My running Blog

At the point I signed up to the DBR I was days away from hitting the start line for my first ever Ultra. I joined the waiting list on 14thOct 2020, as the event was currently fully subscribed, and was not fully committed at that point. I knew I wanted to do something big as I approached 50 and had seen a number of videos of the race that intrigued me. 

My first ever ultra was the Beowulf Ultra – renamed from the Kings Forest Ultra – took place on 17th Oct 2020. One of not many events that took place in 2020 so lucky to get the opportunity. Positive Steps (www.positivestepspt.co.uk) were the organiser and they did a great job of putting on a socially distanced covid-safe event. Mentally it was interesting. 30 laps of a 1.06 mile circuit around West Stow Country Park. I completed the race in 5hrs 5mins which was a decent effort for my first Ultra. A few aches and pains as you would expect and a tough last 5-8 laps but I held up to the challenge pretty well.

By the time I got the offer of a place for the DBR in December 2020 I was almost at the end of my most active year ever. I completed 2,073 miles across the year and felt able to take on the challenge. This was my moment to do it and so here we go……

With my first ultra under my belt, a set of events already planned and a 100km in July I had a ready made training schedule. My biggest issue and hence challenge was clear. Cambridge is flat and I needed to become a mountain runner! Prior to signing up my largest month of running in terms of elevation gain was 3,563ft which I achieved in October 2020. 

As a spreadsheet geek I have an excel training schedule covering the entirety of 2021 up to the DBR, a 36 week schedule.

As a base schedule it includes a series of 4 week blocks which follow the pattern:

· Week 1, 2 and 3 – small build in mileage across each week

· Week 4 – “rest” week at roughly 70% of the week 1 mileage

Included within that training schedule are a series of races and recce events. Some of them were signed up to as part of my schedule when the 100km race was my primary goal. That will now form a valuable part of my training schedule. 

10th April - Easter 50 Challenge (https://ultrachallenge.com/easter-challenge/) 50km

Update 3/3/21: unfortunately this race has been cancelled due to Covid restrictions that will still be in place on that date. Not too worried about that since the race was flat and I will just run my own 50km that weekend with more elevation. 

24th & 25th April - Recce weekend covering Day 1 of the DBR. 26m (3,440m of ascent)

9th May - White Peaks trail run (https://trailrunningpeaks.co.uk/whitepeaktrailrun/) 16m

16th May - Roche Abbey Ultra (https://bookings.itsgrimupnorthrunning.co.uk/book/205). 50km (~1,000m   of climb)

22nd & 23rd May - Recce weekend covering parts of Day 2 and Day 3. 50-60m

12th June - Half Sunset (https://www.darkside.run/sunset-ultramarathon/) 38m

3rd July - Peak District Ultra (https://ultrachallenge.com/peak-district-challenge/) 100km (2,450m of climb)

14th & 15th Aug - Recce weekend covering parts of Day 3 and Day 4. 50-60m

6th – 11th Sept - Dragons Back Race (https://www.dragonsbackrace.com/) 360km (17,400m of climb)

20th  & 21st Nov - Peak District South & North (http://rangerultras.co.uk/index.php/peak-district-south-north/) 93km (2,091m of climb).

I will do my best not to race the events and use them purely as training runs. It is always hard on a race day to not get carried away with the emotion and adrenaline of the occassion but I must treat them as training runs. My schedule will involve a tough hill session the Tuesday after these races so need to respect that.

The key challenge in my training will be to achieve as much elevation as possible. Whilst Cambridge is not known for its hills – and lockdown currently does not permit me to go any further – I currently have the following areas built into my regular runs: Roman Road from Wandlebury; Royston Heath and surrounding area, Madingley Hill and Bar Hill. Saffron Walden is currently too far away to travel and so that will have to wait. As soon as lockdown ends then the Peak District and further afield awaits.

I also have a number of recce weekends planned. The first one is hosted by Raw Adventures (https://www.raw-adventures.co.uk/skills-courses/dragons-back-race-recce-events) who officially partner with the organisers. I will be covering the tougher section of day 1 with them and in particular Crib Goch. Google Crib Goch and watch a video of someone crossing it. Absolutely terrifying. Need to have gone across that with a guide before I try and tackle that on race day on my own.

The other two weekends are currently scheduled to be on my own. If anyone wants to join me feel free to get in touch. I am staying near the campsite for end of day 2 for one weekend and will run the Day 2 route in reverse to half way and back on Saturday and then the Day 3 route to half way and back on the Sunday. Two long back to back days familiarising myself with the course. If I find a training partner then we have a better option. Drive to start of Day 2 and run the whole route and then go back and collect the car. Drive to the end of Day 3, leave a car and then come back to start and run the whole of Day 3. 

My standard training week is as follows:

· Mon – rest with a strength and conditioning workout;

· Tues – hill repeats

· Wed – steady run

· Thurs – speedwork (with hills)

· Fri – rest

· Sat – long run

· Sun – recovery run

The strength and conditioning is a recent addition. It is not something I have traditionally done but having read a lot of material on endurance running, fell running and multi-day races it seems clear to me that strength is important. Just a bodyweight runners workout from The Running Channel on youtube. They have two sessions and I am currently alternating them. The hill repeats serve as a further bit of strength training for my legs.