Montane Lakeland 50
On Saturday the 30th of July 2022 I am racing the Montane Lakeland 50. https://lakeland100.com This is a 50 mile self navigation race in the Lake District starting in Dalemain, and finishing in Coniston, via Ullswater, Haweswater, the Kentmere valley, Ambleside, Elterwater and the Langdale valley. The scenery is breathtaking, and it is one of my favorite races of all time in my favourite place in the World.
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The atmosphere at the event is very, very special and I find it hard to explain the feeling post race. I can’t wait to be there again. Take a look at this small 6 min film of the event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT6Jd6CQ3g0
The Montane Lakeland 50 is actually one of 2 main races over the weekend. The longer Lakeland 100 is also taking place. There is also Lakeland 1 for kids.
I first started running in the Lake District in 2014 to recce the Lakeland 50 and the Bob Graham Round following the recommendation of a friend, Jon Hobbs. I Immediately fell in love with running in the Lakes and after watching Jon run the Lakeland in 2014 I entered the Lakeland 50 in 2015 along with my buddies Simon Blackman and Marcus Saunders. I had started training with my friend Paul Samways initially, but Paul fits a million things into a day and training for the Lakeland 50 wasn’t on his radar. He was looking at the Coast to Coast challenge and fortunately I found a bunch of people in Lincoln & beyond that had the same plan as me and they were to become my close Lakeland family of friends. Simon Blackman, Marcus Saunders, Russ Cottom, Jon Hobbs, Chris and Tammy Rainbow, David Swift, Dave Hunter, my wife Simone and many others.
Simon, Marcus, Jon [with pip], Russ and myself took on the Pooley to Dalemain recce [28 miles] with varying success. An injury or 2 ensued and off far too little training and awful nutrition strategy the 2015 race was completed in 10 hrs 55 min for 80th place. It felt fantastic to finish, but from a performance point of view not that great. I had learnt some very important lessons on training and nutrition and knew I’d be back. A special thing happens when you finish the Lakeland. A volunteer takes you by the arm into the marque tent and shouts Lakeland 50 finishers to loud cheers. This is amazing. Also, the crowds at the pubs in Ambleside and Coniston are fantastic and give you the most amazing cheer ever!
Simon Blackman and Myself at the start of Montane Lakeland 50 2015
Me at the Montane Lakeland 100 start 2015
Then followed the Bob Graham year of 2016. In the years between 2016 and 2019 my wife and friends have completed the Lakeland 50 and Lakeland 100 [my wife did the 100 5 days before we got married] so many years have been spent reccing the route and supporting them. During this time I concentrated on trying to become a fell runner and took on some fell races before deciding to go back to the Lakeland again last year in 2021.
2021 was more of a success performance wise than 2016 and I ran 1.5 hours faster finishing in 9 hours 26 min for 15th place. This looks like a great run on paper but I still made some major errors in nutrition. I also knew I could train better so set out to rectify this and entered again for 2022!
Simon Blackman and Myself at the start of the Montane Lakeland 50 2021 in matching shoes
Me at the finish of Montane Lakeland 50 2021
Me at Ambleside 35 miles into the race 2021
Me at the finish at Coniston 2021
My target this year is to walk away at the end knowing I have trained much better and have my nutritional plan dialed in far better than before, so to do a run that I feel happy with performance wise.
The Ultra distance is a tricky one to get right and as the event is long many things can pop up that can ruin a good run. The aim is to prepare so that as few issues can occur, and if any do deal positively with them.
I am doing The Montane Lakeland 50 which is 50 miles and 9728 feet of climbing.
Simon Blackman is doing the Lakeland 100 which is 105 miles and 22493 feet of climbing.
Over the next few days I will be going into some detail on my training, nutrition and gear choices leading into this year’s race on Saturday. I will also do a post race blog the following week of the race!
Track runners in the Lakeland 50 here: https://live.opentracking.co.uk/22lakeland50/
Track runners in the Lakeland 100 here: https://live.opentracking.co.uk/22lakeland100/