Unbroken by Brecon

Last weekend was the Brecons Ultra. Billed as a 45 miler, it always ends up being at least 46 miles with some change over (depending upon how much you wobble off the most direct route as the crow flies), so you need to prepare yourself for the Garmin clicking over to 45 miles despite the final two bridges still being out of sight.
We stayed at an Outward Bound Centre the night before, courtesy of one of Kevin’s contacts, which was SO much better than getting up at 3.15 am to drive to Talybont. It also meant that we could register and collect our race numbers the night before. On the morning of the race, we had a good breakfast, made the final tweaks to our gear and put our numbers on our shorts before leaving for race HQ.
We set of along the canal at around a 7.30 pace for the first three miles to the start of the hill, walking up the first hill at a brisk pace so as not to overcook it right at the start. We then made a rapid descent to Checkpoint 1 to refill our bottles and push on along the old railway line. At this point I could see that even though I was feeling good, Justin had much more to give so both Kev and I told him to push on and that we would see him at the end. Kevin and I continued to run together for a number of miles albeit that he pushed up the hills and I then caught him on the downs – all good fun. We stayed together until the beginning of the hill on the second lap when Kev pulled away and I didn’t see him again until the end. It was at this point that I became VERY tired and had to give myself a good talking to not to give up. I think I was feeling a bit fed up at not feeling as strong as last year. Having told myself in no uncertain terms that this wasn’t surprising given that eight weeks ago I thought that I may not be able to run an ultra again and that just being able to complete the two laps was a HUGE achievement – I carried on with a slow steady chug. This worked well as it enabled me to take on food and water and to maintain a forward momentum. Having got to the top of the hill, I knew then that I was going to finish this race and more importantly that I would be happy with what I had achieved.
The lads both ran VERY well. From a position of around 18 when he left us Justin pushed himself to a 7.01 finish and 7th place and Kevin kept his running strong and came in, in a great time of 8.17. I finished in a time of 8.44 and even managed to out sprint a runner at the end. I’d been tracking him all along the canal without having a thought about catching him let alone overtaking, but I think I took less ‘walk breaks’ in the last section and in the end we were so close I had to have a go at passing him.
Overall, I am VERY happy with how my body performed on the day and I feel that I can move forward confidently with a winter work programme to carry on building my fitness so that I can begin next year both stronger and quicker and more able to be competitive in the ultra races I love. Bring on 2012!!!

Me and Justin last year 09 seconds in

Taly-Ho @ Talybont

Since I last posted a blog, I have done my longest and (for me) most important run this year, having completed a lap of the Beacons ultra-course - and it went VERY WELL
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Myself, Justin and Andy (who was on last year’s team) set off in very warm conditions a couple of Saturdays ago and by the time we reached the first big hill we were all thinking that running with a couple of layers of clothing, hats and gloves was the wrong choice – forgetting that (a) we were running in a valley and (b) that we were in Wales (more later). Justin and I had set ourselves a target to try and run the lap at a pace around 09:30 to 10:00 minute miles but we didn’t quite manage this as Andy hasn’t been doing quite as much training as Justin and me and we were running the lap as a team. We walked the first big hill after 3.5 miles and noted that it goes up for 1.5 miles. SOOO on race day we are planning to walk up the incline at a rapid pace on the first lap and to hobble up (hopefully not in quite as much pain as last year) on the second. By the time we ran onto the Taff Trail, we had been running in steady rain for a couple of hours and the temperature had dropped significantly, so we had a ‘re-dress’ and put on our waterproof jackets (which stayed on until the last three miles). Because we felt relaxed and comfortable at the steady pace, we were able to take in all the key changes of direction along the route (an important ingredient of any recce run). From the Saddle it was just a matter of cruising down the stony path to the valley bottom without tripping. Unfortunately I didn’t quite manage this and ended up going over spectacularly, although instinct kicked in and I managed a perfectly executed Para roll to avoid any serious injuries. We finished the lap in four and a half hours and enjoyed a coffee before travelling home. It was actually quite nice not to feel like our legs had been through a meat grinder!

The following week I did a local cross country and felt good all the way round, although was not able to beat my team mate for the Brecon Kevin, who had done a lap of the Brecon course the day before, I am sure he will be very strong on the day.

I have had a restful taper with just a couple of quality runs with Justin, and feel as ready as I can be for the race and am looking forward to meeting and catching up with friends I have not seen for a long time on the ultra-scene. I will give a report next week when I can sit still for more than five minutes without my legs cramping!