Draycote Water 35 mile Race 22/02/09
On Saturday Richard and I drove down to somewhere in England for The Draycote Water 35 mile race and marathon the following day. All went according to plan and on the way I learned to drive an automatic car and discovered that its not just my eyes, my car lights are dismally dim as I found with Richard's car I could actually see.
Before disappearing off to our rooms at the Travelodge we went for a late meal at the Little Chef, which was perfectly alright really. My desire for a beer with dinner was intense but managed to resist. I filled the rest of the evening having a bath in the tiny bath (we don't have one at home so its a treat) and laying out all my bits of kit so I'd have as little as possible to do in the morning.
The next day dawned grey and cold after a minimum of sleep and I broke half a tooth off on my muesli. I tried not to let this impinge on my ultrarunner's mindset and was ready and in reception by 8am.
We found our way to Draycote Water country park in plenty of time and after hiding in the car walked up to the start area. There we took in the scene of grey choppy water and a strong and chilling wind blowing off it. The air was full of the sound of yachts' masts dinging in the wind, a sound that takes me back to childhood sailing trips being wet and frozen rigid for hours while the adults around me had fun! The other contestants were wrapped up warm in big coats and there was an air of suffering rather than of excitement. There seemed to be quite a large Scottish contingent. I'll be interested to see the results and see just how many of those present were Scots. Adrian Stott of Run and Become was there and told me there's a big ultra event (100K?) in Ireland at the end of March so a lot of people were using this event as a sharpener. Also there was Issy Knox of HBT who had flown down. She was nervous as always before a race and declared herself “not fit”. I've been in races with Issy quite a few times over the years now and I've heard this story before! (have just seen the results. Issy was 11th overall and 1st lady in an incredible 4hrs 26 mins which is 7min36 pace!)
Richard was there for the fast, flat, pb potential marathon so had reason to curse the wind. I wasn't keen on it but was running without a fixed time goal in mind so it shouldn't matter so much. My main concern was that I'd planned to run in a t-shirt and vest and had to revise this pretty quick. Luckily I had a long sleeve top along to substitute although I had only really brought this for the hanging about before and afterwards. I ran all the way in a thickish wool-based Montane top and never felt too warm.
3 minutes before the start I received my worst injury of the race; I got scratched by thorns climbing into the bushes for a last minute pee.
A minimum of fuss before the start and the hooter went off catching most of us out as we hadn't quite expected it. The marathoners did a loop in one direction and the 35 milers in the other to make up the respective distances so they could finish at the same finish line. I therefore saw Richard once as he passed me at about mile 2. I think he must have been quite close behind me finishing as I set off for my lap 5. (I had seven to do in all), so I would have been about 4 miles behind him. He finished in a massive new pb of 3hrs 14mins and I believe would have gone faster on a less windy day.
Although the course is pretty flat it does have some undulations. In the first few laps these were a welcome chance to use different muscles but became more challenging as time went on.
I set off trying to keep my pace between 8mins30 and 9 minute pace. Looking at my splits I managed this up to mile 16 when I started to run over 9 minute pace at about the same heart rate. I went through 20 miles at 2hrs 56mins and through the marathon at 3hrs 55 mins. After this my pace dropped to 10+min pace and more. Up to the marathon distance I had the diversion of going past the slower marathoners but as many in the field finished the competitors thinned out and I was largely on my own for the two laps beyond the marathon. As you would expect this was when the challenge really began. It wasn't far to go but I was sore and could only shuffle along. I knew I wasn't going to make it under 5hrs 15 mins which was the line in the sand I'd drawn for myself. There were so many reasons to just drop out...Richard would be waiting, recovering from these extra miles would take time out of training, what was so special about 35 miles? As I came towards the end of my 2nd last lap the lead women in the 35 mile race were finishing. It was so hard to set off one more time out into the wind! I'd pretty much made up my mind just to drop out with one lap to go but when I got to the lap-counting area a bunch of people, now including Richard cheered me on and one of the marshalls pretended to have a lap bell and shouted “This is your last lap Doing Doing Doing!” How could I let him down after he'd pretended to have a bell for me? Off I went.
I went through 50K in 4hrs 44mins which is a pb by 21 minutes for this distance although comparisons don't really work as my last 50K was off-road. Then feebly shuffled along encouraging myself as the last mile markers slowly appeared. At 33 and a half miles I developed a horrible pain in my right foot. I stopped for a few seconds just to see if it would get better and it did a bit but not properly, so I ran on anyway, hoping it was nothing serious. (I think it was cramp but I was afraid of stuff like stress fractures.) At 34 and a half miles I could finally see the white tent where I would be finishing. I managed to pick up my pace in the last mile to 9min53pace! Final time 5hrs 26mins (9.19pace).
And then it was all over. Smiles from Richard. Congratulations from the patient marshals who still had another hour out probably. A goody-bag containing only necessary items! My favourites after drinking High Five all day were the can of diet Coke and the bag of ready salted crisps. There was also a t-shirt (I put it on over my clothes and drove back to Edinburgh like that!), a Kit-Kat, an orange, an apple and a banana.
We set off pretty quickly having a long drive back up the road, stopping only for burgers at a Wimpy and cakes and coffee at a Costa Coffee. Neither of us were moving very well across the garage forecourts but we were pretty pleased with ourselves and really had a cheery drive back up the road planning future running campaigns. I got home c.10.30/11pm ish to an ebullient Buchanan who had had a good cross country so we had some fizzy wine and swapped stories. Mouth is a bit dry today. Picking up the post was a challenge. Seem sore but largely okay. Back to work tomorrow. Boo.
Report Mary Hunter
Photos Hunter / Dennis
Website results
Website photos (see below)This report just in from Richard...
A challenge to tell an interesting story since Mary’s already revealed the punchline – but…
My motivation for this goes back to last October, when I ran the “FourToGo” Marathon. I’ve bored most of you about this, but for any who I haven’t cornered…. “FourToGo” runs roughly from Stanstead to the Olympic site in Hackney, along the tow paths of the Lee Valley, and is flat as a pancake. I’d run what for me was a perfect race – first half in 1:36 (only 2 minutes off pb for a half), and only dropping beyond 8 minute mile pace right at the end. Trouble was the course was very short – a mile and a half short according to my Garmin, and the various runners’ forums on the web suggested even that was optimistic. So it was hard to take my 3:05 time seriously – as many club members pointed out (repeatedly if your name was Graham!). Had the course been a full marathon, I think I’d have finished in around 3:18, well within my 3:23 personal best from far-from-flat Loch Ness. I was so cross I didn’t even write a report for the website. Draycote was the next marathon I could get to – and though I ought to have been doing the 35 miler with Mary as preparation for the Highland Fling, I had unfinished business.
This was the first time I’d ever done every session in my training schedule for a marathon – though it no doubt helped that this was only six weeks’ long! I’ve been trying out an approach of slowing down on my long runs and speeding up my speedwork – which meant I’d done no running at all at goal pace. I’d also set myself unrealistic expectations. Mary was making a film of the weekend, and interviewed me on camera whilst I was focussed on the M6: only afterwards I realised I’d set beating my pb as my “acceptable” target, beating my notional time from October as “good”, and getting the London good for age time as ideal. No pressure then!
It was very cold and very windy at the start - I had so many clothes on that Adrian Stott assumed I’d come just to support (a quick plug for the Porty Hoodies – very snug!). I’d been planning to run in shorts and a vest – but had to add long sleeved T and gloves. There was much grumbling amongst the gathering runners about the wind and how this would ruin our day. I’d a carefully planned schedule in my mind to beat 3:20 – basically to run at 7:20 pace for the first 18 miles and then hang on – and finally decided to try and stick to this, accepting at some point the wind would end chances of a good time.
Then the hooter went off without warning, and all planning went out the window. I’d forgotten how tapering in the days before a race inevitably means you dash off far too fast unless you are very disciplined – so I went from chatting at the back of the pack to 13th place by the first corner. The loops to make up the distance mean I have three opportunities to wave at Mary running ahead and back towards me on the 35 course before catching her up. She stands accused of shouting “HBT” at the start, and was busily chatting to Adrian on the next two occasions I saw her, and to another chap when I caught her up. The waving and chatting help me slow back to goal pace by then – but I’ve put some vital time in the bank, running 7:12 average for the first six miles.
The course on the far side of the reservoir is more undulating than I remember – there are four or five little climbs rather than the two in my mind – but it is also far more sheltered. And this is the bit we are running into the wind. Although we are buffeted by a cross wind at either end, I think the wind is helping us – it is behind us for perhaps two solid miles on the exposed side, and only head-on for perhaps 400m for which we don’t have tree cover. This is good – since the wind surfers on the lake are flying past and getting airborne off the waves.
I have five laps to do, which means four chances to run past the finish area where my bag is. I have four lucosade sachets lined up with a bar of tablet attached to each. The first of these after 7.5 miles is very needed. My pace drops to 7:30 for that mile whilst I fumble with the packaging in my gloves and then struggle to breathe and chew at the same time. But I can arrange for the feeding to coincide with the most exposed bit, so can allow myself not to push into the wind. The tablet kicks in and the pace gets back to 7:20 for the second lap – then back to 7:30 for the feed in mile 13.
I’m munching as I get to the half way point. 1:35:36 according to the Garmin – I am 24 seconds up on October! OK – I admit this is because I’ve probably put in a little sprint just to make sure I’m at least matching the FourToGo time to this point, and I pay for this. Not devoting enough time to slowing down means this second bar of tablet doesn’t sit so well. I can also feel the beginning of cramp in the legs. Thinking about it afterwards, I think this is the big impact of the wind, and comes from it simply keeping us cold for long stretches.
Still, so far so good, and my plan is simply to get through this lap before I let myself slow down. This is getting hard. For the third quarter of the race, the average pace falls to 7:22. The question becomes when, how far and how fast I’m going to collapse. I’ve worked out that to get a 3:15 London good for age time I need to get to the end of the third lap at the latest by 2:05, and the fourth by 2:40. As I pass the clock at the end of lap 3, it is showing 2:03, so it is still possible. But I’ve got a stitch and can’t face any more lucosade – which I throw away – or tablet – which I carry for the lap thinking about it (does tablet have any salt in it - would that stop the cramp getting worse?)
Lap four passes largely in a blur. Folk start going past me at this point, and make me feel like I’m going backwards. It is only afterwards I work out that this is the front end of the 35 mile race lapping me rather than my own field. Because I am already lapping the back end of not only the 35 mile race but also the back end of the marathon, I start to come across folk walking up the “hills” – this is so tempting (it is probably the right thing to do in an ultra, but definitely not in a marathon!). I reach the end of lap four to see the clock saying 2:37:something. Shame – I have to keep trying. I force down half a bar of tablet. For a good ten minutes I struggle to work out what pace I need to keep going to run 4.7 miles in 37 minutes – but I just can’t get there beyond “a little faster than 8 minute miles”. The advantage of the lap format is that I know exactly what is coming. If I can get over the undulations, the last two miles are flat and fast, so I plan not to push until then.
I’ve been running with my garmin showing pace for the current mile rather than total time – so I don’t know exactly how long I’ve got. I plan to look when I get to the downhill bit so I know how hard to push. But when I get there, I can’t. My fingers in my gloves won’t work the buttons – and holding my arm up to look seems to make the cramp in my legs worse. So I’d better just go as fast as I can. But there’s nothing left, and mile 25 is my slowest thus far (7:52). I’m now counting my steps and only allowing myself to glance at the garmin each time I reach 100. Annoying the pace isn’t improving. The clock at the finish comes into sight just as it clicks over onto 3:14, so it is going to be tight. 7:45 for mile 26, and my final sprint doesn’t raise my pace at all. I stop my watch at 3:14:27 – did I start it at the same time as the hooter? Had I crossed the finish line? The final result gives me 3:14:17, and 9th place. My immediate reaction is not joy so much as relief that I don’t have to try and run a fast marathon in the autumn!
The marathoners hang about and eat all the cake (every last piece!) whilst the 35 milers set off on their two remaining laps. My next challenge – having proved very good at the cake eating - is my first go with a digital camera. Izzy Knox comes past looking in real pain, and manages only a grunt. Mary comes past shortly afterwards with a beaming smile and enough breath for a chat. Her response to my record-breaking time is to tell me not to be too disappointed for not going faster (nothing like friends to keep you under pressure). Adrian then comes past also smiling and chatty and enjoying himself, clearly treating this just as a long training run. When they reappear 40 minutes later, I’ve moved to try and get the “clock shot” at the finish (which I only get right once out of four goes) – but it is the same story: Izzy sprinting through the pain for the finish, Mary and Adrian looking like they are having far more fun than they should (good job we didn’t leave them any cake: ultras have to involve some pain). Mary clearly has a hard last lap, since I have the camera out in good time, but is still smiling as she finishes – and doesn’t want to waste any time changing, or eating, or getting her breath back, before we start the long journey home. I note her report is too modest to point out she was 4th in her age group.
A very long way to go for a marathon – 650 mile round trip – but highly recommended for those chasing an elusive time (and if you’re tempted, both the ultra and the marathon fill up their 100 places very quick once entries open in December).
Report Richard Dennis
Here are some photos from the Draycote Water website...
Richard sprints for the line
Issy with one lap to go.
Mary with 2 laps to go.
Issy wins the 35 miler
One to go
A cheerful Issy getting first prize.
Mary crosses the line.
