So, how was the Lakeland 50 Mark?
Whilst watching the Lincoln Half Marathon Ronny asked me this question. As I replied I realised that I had said before the race that I was going to write a race report of the Montane Lakeland 50. It has been 7 weeks since the race, giving me plenty of time for reflection and recovery from this incredible event, and here is my race report!
I came into the Montane Lakeland 50 with high expectations. Last year I had done the LL50 in 9 hours and 26 minutes which I was pleased with.Training this year had gone really well, the kit was great, the nutrition plan was great and my taper was great. So I set myself a target of 8 hours and 30 minutes if all went well. I also wanted my wife Simone and my friends Simon, Tammy, Alastair, Richard (Dickie), Jon, Max, Hannah and Brad to have a great day too.
On the drive up to the Lakes from Lincoln, two days before the race, I noticed that my throat was sore, my glands had swollen and my heart rate was higher than normal. I took a Covid test and it was negative. I was staying at a friend’s house so I informed them of my condition and they seemed fine with it. In fact Simon had a fuzzy head himself! I hoped it would disappear before race day but it didn’t. This made me a little subdued and more apprehensive than normal on race day, but I wasn’t not going to start as I didn’t feel really bad. Just a little under the weather. Anyway, I don’t need to waffle on too much more here so straight to the start of the race.
When AC/DC got the race off I quickly decided that I felt pretty good so I took off at my planned effort. I couldn’t find Dickie who I normally bump into on the start line, so I concentrated on feeling relaxed and smooth. Surprisingly, I felt really comfortable and I found myself in the lead group of around six people. The six of us ran together all the way to Pooley Bridge which is about five miles in. I was relaxed and the group was chatting away, at one point attention got brought to my bright pink Saucony shoes. They gave everyone in the group a chuckle. Passing through Pooley Bridge I felt the group dynamics change as some speeded up and I let them go. The group of six splintered as we passed Roehead farm up to The Cockpit. I felt strong, but was running sensibly, mindful of the pace I had tested many times during training.
The next five miles down to Howtown went smoothly and I found myself running with Ben Hamilton who is a really good ultra runner. We had a brief chat and he slowly pulled away from me at Fusedale which is the first really big climb of the race. Reaching the top of Fusedale I noticed that Katie Kaars Sijpesteljn was just behind me. Katie is a GB mountain runner and a great pacer of events and I decided that she would be a great person to latch onto. We ran and chatted from high cop to low cop and then started descending down to Haweswater. It was at this point that I started to feel like I was working harder than I should have been for the pace that I was running. Nevertheless, I stuck to my plan and continued with the effort I had practised in training.
When we hit Haweswater I knew that I didn’t feel good. I was really starting to feel very tired. Realising that this was far too early in the race to feel like this I thought it best that I slowed down significantly, try to reduce my heart rate and hopefully feel better so that I could pick the pace back up again later. I was drinking and eating correctly, so I knew I was well hydrated and was keeping decent energy stores. In doing so I realised that it meant saying goodbye to my goal time, but this was my best option at that moment. That’s fine as it was where I was at and had to be done, and I could re-evaluate at Mardale 4 miles further on.
After a further four miles along Haweswater to Mardale Head checkpoint (19 miles in) I felt even worse despite reduction in my pace. I just couldn’t seem to lower my heart rate. I relayed this to my buddy Alastair Black who was at the checkpoint. Alastair was doing the 100 and had set off the day before at 6pm and was having a tough day. Incredibly he was still cheery and full of life after 75 miles of running! Amazing spirit and energy emanates from Alastair, he was a welcomed sight!
I left Mardale Head and headed off up Gatesgarth hill to Kentmere trying my best to maintain a slow and steady pace. My aim was to keep moving relatively quickly while trying not to blow up. When I arrived at Kentmere I was still not in a great spot. I had kept moving as best as I could, but I was still not recovering. I had managed a reasonable pace, slower than I had initially intended, but still ok. My head was dealing with the situation of losing more time and my body not feeling recovered. I knew that my finishing time was drifting outside of 9 hours now. Runners were floating past me with what seemed like ease. At this point I vowed never to do an ultra again. This is a common thing for runners to say when an ultra is seemingly going wrong. The goal now was to get to Ambleside in a satisfactory time and try to be able to run out of Ambleside and not feel too tired.
Climbing up over Garburn Pass I noticed my good buddy Simon who, like Alastair, was also running the 100. When I saw Simon I had guessed that he had an issue as we had estimated that I wouldn’t pass him until after Ambleside. We greeted each other and had a great mid race chat for a couple of minutes. Simon was struggling with his knee and I was struggling so we listened to each other and I think that chat did us both a lot of good. We said our goodbyes and off I ran down Garburn to Troutbeck and then Ambleside.
The crowd at Ambleside is always awesome. You really look forward to it as It lifts your spirit. Seeing friends and people cheering you from the pubs is really great. I arrived at Ambleside, 35 miles in, 12 minutes behind the time I had set last year. I had known for a while that I was still losing time, which was disappointing, but I decided to deal with it as positively as I could. I had started to think about what I could potentially achieve from here and, after doing the maths, I decided that I was going to push on and give it my all in an attempt at obtaining a Lakeland 50 pb. If I did that I would be chuffed to bits. My new goal.
Leaving Ambleside I had a great chat with my friend Dave Hunter as we walked up Loughrigg. It was the perfect time again to talk to someone having just devised my newly formulated plan and Dave said the right things, listened well, and with that off I went through the Langdales to Coniston. The chase for the pb was on!
The final 15 miles are 15 miles that I am pretty damn proud of.
Leaving Loughrigg you enter a lovely area called Elterwater. Whilst running through Elterwater I spotted the ultra runner Debbie Consani at one of the gates on the route. I could be wrong but she seemed to be there to open the gate for competitors and she opened it for me. She told me that I had to keep running now, no stopping to open the gate, which I thanked her for. At Kentmere Marcus Scotney was helping at Kentmere checkpoint with drinks and food. Last year at Lakeland Sabrina Vergee was on the course in Langdale cheering us on. These are GB runners and record breakers that are out on the course helping and supporting us. It’s pretty awesome!
Elterwater leads into the Langdale valley and Blea Moss where I worked frickin hard in the rain and ran through trails that had turned into rivers. I kept pushing my effort, running every uphill I could, digging deep aiming for my pb. The last climb is out of Tilberthaite Quarry and is a Quad burner. Underfoot conditions were the worst I’ve seen here, again more trails like rivers on some tricky climbs and then onto the final technical descent. Around here was the first time I got any muscle tightness, my hip flexors and upper calves were the muscles objecting. Fortunately nothing led into cramp and Coniston came as a welcome sight.
Running through Coniston after running 50 miles is a satisfying feeling. The crowds cheered with incredible enthusiasm from the pubs and kerb side. It’s hard to not pick up the pace and feel emotional at this point. Finally turning down the last road into the school I crossed the finish line and the first thing I did was to look at my watch. I saw that I had run the last section 14 minutes faster than last year to beat my previous best time by 2 min. I had a new Lakeland 50 pb of 9 hours 24 min for 19th place out of 1327 starting. Relief.
My time and position was down on my initial goal, but my goal had shifted. So, with my new goal of improving on the previous year’s time formulated mid run, I had achieved it. I was really pleased with my mental effort and ability to work out a solution to the problem I encountered. Happy days.
Simone did fantastically, in weather conditions that didn’t favour her strengths, to hit bang on 11 hours for 99th position/13th Female [she spoke for too long to Marcus Scotney at Kentmere or would have been sub 11!], Simon battled brilliantly and finished 65th in the 100 in 28 hours 51 min. I was very proud of him for this performance as his knee was properly bad and he showed tons of determination. Alastair had a resurgence and finished strong in 29 hours and 2 min for the 100. Richard and Brad were snapping at my heels finishing in 9 hours 34 min [23rd] and 9 hours 40 min [28th]. Max ran 11 hours 3 min [105th] for an amazing start to his ultra career, and he is back in the 2023 race looking to go faster! Tammy did brilliantly and loved the day of running in the fells and was delighted with 13 hours 4 min [310th]. Jon and Hannah did amazingly in 13 hours and 10 min [317th/318th] with Hannah finishing her first ultra with Jon by her side.
Congratulations to you all. We all put a huge commitment into this race. I am sure we are all very proud of each other and gain a deeper happiness from sharing our experiences within our small Lakeland running community.
Huge thanks has to go to our friend Elaine and Simon who helped in many ways throughout the training months and on race day. Also Russ and Jenny for excellent support!
Kit
Shoes: Saucony Endorphin Edge. These were amazing! The cushioning was excellent, they felt very bouncy and extremely rapid with a carbon plate in them. They are very light and drained really well in the masses of water we ran through! I didn’t get a single blister, no sore spots and for the first time in an ultra lost no toe nails. Overall a phenomenal shoe that will be my go to race shoe on the trails and training shoe.
Pack: Montane Via Gecko VP5+. The pack was really great, so much space to fit everything in. Incredibly comfortable and no rubs or issues.
Shorts: Montane Via Dragon 5”. Light, breathable and comfortable and no irritations or rubbing.
T-Shirt: Montane Dart Zip T. Light, breathable and comfortable and no irritations or rubbing.
Socks: Feetures Elite Light Cushion Mini Crew. Combined with the shoes caused not a single issue and it was comfortable. Awesome!!
GPS: Coros Pace 2. Brilliant running watch. It does what most runners want.
Drink: Tailwind. I took 6 bottles of 200 kcal powder of which 2 was full at the start and 4 in my pack that I switched at aid stations and filled with water.
Gels: Maurten. I took 12 with me and ate 8 of them. I substituted 4 of them for some bananas and smoothies at the aid stations.
I took on around 2400 kcals which is roughly 250 kcal/hour
Training
My training had gone really well and I had the best training for an ultra that I have ever had. My winter mileage had been around 50-60 miles a week with plenty of Zone 2 moderate pace running. This I felt had improved my Aerobic system quite a lot. I added in some Zone 3-4 sessions which had a really strong development of my Anaerobic capabilities. I had Zone 1 easy recovery running when I felt that it was required and that was about it. My aim was to have a good consistency of decent mileage [for me]. This resulted in coming into spring in the best form that I have been in for many years on the road and healthy.
Spring onwards brings in the element of more specific off road training for my races. I was doing 2 English Champs fell races before Lakeland training began. These were around 10 miles in Lakes and North Yorkshire. They didn’t go amazing, and the reason is lack of fell training leading into these. Next year I am altering things here!
Post fell races I got stuck into ultra training and things went great. I did a couple of Peaks 20 mile runs, then a couple of Lake District 20 mile runs and all was great! I then did 3 x 28 mile runs on the Lakeland route and they went brilliantly. I practised my nutrition and all was good!
Key for me is consistency of what mileage I can handle while keeping healthy, recovering and training well. The moderate paced running for me was huge in building an Aerobic base followed by long runs at a decent effort over the route was really important also while practising nutrition.
Changes for 2023 season and Montane Lakeland 50
I was very pleased with my training, nutrition and kit choices, but am always looking for improvements and I have a few to put into action.
Training
Aug: Recovery month
Sept – Feb: Proper road training with a couple of races. Slightly more Zone 3-5 training while still focusing on Zone 2 primarily. Still remembering to enjoy running in the Winter in Lincoln.
Feb-May: More concerted effort at getting into the Peaks and Lakes for Fell training. This was not done last year so I just need to travel more. The 2 races that I am doing are also 20+ miles in distance and are much longer than last year so I should enter Lakeland training stronger. The runs will be obviously hillier, but also longer than if I stayed in Lincoln.
May-Aug: Last year I did a good pace long run in the Lakes once every 3 weeks on the LL50 route. In the weeks in between I stayed in Lincoln with easier much shorter weekend runs to recover. Next year I am doing a good pace long run in the Lakes once every 4 weeks on the LL50 route, but having 1 easy weekend in Lincoln then 1-2 easy to moderate 20 mile runs in the Peaks/Lakes in between the Long Lakes runs. Hopefully this will give more Fell miles over a longer distance.
Kit
Lighter gear. Some pieces were light and great, though a few could go lighter for sure. This will make it easier and will require me to use less energy. Basically, I don’t need what is in my pack unless something goes wrong so I aim to make these items as light as possible while still being useful if required.
Nutrition
I am aiming to adopt a more liquid nutrition strategy as it is easier for me to consume and will lighten the pack with no gels saving nearly half a kilo. I will look to continue taking spare bottles with powder ready inside. This will need practice in training. Potentially try higher calories per hour.
Yes, I am in for the Montane Lakeland 50 next year. Though I had to go through the charity entry as I didn’t get a place through the ballot.
Simone, Simon and Myself at 100 start
Simone and Myself at 50 start with Jon, Hannah & Brad
Me at the finish
Simone at the finish