Once onto the A435 it's a winding road down to Cirencester which is a further 12 miles away. I cruised on this part of the run. The sun was out and the roads were pretty quiet. Then a problem. At 8.5 miles i turned my ankle. Enough that my first thought was i wasn't going to be able to continue. I walked a bit to see if it calmed down and then tentatively started running again. It eased off much to my relief. Once running again the ankle settled down and wasn't a problem again.
I made it into Cirencester, Stratton, in a little over 2 hours and replenished my water. The plan was then to turn around and head back the same way. I had scoped a little deviation though and rather than just do that headed up Gloucester Road towards the A417 (the new Cirencester Road) well towards the underpass that goes under the A417 and then brings you back towards A435. A climb, which i walked, up to Forty Acre Copse then a downhill cruise to the A435 coming out just by the Bathurst Arms.
It was around this point that i was starting to struggle to keep running experiencing some problems mainly with energy and my stomach.
My stomach felt empty. Up to this point i had drunk a couple bottles of water with electrolytes (1 litre) and some plain water that i bought from the shop in Stratton. I had also had an SIS energy bar and 3 gels. When i did my last long run this was enough to get me all the way around comfortably. This time was different. There were a couple of factors that were different...
- My previous longest run was immediately after breakfast. I'd had a couple of Weetabix and headed out the door.
- The weather was much improved, the temperature probably around 8 degrees (C) warmer than previously.
- The hills, my previous long run was pretty much flat. The 2,000ft elevation gain being a significant difference.
At mile 25 i stopped at a petrol station. I bought a snickers bar and some jelly babies. I couldn't eat the snickers bar quick enough and made my way through the best part of half a bag of jelly babies in a matter of seconds. I guess i really did need some food. I made sure to drink some water and then started running. I felt immediately better and started to run/walk the way home. My miles splits drifted at this point to around 9:30, in my head i just wanted to make it back.
I arrived at home after a gentle downhill section. I'd covered 30.9 miles in 4hr 27mins.
More importantly i had learned a few things for the ultra....
- I need to make sure i eat breakfast reasonably close to the start time of the race, looking at the race information this will be around 7:30 before heading to the start for registration and a 9am off..
- I need to carry more proper food, i won't carry a snickers bar but go for flap-jack based foods that won't melt and that will provide my stomach something more solid to work with.
- I will carry spare electrolyte tablets for when i replenish my bottles. My clothes and race vest, when i got home, were ringed with salt deposits from sweat. I need to replace this. (Shortly after i got home i was craving salted peanuts!)
- I'm settled on 90% of the kit i will use for the race based on yesterday and assuming similar conditions, what i will do though is put my Halglofs gilet or The North Face rain cover in my pack for race day (just in case).
- Hoka One One Stinson Tarmac shoes
- Injinji socks
- Century riding cream
- Skins half tights compression shorts
- Brooks shorts
- Nike compression t-shirt
- Nalini arm warmers
- Inov8 Race Peak Cap
- Salomon Advanced Skin Lab Hydro 5 Set
They aren't massive changes really but they made a difference yesterday probably because they were combined with slightly increased temperatures, an increase in elevation and poor starting nutrition.
It was not all bad though as i made it around. And all things considered in reasonable repair. Recovery was a For Goodness Shakes drink and some quiche that was left over from the kids lunch. A quick shower and it was into the SKINS compression tights and then out for a stroll with the dog. Taking the view that it was better to keep moving than just sit.
That puts me on 58.4 miles this week, so far, my schedule calls for 12 miles tomorrow which isn't going to happen. I am planning a run with Amelie which will treat as recovery and hopefully take me over 60 for the week. Then it's taper time.
This week will be a gentle 36 mile week, there will then be a 20 mile week with the then week of the race to follow. I'm still feeling good about the race, just glad that the glitches experienced yesterday were yesterday rather than on 29th.
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