I entered the Surrey Hills Ultra in September 2019 - 3 days before the event took place. I had completed a marathon 9 years earlier and I believe my longest recent run had been 10 miles. I went into this event absolutely clueless. I loved every minute of it, and wrote the following a few days after the event, which to this day I still find a useful read!
Great Read
I read one blog the moment after I booked onto the ultra and it was the best thing I could have done, the advice on this INOV-8 blog was incredible. In particular this part:
“If you’re in an ultra race and you’ve thought of something three times, then in reality you’ve probably thought of it between 5 and 10 times. This is a warning sign and it’s your body telling you that it needs whatever it is you’ve been thinking about. It could be a need for food or water, to put clothes on, take clothes off, go to the loo or fix a sore spot. Don’t ignore it any longer. Stop right away and do it.”
Foot Comfort
Foot comfort is incredibly important, I took a spare pair of running socks, Compeed and surgical tape. Thank god. At around mile 25, the heavens opened and I suddenly became aware of my big toe, a blister was starting. ‘The rule of three’ came in, I immediately stopped, turned out Compeed doesn’t stick to wet skin so I held it on with the surgical tape, I put my lovely clean dry sock on and I was good to go. Thinking about it, I was right to only change the sock on one foot as it meant I still had a spare one in case I needed to change again and I had inadvertently bought a generic pair of socks rather than one right foot and one left foot sock!
I cut my toe nails really short about 3 days before the event.
Gaiters are amazing as stop stones going in to your shoes and minimise the chances of your shoe laces coming undone, I have ‘Dirty Girl’ gaiters bought online from the Ultra Marathon Running Store - this was the bit of kit I really wish I'd have had on this ultra.
Refuelling
Eat at every station, drink the moment you think about it. Eat halfway in between every station. I would tend to eat and drink when going up hill as I was walking anyway. Eat and drink before you get hungry or thirsty.
I wore a 2 litre camel pack which I refilled once and it was almost empty at the end, 4 litres of water I drank, plus all the Coca Cola at the aid stations!
Pain Relief
Not one for taking drugs, I wanted to take precaution so I took ibuprofen in the morning and four hours in to the ultra as well as when I finished. There was a noticeable difference when I took it mid-race, I felt great.
NB I have since been told that as ibuprofen thins the blood, it should not be taken when your body is working so hard, as you are putting yourself in great danger. Paracetamol would be a better alternative. I have not taken pain relief in my other ultras since this one.
See this article on Runners World for more information.
Make the Most of Walking
Walk up every hill.
Walk if you think you should have a walk.
Clumsiness!
As you get further in, your become more clumsy - take great care over tree roots as I was not lifting my feet as high as I thought. And I am sure your brain function is not as good, if there is a road crossing, STOP and really think about the fact you are crossing a road.
Kit List
In my camel pack bag I put everything into plastic bags as I was expecting rain, good job as the lady who refilled my camelback dropped it when the lid was off it got soaked! It did also rain though. Having everything in clear plastic bags made it easier to pack and find stuff when I needed it.
I packed a few items that I know I cannot live without, vaseline for my lips, spare hair band for if mine broke and my sunglasses. The rest of the kit list was at their suggestion:
My kit list:
Camel pack
Buff (wore this)
Dextrose tablets
4x bars (Perkier and Snickers)
Rain coat
Long sleeved top
Hat
Gloves
1x socks
Pack tissues
Vaseline - for my lips but also in case of chaffing
Compeed
Surgical tape
Whistle
Spare hair band
Rain cap
Sunglasses (wore these)
Fully charged mobile phone
Route map
Painkillers
Support Crew
I guessed where I would be suffering the most, Checkpoint 3. I asked friends Ingrid and Sam to meet me there, the 8 mile stretch between checkpoint 2 and 3 was the toughest and knowing they would be there was amazing, it was incredible to arrive to their smiling faces and share with them my stories from the route so far.
Break it into manageable distances
I worked out the miles in between each station, this meant that I ran an 8 mile run, then a 6 mile, then 8, then I saw Sam and Ingrid and then I only had 3 more runs to do, a 6 mile, 4 mile and 5 mile….. easy! It really worked. It meant I wasn’t really thinking about how far I had to go.
Pace yourself
I bought a Garmin Forerunner 35 and worked out what pace I was happy running at so I had to slow myself down a lot at he beginning, which really paid off come the end. When I walked, it was a brisk walk and if I ran slower than I planned, it didn’t matter, I was aiming to complete, not compete and I wanted to finish strong.
Stretch!
The day before, the morning of and at aid stations and at the end and the day after.
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