It was my hardest ever effort by a long way, last Saturday, with a score of 565 (my previous highest being the London Marathon in 2022 at 481) on Strava. But in terms of PERCIEVED effort, the South Downs Way 50km felt much easier than London. I think the difference is entirely explainable by social and mental factors. Runs feel easier when you run with people, and when you feel part of a community. With Centurion, having now run two of their races and volunteered at one (and registered to volunteer at another), I'm starting to feel like part of the community. I saw people at SDW50km with whom I'd managed kitchen orders at the Thames Path 100 miler just a few weeks before. This isn't only a competitive thing, as many of those people are much faster than me. And part of competition is collaborative in the sense of holding each other to a higher standard, and this held true during this race.
The race conditions were perfect as well, with 20C and fair weather clouds mixed with blue and a beautiful tailwind that stripped residual heat away from my body.
I had the good fortune of being cheered on by Diane during this race; and I also got to run with Rik, Nic, and Paul of Bracknell Forest Runners (an award-winning team!) for some of the time, and we had some good chats.
My time was decent, IMHO, in part because I didn't spend more than 2 minutes at any aid station.
I drank a litre of Naak Ultra Boost Drink (60g carbs) and a litre of Tailwind, with a half litre of Coke and a litre of water to keep me going through four mid-race aid stations. There was one available drinking water tap as well where I topped up the water. I ate sausage rolls and sandwiches in small quantities as well as a couple of slices of watermelon.
Gels consumed included three Precision Hydration fueling gels picked up along the way (30g carbs each); one Gu gel picked up at Aid 1; two Science in Sport 40g carb gels and two Naak ultra boost 25g carb gels and a Naak maple syrup 200 calorie gel. High carb fuelling continues to get the job done.
The results are here . It is interesting to note that I was passing people the ENTIRE WAY, and you can see this as I progress from 241-->238-->213-->194-->176 by the end. Nobody passed me in this race except for that one person right at the end! I passed 65 people, which is a great way to run a race, mentally speaking.
It is my favourite ultra running course, and I will run this race as many times as I can in future years. Every year.
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