A worthwhile Run
I signed up somewhat reluctantly to the Ultra London 25k. The major drawbacks being the start time of midday and the clash with the Springboks vs Wales game. The end of June can get warm in London and after two years here, it feels like I mostly run in 8 degrees Celsius. We are now in the golden era of springbok rugby and not having missed a game for the past few years, it feels like a mini sacrifice to run instead.
Thankfully we enjoyed a layer of cloud cover on race day, and it turned out that despite a Bok victory, it was a pretty boring game. And so, I'm grateful I took to the roads and parks of South London.
It's a different race, no road closures, about 1000 runners over two distances, run on London back roads, paths, trails and parks. It's somewhat of a home race for me, the route passing through Tooting Common where I usually log my miles. It begins near Crystal Palace in the South East(ish) and heads West taking in a variety of parks including the larger Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common. Inside these parks you’d be forgiven for thinking you were out in the countryside rather than in London itself.
Leading into the race I wasn’t very well trained but carrying some fitness from a half marathon in April, I felt like I’d be OK. And I was, but definitely would have benefited from getting a proper long run in a few weeks before.
I finished in a respectable time, but the temperature, hills and extra bit of distance pushed me in a way I hadn’t experienced in a while. I didn’t feel great in the first quarter but after a gel and electrolytes handed to me by my wife at about 6km I felt a serious lift.
This led to my first challenging period where I caught up to a group with an annoying character carrying a speaker, talking and shouting. This presented the options of dropping back and slowing down, or really pushing and getting away from them, but risking blowing up. I redlined a good 4 kms and managed to pull away. This showed me what I could do when sufficiently annoyed, and it felt good to crank the heart rate up and turn the legs over.
Some long climbs into the aid station at 16km after my speed increase started the pain in my legs. After a break and some refuelling at 16 I felt some renewed energy despite the soreness. But from 20 km to the end it was time to really dig deep. I kept a steady pace to the end which was a great sign, but under a lot of suffering. The ups and downs really do beat up the quads unlike the flats and it was a 30-minute period of pushing into the pain which I hadn’t done for some years.
In the immediate hours post run I recovered better than I thought considering the discomfort of the race, I put that down to using nutrition pretty well throughout and straight after. It really does make a difference and prevents the body from properly crashing.
The next day was a different story, my whole body was sore and legs were truly beat up. I wasn’t very well trained, but I couldn’t help thinking how on earth are people running ultra marathons. My brother-in-law ran the 55k on the same day and recently two other friends completed comrades in South Africa. The amount of grit and pain management must be truly remarkable.
With the glamourisation of running on social media its easy to forget how tough the actual act is, behind the slow motions and sunset shots its trench work. You can post as much as you want, but to complete these races you really have to grind it out and hurt. And its impressive that so many people are out there doing it.
The day after I remember why, the satisfaction of going to a dark place, even if only in a 25 km race, and coming out the other side is seriously rewarding. And in a world full of chronic psychological stress, its an escape and a return to our roots to suffer the physical stress of an endurance event.