Beacons Ultra

Nov 20, 2016 · 6 minute read · Comments

I’m starting to sound like a bit of a stuck record but, somehow, coming into this race I was even more tired than any of my previous races so far this year and feeling completely knackered. During the past week leading up to the race I was twice called out for work at night, my IT band issues since Downslink haven’t gone away and then from Thursday I’ve had a trapped nerve in my back, causing spasming pains every now and then all down my right side. I was so worried about how I would get through this race that I started looking around to see what other ultramarathons still had spots available so I could potentially ditch this one and go for another race, hoping desperately I might be feeling a little less run down by that point. Unfortunately all I could find was the Tour de Helvellyn, a particularly brutal fell race in the Lake District that was probably way beyond me both for running but also for navigation, so I was stuck with having a crack at the Beacons Ultra no matter how bad I felt.

Trying to work out how I was going to possibly surive this event I planned to start slow, get round the first lap and then just plod out the second lap, making sure to protect my injured knee as much as possible. This race was different to the rest so far where I was going into the race in worse condition than so far but realising that I couldn’t just bury myself on the race as I needed to be fit enough to still be able to run 42 miles just 3 weeks later at my final race of the year. With the expectation of being so slow this meant that I needed to pack more clothes for the night section where temperatures could easily plummet, which then leads to things taking more time because my pack weighs more and so on.

Turning up at the race I realised how underprepared I was for the day without even any idea of what the course was really like until I looked at the race map about half an hour before it started. Looking over it I could only really see one big climb about 4 miles in - although it was a pretty big one with it climbing about 500 metres over more than a mile. I figured if my knee wasn’t too strained by that climb and I could make it around the first lap without any serious discomfort or pain I could probably just about do it.

The start of the race was an easy trot along the canal path for a couple of miles before slowly climbing up through some woodland and then opening out into the big hill I’d spotted on my brief look at the map in the morning. I decided to take it slow up the hill, pacing myself gently and making sure to eat something. I had plenty of people moving past me as the proper runners in the race caught up to me and I had to fight the urge to push harder when I felt so good at the time, knowing how dodgy my knee was in the run up to the race and how far I still had ahead of me.

Thankfully we were blessed with stunning views as we climbed up to the top of Tor y Foel so I was able to further slow my pace a bit by stopping to take a couple of photos and drink in the scenery.

After cresting Tor y Foel we descended down through loose and uneven rocky trails where I was wary of losing my footing so picked my way gently down it. Despite taking it easy by about 7.5 miles in I was starting to feel my knee tugging away - an improvement on the 4.5 miles at best I’d managed in the few runs I’d had up to the day but not a good omen with how far I still had to cover for the day.

With my knee already causing me issues I decided to slow it down further and be defensive on my knee, moving to a run walk strategy to take some of the stress off of it, walking whenever my knee began to flare to manage the pain.

Coming out of Taf Fechan Forest and climbing up towards near Cribyn we had slowly ended up at the highest point in the course that was showing wintery conditions, making for quite a change to the rest of the lower altitude course that had been lush and green throughout most of the rest of the morning.

Coming up to the second checkpoint and I started thinking about how the 30 miles on a bad knee at Stour Valley Path 100km back in 2013 had completely ruined me, leaving me barely able to walk for a week. Even though I’d made it to the finish I wasn’t running for a good 6 weeks afterwards and with Run to the Castle in just three weeks I realised that the race was probably over for me and that the year and its relentless schedule had finally beaten me and I decided that I’d gently trot into CP3 at half way and leave it at that.

The last section took us through gentle, rolling fields and lanes before dropping back on to the canal path and I was surprised that there had only been one real climb in the entire race (well, 2 with the 2 laps). After an easy trot along the canal path we came into the midpoint checkpoint and the end of my race.

It felt pretty odd to be dropping out of a race when I felt so comfortable, well ahead of cut offs and reasonably managing my knee. Knowing how stubborn I am I am absolutely certain that I could have pushed through to the end as my knee was in a better place than SVP100 back in 2013 but equally sure I wouldn’t make it to the start of Run to the Castle if I did. I guess that’s the whole point to this year and why this challenge has been so hard because not only have I had to push myself hard for the best part of a day but also leave myself in a good enough state to go out and do it again a few weeks. Right now I feel gutted to not be able to complete all 12 races this year but I’d always known that a DNF was a possibility so the goal now is to try and get my knee in a good enough place that I can drag myself through 42 miles in 3 weeks time and finish the year on a high.