How I didn't nearly die during a 24 hour race

All I’ve got in my head as I start this race report is to keep it as short as possible, in reality I’m not sure I can though so please feel free to read it in sections, skip to the end or ignore it all together but you are here now so am guessing you must be a tinsy winsy bit interested? The race in question was Endure 24, a 24 hour race around 5 mile loops on mixed terrain with around 380ft of elevation per lap. The event was open to solo runners, pairs and teams. The majority of you reading this are, I’m sure, probably aware that I did the event as a solo runner last year and although I managed 85 miles it was 15 miles short of my goal and is probably important I share just a little information with you as to why I feel I didn’t succeed. In truth at the time I wasn’t overly unhappy, 85 miles is 85 miles right?, but as I have made changes over the last year I’ve come to appreciate that a lot of my preparation was far from ideal. So what did I change that in retrospect contributed to my ‘failure’ last year? Well to start with I am eating much more healthily so am over two stone lighter and not carrying that weight around makes you more efficient immediately? I also, for the first time ever, had a focused running specific strength and mobility routine which I do 5-7 times a week, for anything between 15 and 30 minutes a time. Lastly I put a lot more focus on ensuring my easy and recovery runs were exactly what they said on the tin by concentrating on heart rate zones rather than arbitrarily running to feel. Mileage wise though I had done 950 miles since the start of the year, which was exactly the same as last year in the build up, although the focus of the sessions were different as I had changed coaches. I really enjoyed the training this time around bar the three lost weeks on a treadmill in Beijing (a completely different story and definitely not short). Lots of changes made then and lots of positivity from all the people around me that I was going to ‘smash it’ although they all said the same last year too. I tried to be a little more pragmatic but knew how well I was running in the build-up, through training and the events I have done, since the turn of the year. Those closest to me knew I was hell bent on hitting the magical ‘100’ this year but for a lot of people I refused to divulge my target. First rule of fight club…… I could easily bang on now about the arriving at the campsite, the setting up, the food and drink (although that will be mentioned again later), how I slept in the build up with election fever to deal with as well etc etc but let’s skip to Saturday morning and the race itself. I can almost hear your sigh of relief….. The strategy for race day was to take a little food on every lap and I had a huge choice of paleo and vegan energy bars along with pringles, pot noodles and salami sticks, drink regularly and try to never stop for longer than 20 minutes for food and only do that after laps 8 and 16. I could eat the snack items walking on the hills or have a five minute break at base camp which was, due to our early Friday arrival, at the side of the course. I should have mentioned this previously, when looking back, but last year there was way too much food and stopping, 2 or 3 hours in all, which could obviously have made all the difference and probably contributed to my body shutting down in the way it did which meant I could not have continued even if I had wanted to. Otherwise I set off looking to walk the three steep sections named the hill of no return, little steep and heartbreak hill, and keep my HR in zone 2 for the rest of the time for the first 8 laps in order to ensure I had enough in the tank later on. To be honest I was only really hoping to average one lap an hour for as long as possible, which would give me 4 hours to play with later on so as you can imagine these first 8 lap times were a bonus but still gave me a little concern, although sticking to HR strategy, that I was at risk of burn out. There is a clear slowing down though which was obviously going to happen at same HR effort but they are pretty consistent with lap 8 including a pot noodle stop which was a little over 20 minutes. I felt strong though at this point and my only issue was around the right hip area on both the inside and outside of the leg. I am still convinced that this was partly, if not all, down to a fall I had on lap 5 though as I somehow twisted on the way down and landed on my back on the right hand side, on a tree stump. Still there were reasons to be confident and happy as I was going to set off on lap 9, 40 miles in, in around 7 hours 45 minutes. 1 00:51:36 2 00:51:41 3 00:54:07 4 00:53:11 5 00:54:07 6 00:56:04 7 00:57:38 8 01:28:13 (Pot noodle lap) Now it was at this point heading into the evening and night that I was telling my support team, Laura basically, but also a friend who had to pull out on 30 miles after a fall of his own  that I was going to be doing more walking and I did but I was feeling so strong the laps kept ticking by without needing to walk as much as I feared. After lap 14 I was intent on my support team having some sleep as I was still thinking that from 2 to 6AM I would be walking and they needed some rest but some lovely cups of tea and custard creams seemed to do the job and the pace and amount of time running continued to be pretty consistent although I was having a sit down every lap. 9 01:06:17 10 01:04:21 11 01:05:10 12 01:15:26 13 01:10:51 14 01:17:55 6 laps to go to meet my target and although I was feeling strong physically and mentally heading out on lap 15 my major meltdown was about to begin. Now I was aware that I hadn’t passed water for the duration of the race, and trust me it was warm even over night when we had 4 laps of relatively heavy rain, but I felt that I had been taking on enough fluid, I’d say an average of 500ml per hour whether it be water, cherry pepsi or tea. As I got to the station on lap 15 though and had my cup of water I immediately need a pee. Heading into the bushes and with my headtorch on I was more than a little disturbed to see it was a dark brown, coke like colour. I went straight to the medics at the water station and after a bit of chat they were the first to tell me that I hadn’t drunk enough and needed more electrolytes but said I should go to see the team in the medical centre back at race HQ to be tested for sugar levels etc. They offered me a lift back but said I’d be fine to finish the lap if I wished so I said I would do so. Now in my head this was the end of my race, I’m not good with medical stuff, and I was convinced that my kidneys had given up and I was about to be rushed off to hospital  Like I said I don’t do medical stuff and I had been awake for a long time so wasn’t completely compos mentis. At the medical centre they didn’t even let me in and just told me the same thing as the medics on the course, not drinking enough, need more electrolytes, dehydrated, don’t worry about it. Pfft what did they know? I was dying and they didn’t care  At this point I went back to the tent base and am not quite sure what I did other than mooch around and wonder about waking Laura to explain what was happening. I wish I had to be honest as she would have convinced me all was fine but another friend came through at the end of a lap who had his base with us, someone with no medical expertise as far as I know, and also told me it was just dehydration, to start taking some S-caps man up and go and get those final laps done. Did I listen to him, for sure, although I was still a little freaked out. At no point did it occur to me that the fact that I had passed water meant my kidneys must be working and that I was just dehydrated, if only someone had told me. Anyway all this faffing meant that laps 15 and 16 were my slowest of the race but that I still had 6 hours in which to cover the last 20 miles, worst case scenario to cover 15 miles because as long as I began lap 20 before the 24 hours were up it would still count. Doable? 15 01:19:15 16 01:58:55 The next 4 laps just sort of went, there was a little pain but not too much, I said to Laura that I didn’t want food at the end of lap 18 but still managed to inhale a bowl of frosties with not much convincing but I really had my eyes on finishing as I had been craving an ice cream ever seeing the kids eating one on lap 6. So after 22 hours 51 minutes and 36 seconds I finished lap 20 and had reached my Holy Grail (for now). 25 minutes quicker than I did 85 miles last year. I could have done another two laps possibly but that can wait for another time. 17 01:14:15 18 01:13:00 19 01:07:28 20 01:12:05 After the end of the race I pretty much sat and watched Laura pack everything up, which was lazy of me, and we were about to make our escape when I was told that 100 mile club t-shirts were being presented at the awards ceremony so was happy to wait around for that and have time to have a last bacon bap from the caterers too. Don’t get me wrong completing the sub 24 hour 100 miles is brilliant and I am extremely happy with the consistency of my splits, how I felt despite nearly dying and my recovery, is 48 hours after the race now and I have very few aches or pains but still feel tired you know?, but at the same time is very much a case of job done, what is next? I know I have had the best year I’ve had running since I started in 2009 but feel there are still a lot more improvements to come and look forward to reaching new goals over the next few years. I would tell you what they are but first rule of fight club…. Lastly and possibly unnecessary it is important to me to acknowledge again how important the support I get from my family, friends and coach is in allowing me to do these things to the best of my ability. Certainly in terms of race day I have often said that Laura and the kids have a harder job than me so I am eternally grateful for that and the belief, motivation and advice I get from all quarters. Oh and if anyone wants to sponsor me I still have another two marathons and another 100 miler to go this year before a return to my IAPL challenge next July. More information on my challenges and the cause here http://www.totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/theendurancechallenge Thanks for listening. Peace x