drink and sat in for the long night. 15 minutes later we were off home. Couldn't eat the food and couldn't finish half a bootle of beer... Adrian feared worse drinking two sips of beer and eating about 5 chips. 20 minutes slow stiff shuffle walk later (its about 400m) and we were back in the room and off to sleep. Forget the run its the drinking session I will remember for ever.

Well I learnt a few things during the run and here they are:

1. Learn to read profiles for any race ou do and train to match that profile. 45 miles in the mountains is differnt to 40 miles flat.
2. Ignore advice from those who don't know and buy the best gear you can from the guy who do know. So many people looked ill prepared and several people dropped out of the race due to being cold and / or wet.
3. Seal skin socks are awesome. I didn't have any but Adiran did and altough he got cold feet his feet were never wet.
4. I need to run faster next year - 10 hours seems like a reasonable goal but it all depends on if my son will let me travel over again.
5. Any day you achieve all your goals is a good day even if your goals weren't hard enough.

jeffontour

So, I'm still waiting to hear if you're up for 30k Thursday evening? I have some sealskinz I can let you borrow if you ask nicely

scottreynolds

jeffontour wrote: »

So, I'm still waiting to hear if you're up for 30k Thursday evening? I have some sealskinz I can let you borrow if you ask nicely

30km.. I'd be up for one lap but not three -- depending on wifey permissions.

mithril

Great report Scott. If your goal is to qualify and prepare for CCC then having completed a run of 13 hour plus will stand to you and may actually be better than a shorter, faster, run.

Wonder whether you can elaborate a bit more of what kit you were using and what worked for you?
I have sealskinz socks but find they are a bit wide for my feet. I also have the sealskinz gloves which are excellent.

I am doing a shorter 33 mile Ultra in February, Pilgrims Trail in Surrey
http://www.xnrg.co.uk/events_pilgrimchallenge.htm and hoping to try the CCC in 2012.
I am recovering from injury so I think there might have to be a bit more walking in this compared with what I originally planned.

Santa might be able to visit Likeys for me over Christmas and get me some nice kit if I know the right things to ask for.

scottreynolds

mithril wrote: »

Wonder whether you can elaborate a bit more of what kit you were using and what worked for you?
I have sealskinz socks but find they are a bit wide for my feet. I also have the sealskinz gloves which are excellent.

Kit wise... number 1 for me was Injiji Woolen Socks (toe socks or tsocks). no blisters or anything which was my biggest fear after tenderfoot Jeff warned me about blisters. the one down side of seal skins was that my buddies feet got cold so if I get them I will add a additional toe sock liner.

I'd run next time in just long running tights. It gets pretty cold walking so much but most of the guys we wearing them.

Key for me is not to skimp on anything. I got a new Gore-Tex paclite jacket for the occassion bit I tried to buy one I could use again. Adrian has a new Marmotte Nano which was awesome but unfortunately I was between sizes so I got a Salomon (which at half the price made sense anyway).

I bought some new shoes two weeks ago and they are totally awesome. Mizunos Wave Cabrakan - good cushioning which Jeff recommended.

Lastly my pack Inov-8 Race Pro 18 Litre (you could get away witha smaller one depending on race gear requirements) worked well. It was lashing rain and most everything remained dry.

The only part of my kit I wouldn't recommend was the Salomon running jacket I had because although its windproof it offers little warmth so I'd like to find a warmer fleece if possible.

kennyb3

fair play scott!

scottreynolds

mithril wrote: »

I am doing a shorter 33 mile Ultra in February, Pilgrims Trail in Surrey
http://www.xnrg.co.uk/events_pilgrimchallenge.htm and hoping to try the CCC in 2012.

Shorter -- isn't in 33 miles twice?

Krusty_Clown

Only if you do it twice!

mithril

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Only if you do it twice!

Exactly. First day only for me so I will travel back to start by train rather than on foot which tougher folks are attempting. On good paths all the way though which makes a huge difference.

I know the area quite well since I lived in Epsom previously.

Thanks for the detailed reply on kit. I normally travel very light but I have realized I need something a bit warmer.

scottreynolds

mithril wrote: »

Thanks for the detailed reply on kit. I normally travel very light but I have realized I need something a bit warmer.

The problem is might need... last year on the beacons Ultra is was -8c after dark which honestly didn't seem appealing. If it had been bad this year I would have frozen.