Yesterday I did the 50km Beat the Sunset race in Maidenhead as a kind training fun for another 50km and subsequent 100miler coming up later in the summer. I think I paced it right and nailed the nutrition because today (a day later) I am recovered and have done a 5 mile easy recovery run.
The course covered areas around Maidenhead, Cookham, Eton and Taplow, and was easily one of the most beautiful ultra courses I've ever experienced, which I was seriously not expecting. It was mostly flat and mostly along the river, but it seemed that around every corner was an endless wheat-field expanse fading off into a horizon filled with lush forests and blue skies. It epitomises what Theresa May described as her 'fields of wheat' childhood idyl (and which until yesterday I viewed skeptically). I mean it seriously challenges the imagination as to how they fit so much wild beauty into that quandrangle of space between roughly Windsor and Maidenhead and the area just to the north.
I had energy and strength throughout this race, and did not go off too fast. I maintained pace through scorching heat by drinking a lot, and by refilling my bottles only after draining them twice. Even then I found I was dry by the next aid station. The stations were extremely well spaced, coming in at 10km, but with the last one somehow only 7.5km from the finish (so nice when you're tired at the end of a 50km not to have to do 5-6 miles, but only just over 4).
Because this was a training run I tried (unsuccessfully) to keep to my 100mile pace (for my upcoming North Downs Way 100miler coming up on 9 Aug 2025), which would have put me finishing between 7 and 8 hours. Instead I finished in 6.5, in part because I read my watch wrong. It gave my a cumulative, instead of current, lap pace, and it was consistenly below 8min/km. I read it as thinking that I was currently running sub 8min/km, when in actually that was my average, which included my 4 minute walking breaks. It was a run walk effort of 11min run/ 4 min walk, meaning that my run segments must have all been well below 7min/km. In a hundred mile effort I literally NEVER run that fast.
Anyway, it was a good training run, and it was even splits. It was a good training run for my upcoming 50km with Centurion Running in two weeks on the South Downs way because my increased pace also increased my effort on this flat course, mimicing what will be an increased effort in two weeks due to the upcoming race having significantly more (4500feet) elevation than the one I did yesterday (only 500feet). The hills on Beat the Sunset were pretty easy and nonetheless I walked them, and ran all the downhills (as one is supposed to do in ultras, according to unwritten rules of the ultra-running world).
I sped along passing the people the whole way (after the initial waves cleared and adjusted), and had a strong finish easily beating the sunest by just under 3 hours). I saw several other Bracknell Forest Runners, all of whom appeared to have a great day despite the heat. I certainly enjoyed myself and often achieved flow or a zone-out daydream state of mind (whichever one you choose to call it). I would definitely do this one again!
Postscript: You can. see me running with poles, which I went back and forth on before the race. I'm so glad I went with poles, and I'm pretty sure I was the only one in the race to do so. I am sure they helped me run faster and stronger and more consistently, and added to the pleasure of the day.
Nutrition included 2 SisSport 40g carb gels; and 2 Naak Ultra Boost 25g carb gels; 8 mini sausage rolls; 2 bottles of Tailwind and 2 bottles of Naak Ultra Boost 60g carb drink; 2 bottles of Coke; and several bottles of water or over 2 gallons of liquid.
No comments:
Post a Comment