Speyside Way Ultramarathon

Eek - I have not updated this blog for quite a while! One of my goals for 2010 was to run a series of ultramarathons. However, once I got injured the goal simply became "run ONE ultramarathon". I managed to complete Speyside in August - a 36.5 mile race on road and trail in the North West of Scotland. This is what I wrote shortly after the event:

"The Speyside Way Ultra was a beautiful race which was brilliantly organised. I'd recommend it heartily to anyone wanting to run an ultra.

I had a shocker though. Up to 27 miles I felt peachy and loved it. Then every footstep was pure murder and it was a brutal slog to the finish. I've tried to analyse why it went so wrong for me and here are the reasons I've deduced:

- Fat: I am too heavy and need to loose at least half a stone. This takes far too much of a toll on my legs and knees.

- Training: my training wasn't good enough. I only did 11 weeks specific ultra training with no back to back runs (2x27 milers as my long runs). Due to injury this year this was on the back of very little base training. I think this was my major problem. Also a 27 miler 2 weeks before the ultra was perhaps a bit much - it should have been 3 weeks before. Everyone is different but I needed more training.

- Food : I had solid food the whole way with only 2 gels. I found that after 3 hours solid food was a no-no. In future I need sarnies until 3 and then gels/block shocks for after. Also going to switch to Nuun rather than taking electrolyte tablets as they were too much of a faff.

- Schoolboy Error: going off too quick and overestimating fitness (DUH!)

- Negativity: when things went wrong in the last 10 miles I found it very hard to recover mentally. I found it tough dealing with the fact the race was 36.5 rather than 35 miles. I was cursing everything at the end of the race and vowed never to step foot over 26.2 miles again.

Lessons for me to learn there"

What a LARD ass!

Looking back (with rose tinted glasses) I think I was far too harsh about the race and I can safely say that I'll be back again next year.