BigSea50k 2023

 

My second 'warmup' ultra of the summer, BigSea50k, was also my best ultra-marathon, just in terms of consistency, how I felt, how well I ate, paced myself, and enjoyed myself.  In just under 2 weeks I'll run Race to the Stones 100km non-stop, and I feel ready, especially after doing BigSea. RTTS has a bit less elevation than BigSea, over twice the distance, so RTTS will feel relatively easy in terms of gradient.

Nutrition continues to go extremely well, and I ate better on this one than I did in the Chilterns a few weeks ago, because the BigSea aid stations were set up for instant calories, of which I ate precisely one of each of: banana, sausage roll, soreen roll, and an orange slice, washed down with 350ml of flat Coke.  I also took on one hard-boiled egg and one gel per aid station, as well as a few salt tablets.  

I felt stronger running than walking all the way to the end. The most challenging parts were the stairs, which consisted of hundreds of concrete slabs placed on end, one above the other, and carved out behind each were eroded damp soil crevasses.  Here's where the poles came in really handy. Going down was treacherous on these steps, so the poles held me back from a big bad fall.  Going up they helped with speed.  Otherwise, the ground was so uneven my faithful Lekis ensured that I remained stumble-free.

There was a lot of overgrown entrenched narrow single-track running, and there was a lot of SW coast path overgrown shoving through bushes and getting scratched up.  Actually, the first couple of miles were on beaches and sand dunes too.  This variable terrain was really interesting and fun.  Some of the aid station volunteers were lighthousekeepers, and they were grumpy, which I loved. They had no clue about running and clearly thought we were crazy (which is accurate!).

The weather was very hot, but moderated by some mist and breezes, so overall not too bad.  You had to watch the hydration, for sure, so I took on about 1.5 litres or so between the aid stations.  I made some new friends and chatted with some for a ways, and then we'd break up and re-form into new groups.  One such chat took place in an urban area (Swanage), after which we were back up another steep hill and over into the Knoll Beach area, where one of the famous Pig restaurants is.  The run down the other side into the golden beach and forest was glorious and unforgettable.  

RTTS will feel like a victory lap and a glorious bit of fun after the summer so far.  I've done it before, but last time it was broken up into stages, so I did the 100km over 2 days in 2021.  This year, I'll go all the way through in one big go. The question is: which is harder: all in one go, or staged.  I'm really not sure, because it was incredibly difficult (if not impossible) to run during day 2 last time, but the advantage could be in nutrition.  I think if I keep myself well fed as I did at BigSea, this RTTS 100km non-stop run should be a breeze.  Full disclosure: I'll be walking up ALL the hills!