NDW100 - DNF - 78 miles - 20:00:12

NDW 100

DNF with a time of 20:00:12 after 78 miles.

Lessons learnt from this race were:

1) Drink.  There was no checkpoint 1 due to Covid so the first available checkpoint was at the 15 mile mark.  Tested this during training and I needed 1.5L.  At the 10 mile mark I knew I would have run out by the time I got to the checkpoint so alternating with drink one mile and no drink the next until I got to the checkpoint.  From then on it was about 10 miles to each checkpoint so having 1.0L of litre would have been sufficient had it not been for the heat. 

2) Food.  I was wasn't eating enough.  I had energy gels, snack bars and sweets which worked in training.  However, doing a maximum of 30 miles to testing was different to the NDW100.  I should have eaten 60-90g carbs per hour but instead I was eating half that amount.  Moving forward will also need to add more variety to my food.  Would also need to add some sandwiches to the mix to soak up the gels.

3) Lacked judgement to change the strategy.  I decided to go for a sub 21 hour finish.  The heat conditions totally passed me by and stuck to the 21 hour pace.  This then went pear shaped come the 40 mile mark when I was starting to feel sick.  I then decided to change strategy and stick to a sub 24 hour finish. In hindsight I should have stuck to the sub 24 hour finish from the start given the conditions. 

4) Kit.  Tested my kit during training but could have been better.  I knew it was going to be hot but I still went with my traditional black leggings.
I should have switched to some short leggings.  The long leggings also gave me some chaffing because I was carrying some gels in the pockets but this wasn't an issue during training.  My legionnaires hat stopped me from having a suntan but it heated up my head.  During the checkpoints I soaked my hat and took it off when  my head started to warm up again.  My Raidlight Revolutiv 24L didn't really cut the mustard.  It tears easily, taking items out of the bag is annoying with the bungee cords and just won't last.  I'll try a different rucksack for my next 100 miler

5).  Unhelpful comments by the Centurion volunteers.  Probably best if I keep my opinions to myself on this one like what the Centurion volunteers should have done.  I've done four NDW100's in a row.  After spending an hour in a bush at the side of a lane puking my guts up I knew a sub 24 hour finish was out of the question.  That was goal - not doing a 20 mile death march just to please someone else's objectives.  

Despite these lessons this was actually my best NDW100 in five attempts.  I was on target for a sub 21 hour finish until I had stomach issues.  Sort that out and a sub 24 hour finish for the NDW100 is in sight. 

 

Centurion North Downs Way 100 - 05/08/17 - 25:09:04

This seems to be a run where I'm making a few mistakes along the way.  I don't usually start at the front as I prefer to start at the back and work my way up towards the front during the course of the race.  At the race start I'm towards the front of the queue as I'm chatting to Kristian Morgan whom finished an impressive 3rd.  I settle into my race pace but before I've got to the first checkpoint I've opened up a gate only for the gate to be kicked back into a fellow runners mid-rift to which I apologise.  On the way to checkpoint 3 Box Hill Stepping Stones I make a mistake at Ranmore Common where with a couple of other runners I decide to take a left turn instead of a right.  I carry on regardless and run up and down the track until I realise I must have made a mistake.  As I start to head back to the turn I come across another runner making the same mistake as me.  Eventually we manage to pick up the correct trail but it's probably lost me about 30 minutes of running.  I then decide foolishly to try and make some catch-up but as I'm now running at a faster speed it's not long before I'm back on schedule but at what cost?  Past checkpoint 3 Box Hill Stepping Stones and then up Box Hill - I count 204 steps and after reaching the top I manage to get a sprint going along the trail to hear "Don't cheat" as I go past one spectator.  I've managed to fall over twice in two separate instances.  Once making a wrong turn again I trip over a tree root but manage to pick myself back up.  Another time I get pushed in the back and go head first into a bramble bush.  I'm left with a few scratch marks on my forehead but I manage to get up and carry on regardless. The runner whom pushed me in the back turns out to be part of a support crew as I come to checkpoint 10 Blue Bell Hill the runner is now heading back the way I've just come from.  I miss the turn off for the checkpoint before carrying on for about another mile - realising my mistake I turn back heading past some other runners.  I now realise at the checkpoint that a PB is out of the question and looking at a sub 24 hour finish would be the next target.  That target is still in tact by the time I come to Detling (checkpoint 11) at the 82 mile mark but by the time I get to Lenham the next checkpoint I just can't maintain the pace for a sub 24 hour finish.  I don't stop at Dunn Street, the final checkpoint as I'm now to resort to some walking and a little power walking - hopiing for the end to finish.  Eventually I manage a time of 25:09:04 - no PB this time and a lot of lessons to be learnt before embarking on the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc at the start of next month.

Centurion North Downs Way 100 - 06/08/16 - 26:56:15