A Lot to Digest?

I was going to ramble on about something else but John Kynaston's recent post on nutrition brought me back to this for (I hope!) the last time for a while. I think all the theories have been pretty well covered by people far more qualified than me, but I have found the anecdotal evidence from everyone interesting and helpful, so for what it's worth here is my contribution, just a collection of thoughts on what I've experienced and what I think I've learned over the past few years.

1. Why is nutrition so important?

 Since I got interested in ultras four years ago I've read a lot of race reports, and a common thread is

 - if you didn't perform as well as you had hoped in a 50 mile race, it is quite likely to have been a nutrition problem

- if you didn't perform as well as you had hoped in a 100 mile race, it is very likely to have been a nutrition problem

OK, some people twist ankles (unlucky or careless), some end up with sore muscles (not enough training), but lots of well prepared people have a tough time on the day because the food doesn't work out right.

2. Listening to the experts

The advice I've seen is interesting and directionally useful but I'm sceptical that anyone can just tell you what to do and it will work. Two problems at least:-

- you have to work out your own "energy balance" figures, the "rule of thumb" ones are just too approximate. I see figures quoted for the energy you burn when running, but in two different runs last week I recorded 430 cals/hour and 990 cals/hour (Garmin figures, but is there a better source?). This is already a wide range, but I'm a fairly average 11 stones in weight  -  if you are 7 stones or 14 the figures would be very different.

- nutritionists are rarely if ever "average" ultra runners. Some don't run at all, so will not appreciate what it's like trying to make a food choice 20 hours into a race, and at the other extreme some are the top ultra runners who (a) run a lot faster than me so will burn energy much faster, and (b) get round even the longest races in not much over 24 hours, so don't know what it feels like at the end of a second night out.

3. The amount of calories you can take in per hour.

Again I've seen quoted figures but these are for a runner with a set physiology and particular weight going at a particular speed. This must also vary widely. I haven't recorded exactly what I've eaten/drunk in many races, I'm not that organised, but here are a few examples from occasions when I did take the trouble:

- In the 2009 Highland Fling I took in 4000 cals; for a 10,5 hour run this was 380 cals/hour.

- In the 2010 Highland Fling I took in 2400 cals; for a 10,2 hour run this was 235 cals/hour.

I can't remember which run felt better, I remember them as being about the same.

-In the 2010 West Highland Way I took in 4000 cals; for a 23,5 hour run this was 174 cals/hour.

My experience has been that I can take in more cals/hour in shorter (50 mile) races because it takes 12 hours or so of action before the continuous motion of running starts to affect digestion. Conversely (or may be logically) on events with a lot of hills where the average pace is much lower (more walking), I tend to eat more.

4. When to eat

The advice is to start replacing carbs right from the start of the race. I have found I have to be very careful not to overeat in the first 30-50 miles. The paradox here is that food tastes good in the early part of a race and you are tempted to take in plenty to get it "in the bank", but this is the very period when you are going fastest so have the least spare energy for digestion. In the WHW race I have traditionally met my crew for the first time at Rowardennan (27 miles), stopped for breakfast and then waddled out so full of tea and butties that I could barely walk for the next few miles. I have firmly come to the view that "a little and often" is the way for me; this is quoted received wisdom by many, but it doesn't square with the sort of food that is usually on offer at fully provided events - lots of pasta, cakes, bread and cheese, etc.

5. What to eat

For me there is not (or maybe not yet) any magic answer; also, I find that the advice to try out your race nutrition in training simply doesn't work. For example I once tried Perpetuem, liked it, tried it out on a 55 mile training run and it worked great. I used it as the main nutrition strategy for that year's WHW and it was a disaster; I found I couldn't stand the stuff after 20 miles and ate almost nothing from there to the end.

The bit of advice that has worked best for me is to work more with liquids and gels rather than solids; I really enjoy a Mars bar or a marmalade sandwich but I know now that a gel or a milkshake will do me more good for longer.

I know a lot of people move from sweet to savoury tastes as they go through the event; I agree with this to a certain extent but I also find that some sweet things such as low-flavour gels (like Gu), fizzy Coke, crystallised ginger, etc hit the spot right through to the end. I think it's worth trying lots until you discover your own fallback fuels.

Although it didn't feel right when I first started this "athletic" activity, I'm now happy to get a lot of my calories from fizzy drinks if they're available  - Coke and ginger beer are my favourites. I used to "pre-flatten" them to go in a conventional hydration system but they taste so much better with the fizz still in  - although you do get sticky hands at times!

6. Eating "enough"

The biggest encouragement in recent discussions, a big eye-opener if you like, has been the general consensus on how little food you can absorb continuously  -  put another way how little you can get by on and still run a good race. I think this has removed a huge psychological barrier. I (and I'm sure others) used to worry that we "weren't eating enough" to survive the course; this puts an additional pressure on you, you try unsuccessfully to take in more food, and it's easy to get into a downward spiral of mental negativity. In the 2007 CCC, I was recovering from a bad cold, coughing a lot and not eating  much in the days leading up to the race. I ate nothing in the race itself except Coke and chicken noodle soup but finished in the first quarter of the field, easily my best result in the Chamonix races; on reflection, the fuel was perfectly adequate and my attitude of "well there really isn't any alternative today" contributed to the relaxation required for a good run. It's taken me over three years to evaluate this properly. I'm now happy that 150-200 cals/hour will get me around, less if there's a lot of walking involved.

7. The other stuff 

The other stuff of course is hydration and electrolyte balance. I'm still working on hydration; I don't often get thirsty so the advice to "drink to thirst" doesn't work, I have to experiment with different intake rates to try to maintain weight during a long outing. It's a tricky business and any advice would be welcome; at the moment I seem to be homing in on between two and four hours running from a litre of fluid, depending on temperature and activity level.

In many of my events I have suffered from nausea at some point. By a couple of years ago I had understood that this was almost certainly due to electrolyte imbalance, but what to do about it? The big problem I had that once it started I couldn't seem to work through it, it was with me until the end of the race. I had tried Nuun (couldn't take any of the flavours after 12 hours or so) and Succeed caps (got worried about taking too many in relation to fluid intake in case it made things worse). After a lot of experimenting (which you can normally only do under race conditions!) I have come to the conclusion that Succeed is best for me, one an hour in normal conditions regardless of fluid intake; I have also found that taking two or three together with a drink or a bowl of soup can actually retrieve a situation that is starting to get bad.

That's it then, more than enough from me on this subject, though I'm very interested to learn of other peoples' experiences and strategies. I had a great outing in the Lakes on Friday, round a bit of the Lakeland 100, blue skies above and frozen ground underfoot, that's what the game's really about, fuel is just a means to an end.

Enough is Enough?

A couple of years ago I wouldn't have dared coming clean in January about plans for the year in case things went wrong. Well, things always do go wrong one way or another but the blogging spirit eventually overcomes the inhibitions so now I'm happy to nail up my colours and take the flak if the performances don't meet the ambitions.

Now I've always felt my plans were fairly modest compared with some of the keener ultra competitors - John Vernon, Jim D, Sue Donelly and Rob Apple to name just a few - but both this year and last I detected the mildest hint of a raised eyebrow at my gameplan. The ever wise Murdo tM put things in true perspective by directing me to Nick Ham's blog, with the comment "You're just a part-timer Andy!"

2011 Gameplan

Well, after two or three weeks of inactivity it's time to creak into action for the New Year. At the moment I'm working on the ten pounds or so of extra insulation that my daughter refers to as the "Christmas cocktail coat" and wondering whether I'll see the underside of an eight minute mile ever again, but I'm sure that's the same for many of us and deep down we all know that it will probably come good in a few weeks. Just need to get out there on the "Lance Armstrong days", face a bit of weather and pain again, and sooner or later the sun comes out.

The more rewarding part is planning the year's objectives. I decided I would do fewer races this year but it's like opening the chocolate box, with such delights available which ones can you possibly not go for? I guess my compromise is to start a bit later and get two or three months solid work in first, so here's the plan:

19 March: Hardmoors 55 (54 miles) After running this one in the rain, wind and fog last year I really wanted to see the view so I'm back. Jon Steele's "Hardmoor" series of races based on the Cleveland Way are well organised yet pretty laid-back affairs and deserve the increasing support they seem to be drawing.  About 50 entrants so far so it should be good. It won't be a fast race for me, first of the season, somewhere near the 12 hours I got last year will be fine.

10 April: Rotterdam Marathon. I lived in Rotterdam for over six years and still have a soft spot for the place, this will be my fifth start in the event. I enjoy city marathons and this is in my calendar so I don't neglect to do a bit of speed work in the first quarter of the year. Again it won't be a PB but I should be aiming for somewhere around the three and a half hours.

30 April: Highland Fling (53 miles). Couldn't miss it. This was my first ultra in 2007 and I've run them all since then.It's where I first started to meet all these amazing crazy people who think that turning out for fifty or a hundred miles on a Saturday is somehow a completely normal activity. Irresistible. If I can get to the start in good shape I'll have a good crack at it, 11 minutes faster than last year would get me under 10 hours, must be worth a shot (can't believe I've just owned up to that plan...)

18 June: West Highland Way (95 miles). Why do this one? If you have to ask, the family haven't talked to you yet. I'd like to finish in good shape somewhere around the 24 hour mark, but each year I've set myself  a sort of "process goal" on this one rather than the specific time. For the last two years it was to get to Lundavra in daylight which I finally achieved last year. This year I'd like to get to the Lairig Mor in a fit state to run along it - rather than the hobble that I normally do!

29 July: Lakeland 100 (104 miles). If it isn't already, this will surely become the UK's premier ultra. A rugged and very demanding but beautiful course, great organisation and lots of welcoming "village hall" checkpoints. Over two hundred entries into the solo event so far this year, the race director is predicting it will be full within the next month or so, in only the fourth year of running. Goal for me - completing the course is tough enough.

26 August: Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc(104 miles). The race that sooner or later every ultra runner will want to do to complete their CV. Having missed out in last year's ballot I have an automatic entry for this year. The whole Chamonix experience, with over 2000 starters this is not wilderness racing but certainly not to be missed. Just run up and down Snowdon, then Ben Nevis, then jog an undulating 10 miles; repeat 4 times and that's all there is to it. You have 46 hours  - 45:59 will do nicely, thanks.

15 October: Round Rotherham (50 miles). I've missed this the past two years because it has clashed with family events, but determined to go back this year because it's such a good course and enjoyable day out. No particular goals for the fourth quarter of the year, just enjoy it.

17 December: Tour de Helvellyn (36 miles). Haven't had confirmation that this will be run again, but after the success of last year I'm sure it will. A bit of a target to keep me in action before the Christmas rest again.

So that's it, seven ultras of various lengths and a marathon.  A bit less than last year's plan but still a full year, I'm really looking forward to it.

2010 that was

Well, all the stuff that has to be done before Christmas seems to be done, so an hour or so earned to think back over the year and maybe what I've got out of it.

I won't dwell on the individual races, I wrote about each one after the event and the results are over on the right anyway. I was pleased with some and felt I probably could have done better in others but that's par for the course I guess. I wondered at times whether I had signed up for too many but on balance it worked out OK. I won't deliberately target so many for next year but I won't artificially restrict myself either if there are events that look as though they're going to be fun.

What I have done though is to try and analyse one or two statistics, a thing that I'm not usually interested in but I'm glad I did it because I've found the results a bit surprising  - chastening, one might say. The basics for the 50 weeks of the year that I've recorded are

Total miles run 2050
- so average miles per week was 41; in reality a bit higher when active, as I've had several weeks off ski-ing, climbing, etc.

Number of runs 181
- so average number of runs per week was 3,6 -  a bit more if you allow for the "missed weeks" above, but it's clear that I still take plenty of days off!
- and the average length of run was 11,3 miles. I know this is skewed by the long races but I was still surprised.

As I was surprised by this mean length of run, I broke down the number of outings into bands:-
Length of Run        No of Runs
less than 5m           42
5m - 10m               80
10m - 20m             39
20m - 50m             14
more than 50m         6

There is no consistent correlation between the length of the run and the speed, because for example a 10 mile run might be a fast (?!) - paced outing around my local lanes, or a trip up Snowdon. So I looked also at the total miles run at different average paces:-
Pace (mins/mile)     Total Distance at this pace (miles)
below  7,30               37           (tempo pace for me)
7,30 -  9,00             626          (comfortable road and easy trail running)
9,00 - 12,00            558          (mixed trail and hill, just about still running)
above 12,00            829          (hills and rough country)

Now even though over 340 miles in the last band came from just 4 events (Heart of Scotland, WHW, Lakeland 100 and UTMB), I think these two tables show that:

(a) I'm a jogger who runs occasionally, rather than a runner!
(b) I like getting out in the hills and enjoying the day out rather than doing specific training
(c) The amount of time I put into higher aerobic stuff is pretty pathetic
(d) I don't get out as often as I should
(e) I'm not going to improve unless I change my training habits.

I need to think about this over a glass or three of red wine during the Christmas holiday - do I want to carry on what I'm doing, and carry on enjoying it as I do now, or should I respond to the "could do better" prompt?

Another takeout from the year in a different area is that after 4 years of running ultras I think I'm now finally convinced that age (not a subject I like to dwell on too long!)  is not all that relevant.  I used to feel that I had to make the very best of each year because I might not get another chance, but now I'm much more of a mind that if you keep going you can keep going.

Whatever, I've enjoyed every step of the year (well, maybe waiting for the bus in the downpour for the TDS that never started wasn't so great, but you get the picture..) and I'm looking forward to next with some excitement. I'll post my plans next time.

To all readers of my infrequent and sometimes random ramblings, have a great Christmas and New Year. See you at the races!

Ending with a Whimper

I was really looking forward to my last event of the year, the "Tour de Helvellyn". Reccied the bits of the course I didn't already know, waymarks in the GPS just in case, bag packed and up at 5am, leaving a generous two and a half hours to cover the 140 miles to Askam, register, and start at what I guessed would be first light at around eight. The forecast was for a cold but clear day and the race organiser said on Friday night that it was looking good for the event. There was an inch or so of snow on the car as I left the house but once out of the village the roads seemed fine apart from a seemingly unnecessary 50mph limit on the M56.

At 7am I was in the vicinity of Wigan, barely 40 miles of the journey done, sitting on the northbound M6 which had become a carpark. There were stationary trucks everywhere.  I found a radio station which told the story, the road had been blocked since midnight because of a fair bit more snow than expected and a jacknifed truck. Eventually we got going again but it was 20mph stuff with the road congested and constricted. I had no chance of making the final start time of 9am, let alone my chosen one of 8. I reluctantly bailed out at the next junction and drove slowly home, to spend the rest of the day hanging doors in the kitchen.

The race was a great success, 50 starters, 37 finishers, a fine day out by all accounts.

The following day I made my weekly trip over the Pennines to visit my mum in Sheffield; there was barely a scrape of snow on the road the whole way. That's life.

But the year wasn't all bad, review in a few days.

Chewing the Fat and the Need for Speed

Clearly titles for two posts here; I've been thinking about both recently but eventually realised that they really are related so you get the double helping. The result is likely to be one of my lengthy ramblings but I'm hoping to draw some conclusions relevant to the middle-to-back-of-pack performer like me, so if you're interested pour yourself a G&T (or whatever other aid to thought you favour) and hang in for a while.

Since I started in 2007 I've covered a bit of ground and learned a lot. I've started 21 ultras and finished 18 of them. I know that I can run a fairly creditable 10 hour race and an acceptable 24, but I'm useless at the longer 30+ hour events. I don't suffer from sore feet or aching muscles, I just run out of steam. I was convinced this was a nutrition problem, don't eat enough during the event, run out of fuel. I've spent the last couple of years trying to find ways to cure this, what do you eat after you've just stuffed in your twenty-third gel of the day and nothing at all seems even vaguely palatable. I think I've tried everything, nothing works well.  I've finished several races on nothing but chicken noodle soup and coke for a marathon or two, worrying all the time that this isn't enough to get by on.

I had an inkling that there might be another way after this year's Lakeland 100.  Reading the winner Stuart Mills' report he seemed to cruise round on a few cups of coke and a handful of Jaffa Cakes. I asked about his nutrition strategy and he replied with a really interesting blog entitled "Race Nutrition - is More Always Better?" Now Stuart's a scientist and argues a detailed case but the main points I took out were (a) in ultras you run at a low enough intensity for fat rather than carbohydrate to be your prime fuel source, and (b) don't waste valuable liquid in digesting carbs - use it to keep hydrated for running! He also said that he did the majority of his training without eating. It raised some discussion in the comments of course, and I guess because it was so opposite to everything I thought I knew that I was pretty sceptical myself, after all Stuart's a class runner, probably anything works for him. I had also heard Joss Naylor talk about "going 50 or 60 miles without anything to eat or drink" but again this is a special character, his rules are not for the rest of us.

But then I entered the Lakeland 100 again for next year, and race director Marc Laithwaite started sending out a series of training articles. The first ones were pretty obvious, along the lines of "if you're going to take part in a race with hills, over uneven ground, carrying a rucsack, then you have to train on hills, over uneven ground, with a rucsack", etc, but then the third one a couple of weeks ago was on nutrition. Marc seemed to be saying pretty much what Stuart had advocated, but it was put together in such simple language that it had a big impact. I was impressed, and recommended it to John Kynaston who also found it interesting and put it on his blog. John's blog is widely followed so it immediately caused some debate, which I'll come back to in a moment. What Marc's article basically said was

- when you run an ultra, a percentage of your fuel is going to come from stored fat

- the longer you run for, the higher this percentage gets

- you can't substitute carbohydrate for fat beyond a certain point, because you can't absorb it fast enough

- to get more efficient at burning fat you have to practice

- when you practice this, you go slower and you don't feel great, but it's training so just get on with it, it will pay off.

For a simple player like me this makes great sense, a bit of an eye-opener. I'm certainly going to give it a go.

The arguments against are mainly of degree, ie it's not that simple, everyone's different,  and of course you need a certain amount of carbs for optimum performance, etc. That's fair, but it shouldn't stop you trying to get better access to a huge store of energy you already possess.  The other disadvantage put forward is that the training might be unpleasant - one comment on John's blog talked of  ".......the thought of turning enjoyable long runs into dispiriting hungry plods...".  Well actually I haven't found that so far. In the past two weeks I've tried two 16 mile runs and a 20 miler all on the "no breakfast, no carbs en route" regime.  What happens, for me at least, is that for the first couple of hours everything seems normal, then I do tire and have to slow down, but by then I know the end is not so far away. I'm sure it's purely psychological at this stage but it seems to get easier each time and I'll start pushing the time/duration out progressively in the new year.

The other mental leap I think I've made in taking on board the fat-burning principle is that as I build confidence in it, I don't have to worry about not eating much in the later stages of a race. I'm sure in a couple of my DNF's I've actually thought myself out of contention by convincing myself that I couldn't possibly finish on the fuel I was taking in (the rational engineer overcoming the passionate ultra-runner!) Stuart again presses that it's not just 50% of ultra-running that's in your head but "a lot more than that" - if you start off with the absolute conviction that you will succeed, then you will. So maybe the confidence that come what may, the fat reserves will get you home, is a big barrier removed.

Andy Dubois, another runner whose opinions I value not particularly because he is another trainer/sports scientist but because of his sub 23 hour completion of the Hardmoors 110 miler in truly appalling conditions this September, strongly advocates sticking with carbs in both racing and training on the grounds that when you run on fat alone you simply don't go fast enough - remember the Seb Coe quote "long slow runs make long slow runners"? - and if you train slow, you'll race slow. But a key (for me) observation he makes is that "......unless I run at 10 minute miles or slower, I need carbs after around 90 minutes.....". Think about this. I never run faster than 10 minute miles in a 100 mile ultra unless it's downhill. We weekend warriors at the gentlemen's end of the field should be wary of getting too caught up in the area of debate that applies mainly to elite athletes.  But I believe Andy does have something of a point relative to the masses when he talks of training at speed, and this leads me nicely into part 2, if you're still with me.

I hate speed training, if you follow my ramblings you'll know that already. All that sweaty effort, continually out of breath, not my style, we go running for fun don't we? I stopped running 10k's and don't really enjoy half marathons, no time to chat or admire the views. But when I started running a few years ago I had an ambition to do a 3.30 marathon so a certain amount of speedwork was called for. I did my tempo runs, my Yassos and so on. Apart from being unpleasant it tended to give me niggling injuries, hamstring pulls, calf pains, you know the sort of thing. Eventually the spring of 2008 saw me break the 3.30, I did it again in 2009 to prove it wasn't a fluke and I thought great, that's it, no more speed training for me. I still enjoy marathons so March this year saw me trundle round a very flat Barcelona course in 3.37, a satisfied medal collector. I enjoyed my summer of ultras and long slow training runs in the hills.

By the end of August I was feeling tired, and I hadn't felt any sharpness at all in my last two ultras. I took a month off running in September to recharge the batteries and take stock. I began to think a bit about speed.

On the UTMB site there is a series of videos called "Get Ready For" which gives training advice. In the one entitled "Improve Your Speed" I was amazed at the recommended tempo training for a race which for me had always meant walking up a lot of big hills and shambling slowly down the other side. There was a discussion on the WHW forum, I forget the actual thread but contributors were comparing effort and enjoyment and someone referred to "an enjoyable plod over the hills"; it hit me quite sharply, that's what I do, enjoyable plods over the hills. I started looking at other ultra-runners training paces where I could find them on their blogs, they were nearly all doing some significantly faster runs than I was. So when I started running again in October I gradually introduced some speed once a week; not long distances, maybe 3 or 4 miles in the middle of a six mile outing; it didn't seem too bad, but even that small amount seemed to have a dramatic effect on what I considered a comfortable speed for a cruisy 6 or 8 miles, it went from 8.30 miles to 8 minute miles in a couple of weeks. In the Snowdonia marathon at the end of the month I got round in 3 hours 40, the equivalent of way under 3.30 on a flat course. A lesson learned ,a bit of speedwork does hurt, but the reward to effort ratio is very high. Three years with a good physiotherapist and a bit of discipline in stretching and core exercise seems to have cured my propensity to niggling injuries, so speed has to stay for me. I copied one of John K's workouts recently doing alternate 6.45 and 8.15 miles, something I wouldn't have contemplated even 3 months ago; I think I might even have enjoyed it!

So where does this leave this very average ultra runner. Well, our lessons are hard won in this game, but all the more valuable for that. My plans for the future will now include

1. Learn to burn fat. It may not be the whole answer but it certainly works in my head. I won't be forcing down carbohydrates in races any more.

2. Get the heart rate up with some speedwork once a week. Then when you need that burst of energy, it's there.

My final outing of the year next weekend is the inaugural "Tour de Helvellyn en Hiver", 36 miles over what looks like being a pretty white landscape with a fair bit of up and down. Looking forward to it.

Snowdonia Marathon

Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, a hundred - come on wimp, time to start running again. The rain seems to be relenting a bit even if the hill isn't. Creak back into action, overtaking people now, everyone else around still walking, a marshal shouts encouragement, how far to the top I ask, about four hundred yards, that's OK, I'll make it now, no more walking then downhill all the way to the finish, way to go.

The Snowdonia was apparently voted Runner's World favourite marathon a couple of years back, rather strange because it's a bit of a toughie. Not as hard as Beachy Head, judging by Stuart Mills report a week or so a go, but still plenty of up and down. You're unlikely to get great weather in the hills at the end of October either, so it must be the scenery that attracts people, and although it's pretty well on my doorstep I still find it a great place to go running. I last did the race in 2006 when I was getting close to 3.30 on the flat and came in at 3.57  -  that's what the hills do to you.

At 11pm on Friday the weather forecast was good, chance of precipitation light, but this is North Wales of course so by the time I turned up in Llanberis on Saturday morning to check in, it was uniformly grey and sheeting down. Competitors huddled in the Community Centre, cars, bus shelters and other sources of protection, until about 15 minutes before the start we all braved the couple of hundred yards up the road to the line. The weather was improving, the organiser assured us, so about half of us stuffed our rainjackets in our belts and off went the hooter.

A gentle mile or so along Llyn Peris is a good warmer-up, then the first bit of work has to be done. From Nant Peris to the Pen y Pass about three and a half miles further on, the road rises 800ft.  I walked bits of this last time but I must be a bit further up the field because no-one around me is walking and I definitely don't want to be the first to start. I'm breathing heavily at the top of the pass but not worried because I know there is a long downhill coming. I don't look at my watch until half way in marathons these days, just go with the flow seems to work best for me, and from Pen y Pass down to Beddgelert over nine miles further on there's a lot of flow to go with - a thousand feet of descent with no appreciable uphills and great views - just enjoy it while you can! One section goes off road for a couple of miles down a steep, stony but wonderfully runnable jeep track; the road runners hesitate, the trail guys accelerate, I overtake a lot of people. Then gentle roads to Beddgelert, chat to a few people, easy running, the rain comes and goes. Beddgelert affects us two ways, it's half way, the good news, but signals the start of the next hill, the bad news. I look at my watch at half way, 1.45, faster than I was expecting but I won't keep up this pace, the hills are harder and longer in the second half.

The rise out of Beddgelert is about 500ft in three miles; not too steep, but not steep enough to excuse a real slowdown; you've lost the freshness of the start but still need to keep something for what is still to come, gruelling stuff, probably the worst part of the course mentally for me. But then it's done and we're onto the undulating country through Rhyd Ddu and along the peaceful Llyn Cwellyn, the newly-built Welsh Highland Railway tracking us to the right, no trains in evidence today. Time to take in some gels, and drinks from the friendly youngsters at the feed stations, the shouts of "isotonic!" always trigger thoughts of G&T for me, no, put that out of your mind, there's a way to go yet. And so we approach Waun Fawr.

Waun Fawr! If you've done the race before, this name has been at the back of your mind since the start. Well, one way or another I suppose, I passed a girl a few miles back who said "Can't wait for Waun Fawr, then I can have a nice long walk!" At Waun Fawr, 22 miles in,  the course turns right and rises 700ft in two miles. As I turn the corner the rain turns to hail, typical. But deep down, this is what we come for, no options now just head down, grit your teeth and keep going. No need to save anything, it's downhill all the way from the top of this one. I run as far as I can, then move to 100 steps walking/ 100 steps running. This tactic is seeing me past a fair number of people. I'm sure the real athletes at the front run all of this but around me most of the field is walking, all my hilly ultras must be starting to pay off! It finally flattens out around the 24 mile mark, then a bit of level ground, then the downhill.

   

This must be one of the best marathon finishes anywhere. It's the steepest slope on the course, a jeep track giving way to a narrow lane, stony and a bit muddy today, but nowhere that you can't just let go in a full-on blast to the bottom. At the very bottom of the hill it's a right turn into Llanberis High Street for a crowd-lined final two or three hundred yards to the finish, brilliant!  I finished in 3:40:19 which allowing for the hilly nature of the course I was pretty happy with. A great day out and a first-class well-organised event, I'm sure I'll come again.

I've just noticed that the next race I had planned, the Doyen of the Downs near Brighton has been cancelled, so I'm looking forward to what will be the last one of the year for me now, the new 36-mile "Tour de Helvellyn" on 18th December. I'll have a couple of easy weeks then get myself off up to the Lakes to find out what the course is like.