Beauty and the Beast

This year has been bloody amazing so far. I've taken part in some incredible races and had some unforgettable experiences. The last 3 days has really opitimised this for me.

On Saturday I took part in the Helly Hanson Beauty and the Beast trail marathon. To tell you how it went, I'd like to explain my preconceptions before the race:

1. 6 laps would be dull, and soul destroying
2. The 'trail' was going to be lacklustre
3. It would be badly organised
4. The atmosphere would be crap 

As you can tell, I wasn't particularly looking forward to it.

In reality, this race turned out to be one of my favourites so far this year.

In particular, laps turned out to be motivating - making pacing feel less of a chore, and providing a better sense of how far into the race I was, and how far I had to go. The trail was varied, wooded, exciting, and hilly. Yes, it was hilly! I didn't bosh out a quick time (4hours 20minutes), but instead I enjoyed making friends with the other runners; I made friends with the marshalls; I made faces at the photographer; I highfived children; I cheered back at the spectators and I had a lot of fun. The day was incredibly well organised, the goody bag at the end was packed, and they even offered a swap-your-old-techical-tee-for-a-new-one, which I took advantage of.

I would love to do this again next year, and to see if I could improve on my 10th place finish.

And then today; today I find myself featured in Men's Running magazine.

As part of my competition win to Ultraks, Men's Running promised a feature in their magazine which came through our letter box today. It is very cool to find pictures of me gracing the magazine I've been reading for the past year!

To think of the luck that has befallen me in the last year is to remember:

• Winning entry into Wildman in November last year, and then coming second
• Winning a pair of Vibrams in June, and subsequently being befriended by the Primal Lifestyle company at their London Zoo 10k this month
• Winning entry into Ultraks, and then speaking to the editor of Men's Running ready to be translated onto the pages of his magazine
• Making like minded friends through Twitter and featuring in a Run Commuters blog

It's been a good year, and it's not even over.

Forget what you know about pasta...

This evening I joined a lecture hall full of fellow sports enthusiasts, particularly runners, to catch ultra runner, physiologist, and biomechanist Mark Hines talk about nutrition.

Always fascinating, it was another chance for me to absorb information on the action of putting one leg in front of the other.

Hearing advice from someone like Mark in particular - who lives his studies running in some of the most extreme conditions on earth - feels particularly valuable. Researched, tried, and tested advice, and not without blowing several of my ingrained preconceptions clean out of the water.

What did I take out of the talk? 

Sports gel companies don't know what they're talking about. Fructose; a core ingredient in the majority of sports gels isn't a great energy source for us humans, and can even lead to stomach cramps. 

Ibuprofen too, prescribed by doctors (even during races), can make your gut bleed and interrupts a very normal healing process.

But perhaps most interestingly is that you should forget the pasta parties. Marathon expos thrive on the things (I've been to a few...) but cereal grains and wheat based carbs clog up your gut and aren't particularly efficient as an energy source. Instead eat plenty of veg and fruit and build up familiar carbs (not pasta!) in the 3 days before a race.

It was an evening of forgetting what I thought I knew.

Then, an incredibly inspiring hour finished the night listening to the amazing Mimi Anderson. Mimi started running 15 years ago, and now, at the age of 51, has achieved more than most ultra runners can dream of. A double Comrades, a double Badwater, a double Grand Union Canal, and additional records in the JOGLE and the M2M doesn't even complete her list of achievements. Her first ultra, after seemingly only a few years of running, was the Marathon des Sables - a race that many runners see as the peak of endurance running.

She's certainly worth reading up on, if only to feel humbled by her ambition. 

It's been a while since I went to a talk, and tonight reminded me of how important these are for me. It's easy to get into a routine with running, and Mark and Mimi have lit an interest in nutrition and ultra events that I didn't have before. I'm looking forward to testing out different food strategies on my remaining 4 marathons of the year. 

Ultraks: My Review

Gornergrat (3,100 metres above sea level) - 13km into Ultraks
 

It's been almost 2 weeks now since I ran the Matterhorn Ultraks in Zermatt, Switzerland - one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places on earth. I've recovered and had time to reflect on a race I will never forget. I say race - this was about survival; reaching the finish line in one piece, or at all!

It was very hard to prepare for Ultraks. 3,600 metres of ascent and descent across 46km was a challenge that was going to test my everything. So, a fortnight before Zermatt, I dragged my girlfriend, my brother, and his girlfriend camping to Wasdale in the Lake District to run up Scafell Pike - the tallest place we could drive to for a quick weekend away. At just shy of 1,000 metres high, I managed twice up and down - feeling slightly more confident by the end about the prospect of Sunnegga, Gornergrat, and Schwarzsee 14 days later. 

At the top of Skafell Pike - as you can see, the view was fantastic

When race day came I felt nervous. Probably more nervous about completing a race than any that I've done before. There, behind the starting line, I stood amongst the world's best sky runners - Kilian Journet, Emelie Forsberg, Luis Alberto Hernando, Phillip Reiter - it was easy to feel intimidated. 

It took me 8 km to settle down and to start enjoying the run, by which time I'd seen the sun rise over Sunnegga, after 600 metres of ascent, and experienced an incredible 65 minutes of running in the shadow of the Matterhorn. Words, and even photos, don't do justice to just how grand and stunning the scenery looked as I ran up through wooded trails and along the rocky tracks.

By 20 km, 2 of the 5 peaks had passed - Gorgergrat with the highest ascent of the day, surrounded by snow, ice and cheering spectators, many who'd taken the train from Zermatt to support us - but what followed almost floored me. The ascent up to Schwarzsee, a mere 700 metres, felt like it was vertical, and the 5km must have taken me almost an hour and 50 minutes. Feeling deflated, and knowing at this point that I still had 20km to go, a DNF felt like an attractive way out. And it may well have happened if it wasn't for my girlfriend at the peak, who'd secretly travelled there in the morning to cheer me on, and cheer me up!

From Schwarzsee, after a 5 minute break to eat and drink from the checkpoint, I made my way downhill towards the 30km mark. The funny thing about running up and down mountains across such a long distance is how much I came to look forward to the change in terrain. After 5 km uphill, with thighs screaming, I found myself longing for the downhills - and a chance to switch muscle groups. Several km later, and I found myself longing for the uphills (the relief didn't tend to last long!).

The final 10km of the race took in a checkpoint at Trift, and some meandering trails that passed a waterfall, and navigated around the edge of plunging valleys - with Zermatt visible in the distance. Seeing Zermatt was comforting, but still seemed so far away, even approaching the final few km! The crew at the final checkpoint were amazing, filling my bladder for me, passing food my way and offering up a massage. This kindness was incredibly motivating at such a late stage in the race, when my emotions were already taut.

Leaving Trift just as the rain started to fall, I knew it was 8km to home, and it went by fairly quickly in comparison to the race so far. A few choice songs on my iPod and I was able to pick up a little speed, helped by a drop of 700 metres over 3 km.

With the finish line in sight, and the rain falling heavily by now, my emotions were running almost as fast as my feet. I crossed the line, in the centre of Zermatt, after 7 hours and 50 minutes of running.

Ultraks, with it's beauty and it's devastating difficulty, will stick with me forever.

Meeting my idols

A final thanks once again to Men's Running, and Scott Running, for the entry into Ultraks. I would never have done this without their opportunity.