Reflections on the JMW Ultra

It has taken me almost a week to properly come to terms with my first ultra experience.  For the first couple of days, I felt quite despondent about the whole thing.  It hadn't been fun, there had been parts that I actively despised, and I was back to being one of the slowest runners.  And as for running twice that distance in two months?  Ridiculously out of the question.

However, encouraging (and sensible) words from Bassman, Adam, and various friends and a lengthy post-race discussion with Ben all helped me to put things into perspective and I am feeling more positive now about what I achieved.  I'm very good at identifying what didn't go well, most of which I laid out in the last post, so for a change, here are the good things:

• I didn't cry, even though I wanted to.
• It never crossed my mind to DNF.  Not once.
• I kept moving, even if that pace was just a slow walk. 
• I ran the whole race without my iPod.  If my fingers hadn't been frozen, I might have taken it out of my pocket but as it was, I learned that I can comfortably be in my own head for that length of time.
• Even without the iPod, the time passed really quickly.  I might have been shattered, but I wasn't bored.
• I enjoyed the chats that I had with fellow runners.

And most importantly, I finished with my legs feeling in relatively good shape.  They were stiff and aching immediately afterwards, as one would expect them to be, but within 48 hours all of that had pretty much disappeared.  72 hours post-race, I did a 30-minute recovery run that felt fine.  My post-race massage with Adam was uneventful, with only a slightly tight right calf and lateral hamstring to show for my efforts.  This is a recovery week so the only other run that I have is 60 minutes tomorrow, and I'm certainly feeling ready for it.  Of all of the positives that I could possibly have hoped for from this race, rapidly recovering legs is the best positive of all.

The area where I need to make improvements is hydration and nutrition.  I didn't drink enough and I certainly didn't take on enough calories and, while I did not hit The Wall, this certainly contributed to my lack of energy in the later miles.  Ben thinks that I need to reverse my nutrition strategy and rather than taking gels and quick acting carbs early in the run/race, save them for the later stages when I need to perk up my legs.  Instead, he's recommended eating easily digestible whole foods in the earlier stages when my digestion is still working reasonably efficiently.  He suggested the cookbook Feed Zone Portables, which is recipes for little bites.  I'm willing to give it a go, although I'm more nervous about cooking than I am about running 100k.

Ben said that although London2Brighton will be harder physically, he is confident that it will be much easier mentally because the conditions underfoot and the weather will not be as soul-destroying as those in the JMW.  Maybe, although his track record at predicting good weather is not reassuring ('It's always brilliant weather for the Florence marathon!').  But even if it does turn out to be shit weather, at least I've had a lot of experience at not giving up in the face of it.

I still can't imagine being able to run 2x50k but for at least today, I'm back to being willing to try.