Lessons Learnt While Getting Sunburnt in Wales (Despite the Factor 50)
As a proud husband first, and her coach second, I feel that everyone can learn a lot from my wife Sally.
Admittedly, I may be biased but I’ve asked her to write a guest blog on how she crushed (my words, not hers) the Ultra Trail Snowdonia 50k (UTS50), despite the unseasonable heat. Here’s Sally in her own words…
When I lined up for UTS50 in May, I had a few aims.
Firstly, to see how I’d enjoy a shorter mountain ultra, as my races had gone longer and longer up to this point. Secondly, to have a good training day in the build up to my big goal for the year, the Dragons Back Race and thirdly, to hopefully pick up some running stones* for Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB).
* Now that UTS is part of the UTMB world series, you can collect running stones from World Series events, which you can use in the lottery to run at the UTMB finals in Chamonix.
Oh and also to have a nice day in the hills!
I'm normally a big fan of recceing events as I find it excellent mental and physical preparation.
But having done UTS 100k a few years ago, I was familiar with much of the course already. Also, much of my year to date had been largely focused on squeezing in recces for the Dragons Back Race.
As it was, a few days before UTS50 when I was up in Eryri, I joined a RAW Adventures recce event for Dragons Back Day 1 route covering Tryfan, Glyderau, Crib Goch and Snowdon. I don’t mind saying I focussed on going easy to save my legs!
And as backup I had a few useful Gary House You Tube videos to plug any gaps in my knowledge.
Yet the night before, I felt apprehensive.
Maybe I was perhaps a bit too chilled out? In reality, 55 km with 3,000m+ elevation - in a heatwave - would probably be a tough day out.
Despite interruption by young children who wouldn't go to bed, a brief chat with Coach helped me nail down my race plan.
One: come back alive.
Two: get some UTMB running stones.
Three: push on the ups and flats and ride the downs.
The kit list for the UTS50 is less than I would normally take for a day in the hills.
After a bit of pondering, I opted to leave my warm layer at home. It’s not on the kit list but it would normally be in my pack. Instead I chose to pack an empty extra water bottle with a filter cap.
In hindsight, this turned out to be a very wise move…
The day started well with an 8am start that was downright civilised compared to an early 100k start.
As I normally assume everyone else is faster than me, I tried to get further forward than normal in the start funnel.
The first climb, which goes up the Llanberis path, was steady and more runnable than I'd expected. The view from the Finger Post at the top was spectacular!
In contrast, my running down the Pyg track was not; it's a mixture of rocks and laid stones which I'm really slow over. I was also caught in a group stopped for 5 minutes to allow for a mountain rescue heli evacuation (nothing to do with the race).
No choice but to sit down and take on food and fluids. And to try not to worry too much about the field ahead getting away.
Then we were off again, working our way through the hordes and masses out on a sunny Saturday morning on one of the main routes up Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon).
Once through Pen y Pass car park however, the path became quieter and towards the bottom of the valley, more runnable. I enjoyed taking the brakes off and heading for the first aid station.
At this point, the heat began to hit.
I rarely dawdle at aid stations
So as usual I refilled my water, wet my cap and buff, had some fruit and a few cups of coke. Which wasn’t flat, so cue the next 30 minutes burping! I headed back out again as quickly as possible.
I trundled along a single track alongside Nant Gwynant, and although it was partially shaded, I realised I wasn't feeling good. The plan of pushing the flats and ups quickly changed to managing myself in the heat.
Looking back there was no breeze at all, and so my usual cooling strategy of mopping myself with a wet buff wasn't achieving much. I’d also completely lost my appetite and felt sick.
Problem solving time!
I ate some crystalized ginger to help with my stomach and got my spare water bottle out and filled it from a mountain stream somewhere up above the Watkin path. I immediately drank half of the cold water and kept pouring some onto my head.
It was so cold - utter bliss - and I slowly began to feel more human again. I also bumped into the lovely Lucy of LucyTriPhysio; and it was so good to see a friendly face. As I ascended on to the South Ridge there were occasionally light breezes and some light cloud cover, which also helped.
Yr Wyddfa was absolutely bonkers, I've never seen it so busy!
Trying to negotiate the crowds near the peak was challenging and so it was a relief as the route back down became gradually quieter and more runnable. I wasn't the only one suffering in the heat; many on course were finding it tough going and some ran out of water before the second aid station.
In the second aid station I spotted Emma Stewart. I knew she was at the pointy end of her UTS165, a really tough and technical 165 km route with 10,000m+ ascent, but didn't know her exact position.
I spent the remainder of the race ping ponging around her. Despite the fact she'd done over 100k before I'd even started, she was moving seriously impressively! On the third climb up Mynydd Mawr, I mentioned to her that I fancied doing the 165 as I'd like to complete the whole set of UTS races.
Her reply was that it was her hardest ever race!
I was now feeling better and setting my usual standard for the second half of a race: overtaking on the climbs, and losing a few places on the descents.
I had a little mantra in my head: ‘this is exactly where I'm supposed to be right now’. Which was strangely reassuring.
I negotiated some ‘interesting’ bogs (totally normal for Wales) and enjoyed reaching the jolly final aid station in the middle of a campsite. With the worst of the heat and crowds were behind us, I was also able to take in the amazing views.
You don't get many spectacular days like this in the UK mountains, so I took short video clips to be able to appreciate it again once I was home.
The fourth and final climb up Moel Eilio was a never ending slog with false summits.
I resorted to some music to lift my mood, remembering to keep eating (even though I didn't feel like it) to have energy right through to the end.
After a few further soul sapping rises, I finally got the gravel track back towards Llanberis; just the right gradient to let gravity joyously carry me home.
Overall it was fun to go shorter again.
The recovery is so much quicker and to me, it's more like a hard training day.
Plus the extra hours in the mountain all added to my experience; in this case, on how to deal with the heat. On top of collecting some UTMB running stones as well as some amazing memories to boot!
Sally finished 147th out of 1,125 runners, in 9 hours 19 minutes.
She was the 28th woman and 4th female V40. Despite the heat, she finished 40 minutes ahead of her predicted time. I’m in utter awe of her achievement!
Reading her blog, three points really stand out to me:
ONE: Do your homework on the route: Post race the UTS Facebook page exploded with people saying the races were too hard. Well if you’ve ever been to Snowdonia, you’d know it was going to be tough. Overlay the heat and it was going to be properly gnarly. I get you can’t always run the route in advance but as a minimum you can do some research on t’internet.
TWO: If it’s hot, focus on managing your core temperature: Many runners struggled with this on the day. Pour water on yourself, ice yourself, drink cold liquids, wear light clothes, slow down or stop (you’ll produce less heat) and most importantly stay hydrated. That means carrying enough water, folks!
THREE: Most problems in ultrarunning aren’t terminal but you do need to do something to about them: Feel sick? Not eating isn’t usually the solution. Can you do something to settle your stomach? Is there something you’d prefer to eat? Think about what might go wrong in advance, and rehearse how you’ll deal with it.
In closing, I really believe that organisation and determination will take you a long way - both in running, and in life. Personally, I for one could do with being a little more ‘Sally’ in my approach.
How about you?