South Downs Way 50: Grinding Out A PB

Sometimes it’s just not your day yet you still have something to smile about.

I had a sub 10 hour finish in my sights while reminding myself that my A race is in June and SDW50 was a stepping stone along the way.

Getting ready for the off

Photo credit: Paul Mason

So how did it go?

Progress

👍 Performance – I got a 50 mile PB

👍 Mindset – I didn’t give up when I saw my sub 10 hour goal slipping away and kept grinding, just sneaking under 10.5 hours

👍 Focus – I ran and hiked to the planned effort levels and didn’t obsessively check my watch

👍 Improvement – I ended up 209/355 finishers, so I’ve progressed from a regular back of the pack runner to a mid pack runner

👍 Experience- I’ve now completed 900 Centurion Running event miles, 7 x 100 milers, 4 x 50 milers (plus 2 x 65 mile + 100 mile DNFs)

Job done
Photo credit: Stuart March Photography

Pitfalls

Forcing a smile at mile 41 while questioning my life choices and struggling for energy

Photo credit: Paul Mason

✍ Nutrition – I struggled for energy from about 20 miles, despite eating little and often, and the hole got deeper as the miles passed

✍ Focus – I didn’t check my watch regularly enough to adjust my plan as the race progressed (double-edged sword!)

✍ Discipline – I’m good at executing the training plan but have let good food habits slip so am carrying more weight than at A100

✍ Insight – I didn’t recce much of the route as I’ve done SDW100 twice but should have reminded myself of the hills beforehand

✍ Specificity – I didn’t run enough hills in training to excel at this race and wish I’d done more of my steady runs as HBL* hill reps

Plans

Next up, my A race – a real test of mental strength with zero navigational challenges!

💯 Specificity – I have a 100 mile trail race in June, on a flat 1 mile loop, to prepare for and need to do lots of flat trail and loops

💯 Discipline – I need to regain balance in my food consumption and make better choices more consistently to race lighter

💯 Balance – I let weekly strength and conditioning workouts slip in recent weeks and committing to these will help me be more robust

💯 Mindset – I need to tap into the mental strength from 100 mile weeks, 50k of HBL hill reps and training in races more consistently

💯 Perspective – I need to remember how far I’ve come, to keep smiling, and that it’s only jogging after all!

Onwards to the Centaur 100 in 10 weeks time

After a short window of easy running to recover from SDW50 that is!

* This isn’t a particular type of hills session, such as Kenyan hills, but hill reps of my favourite local incline Hollybank Lane