The good, the bad and the what-was-I-thinking?
It’s been just over a month since our first attempt at going over the magic 26.2 miles. My trashed trail shoes have been consigned to the dustbin and my medal long ago eaten, so now seems like a good time to take stock. Would I do it again, or will I just tick it off the checklist as a been-there-done-that-don’t-need-to-do-it-again experience? Here’s my roundup of the highlights, the lowlights and the best forgottens of the ultra that wasn’t.
The good bits
* It still counts as one of my Best Days Ever. We did it, we enjoyed it, and we finished on time. Win!
* The ultimate test: how did I feel the next day? Raring to go and do a parkrun! The slow pace and softer trail surfaces definitely helped, but I credit Chi Running with helping me keep good form even after hours and hours of running. I felt GOOD.
* Ditto recovery. I took it easy with the running that week but no ill effects and straight back into training.
* And despite overdosing on long, slow running over the summer, I hadn’t got myself stuck permanently in first gear as I feared. First parkrun PB in ages this weekend. So that was nice.
The bad bits
We were newbies, we had no real idea of what we were doing, and we kind of made it up as we went along. So where did I go a bit wrong?
* Too much running and not a lot of anything else doesn’t make a strong runner. When you’re putting in long miles, it’s hard to find time to do other kinds of training, but starting out feeling weedy and weak was a big confidence crusher before I’d even started. If I could do my training over again, I’d prioritise at least a couple of sessions a week to work on muscle endurance.
* And talking of confidence crushers, we were definitely slower on the day than we’d hoped. We put our focus on the long runs, and I didn’t worry too much about what I was doing in between. Pretty much all my runs were done at a slow pace. Next time I’d mix it up more, and add in some speed work and hill training. Knowing we had a bit more pace to play with would have taken a lot of the pressure off.
* Don’t get me wrong. I love ChiaCharge flapjacks. But 10 hours straight of nothing but flapjacks, crisps and the odd sultana left me with a massive craving for peanut butter sandwiches. So time to get a bit more adventurous with food on my next trail runs.
* And maybe I felt a bit TOO good after the run. So good that I didn’t take recovery seriously enough. Parkrun the morning after. A couple of hours standing and watching the Taunton Carnival in the evening. Then several hours yomping round town on the Sunday morning, and I wondered why I felt rough? Lesson learned.
The ugly bits
And the bits I’d really rather forget?
* Perhaps I was just incredibly unlucky, but two for two on race cancellations sucked. My biggest learning in ultra training? Always have a plan B.
* Raving mad runger! For the fortnight after the race, I just ate and ate and ate some more.
* Diluted beetroot juice. Super gross. Never again.
* Downhill running. My dodgy ankle didn’t help, but I’ve discovered that I’m really bad at running steep downhills. Sadly, the only way to get better is to practice. So in 2015 I’ll be doing lots of downhill running. Happy happy happy. Joy joy joy.
* Cows. Cows really are quite scary. And they’re everywhere. It’s not the zombies we need to worry about. It’s the cows.
So, the acid test. Would I do it again? Well, I’m on the waiting list for the Millennium Way in March, and lining up the Salisbury 5-4-3-2-1 in August and the Bideford Bay 50K in October. So 2015 is set to be the year of the ‘proper’ ultra. With lots of plan Bs 😊
Photo Credit: tricky (rick harrison) via Compfight cc