Could it be a hat trick?

In 2013 I had surpassed my own expectations and had the honour to represent Great Britain at the IAU World Ultra Trail Championships in Llanrwst in Wales. The trail champs are only held every two years so the next instalment is due to take place on the 31st May 2015. They will take place in Annecy in France.  http://www.worldtrail2015.com/.  I am realistic and know that there may  not be too many more years that I can push my body to perform at the level I have been over the last few years and that making the team again would be a big ask, but I was really keen to give it a go. Another reason that I was keen to make the team was the fact that while I have now been luck enough to represent Scotland twice and Great Britain once all three races have been in Wales. While I am very fond of Wales it would have been nice to have the opportunity to race abroad as part of the GB team.

The World Champs in 2013  was a weekend that I will never forget and the achievement in my running career to date that I am most proud. With this in mind I had decided that I would find out what the selection race for the Worlds Champs would be and spend the later few months of 2014 preparing for this race, giving it my 100% focus.

Unfortunately, I soon found out that there a good chance there may not be a selection race due to the Worlds being earlier in the season than in previous years. Selection would be more on current form as demonstrated by a CV submitted by the end of the year. This was not ideal!

While my 2014 season had been reasonable it had not been outstanding and I hadn't done any ultras since the West Highland Way in June. In reaction to this news I hesitantly looked at the race calendar to see if I could find any races that I could feasibly enter to show current form. This wasn't easy due to the time of year and my lack of holidays. I ideally I would have like a technical race as close the world champs distance as possible but it just wasn't going to happen. As it happened I entered and raced Jedurgh 3 Peaks, winning the race and setting a new course record by about 20 minutes. I was happy with the result but couldn't help thinking it was too little too late.

I send in my CV for consideration and waited. 

Early in January found out I had made the ballot for the UTMB, soon after the guys at Helly Hansen got in touch offering to renew my contract, 2015 was shaping up to be a fantastic year. All I needed was selection to make it a hat trick...... Sadly it wasn't to be. On the 19th January I got an email informing me that I hadn't made the team. I was gutted! I knew there was only a small chance that I would make the team, so I guess I wasn't too surprised but I was hugely disappointment. For the first time ever I began to question my motivation to keep pushing myself and making the sacrifices I make. Is it all worth it? What more can I achieve now? Have I peaked? These questions were all going round and round in my head. I've got to admit I was pretty low for  a few days and struggled to keep training. However, slowly but surely I began to get my head together again. Ultimately, I am very lucky to have had the opportunities that I have had and being able to run full stop is a privilege that many people never get to experience. Time to move on.

Jedburgh 3 Peaks Ultra

The Jedburgh 3 Peaks Ultra wasn't in my fixed race plan for 2014 but I had always intended on finding another race later in the season and after considering a few options I settled on the Jedburgh race.
The day before the race I left work to the words "you are a typical runner".  I guess I shouldn't have expected much asking for  the opinion on whether my colleague thought it would be a good idea  for me to race 38 miles with a cold. As most of you know it is pretty common to feel like you are getting a cold in the week before a race (affectionately -taperitis! i.e. any weird transient feelings of unwell you get when you are hypersensitive before a race). Anyway this was a bit more than that I had been feeling pretty rubbish all week and on Thursday after feeling a bit better on Wednesday I felt the worst I had been. I really wasn't sure I was going to race. In the end I decided to pack the car and see how I felt Friday lunch time. While I had run and even raced some shorter races with a cold I had been fortunate never to have had a cold before an ultra before so I really wasn't sure if it was a wise idea.
In the end I didn't feel as bad as I had on Thursdays on the Friday so I took a few deep breaths to check I wasn't feeling it in my chest and decided to head east to Jedburgh. Driving down I felt excited, there is something very liberating about driving off somewhere new with your tent packed and an adventure planned for the next day. When I arrived I popped into the leisure centre to say hi to Angela and Noanie, the race directors and the team. I made a token effort to help before grabbing some pub grub and an early night.

Thanks for the photo Steven Somerville!

Despite a very windy night I slept remarkably well and we were definitely reaping the benefits of being on the east coast as the weather for the start was nice and dry. Having only been to Jedburgh once before the only knowledge of the course I had was from looking at maps and reading the chat on the race forum. I often like it that way as it means the whole route is new and the new sights add to the experience, but I had heard that in previous years a number of runners had taken wrong turns so that was playing on my mind.
The course it's self is a 38mile lolly pop type route with about 1100m of ascent primarily on trails throughout the stunning countryside of the Scottish borders, the climax of which includes running up the Eildon 3 Peaks. Before the race it was nice to catch up with a few familiar faces including a number of the guys/girls that I had been out at Transvulcania with earlier in the year.
The race started at 8am and as ever there were a few keen to push the pace from the start, one of them being the Neil MacNicol who had won the race the year before. If you have read any of my previous reports you'll know I'm not keen on going eye balls out from  the gun. My ageing body needs a few miles in the tank to warm up. I was also feeling a bit concerned about what impact the cold would have on my running. I hung back a little and Neil took the lead, shortly after Hugh McInnes another runner who had ran well in previous years at the race came along side. We chatted briefly but he soon decided that he wanted to push on (or got bored with my chat) and took off in pursuit of Neil. As the first few miles went in my breathing felt hard work and due to the autumn winds a thick covering of leaves made following the trails challenging at times. As I lost sight of Neil and Hugh I made a wrong turn following the river instead of turning left. Thankfully I realised within 10-20 meters so corrected myself very quickly, but it did emphasis the need to keep up my concentration. I'm not sure quite how far in  as my Garmin didn't start at the start of the race but I guess 4-5 miles in I began to try and focus on relaxing and let my breathing settle,  as I did I caught up with Neil and Hugh. I felt good and weighed up my options. Do I A: be cautious and stick with them to help with any navigational issues and not push too hard in case my cold played havoc later in the race or B: push on and run to feel and hope I don't get lost. I chose the later.

As we reached the first check point at Maxton (10M) Neil and I were neck and neck, Hugh was a little behind.  I had opted not to leave a drop back as I feel by carrying a bit food and drink you can save yourself a bit of time by not stopping. Having said that I was not forgetting the lessons I had learnt in Transvulcania. It proved to be a good decision as Neil stopped and I was able to run on through. The next section of the race took us along a great riverside trail along the River Tweed.

Up and down plenty of steps we went and I was quickly rejoined by Neil, sadly he wasn't ready to give up yet.

As we approached the Eildons I knew that this was going to be a critical point in the race with most of the race ascent happening in a few short miles. As we hit the steep climb up the first hill Neil was close behind. I did my best to run the whole way but not sure you could really call it running. I managed to keep the lead, up the second hill and I tried to quickly take in the view before starting the steep descent. This was my favourite part of the race. It was a steep path straight off the hill covered on grass and lose gravel. Great fun!!

Coming off the last hill I glanced behind me an saw that I had opened up a bit of a gap, but there was still a long way to go. As we headed back I bumped into a few runners still on their way out and one nearly joined me thinking she had taken a wrong turn and was going the wrong way. By now I was on my own and concentrating hard to  make sure I didn't take any wrong turns. Despite all the twists and turns the guys had done a fantastic job at marking the course and although I did have a few occasions where I was running with that horrible feeling of being unsure I was on the right path thankfully the red and white tape kept appearing. At about 28 miles I began to feel a bit tired and the numerous stiles and gates we had to cross became increasingly unwelcome. I hadn't seen Neil for a while but he easily could have been near by and taking advantage of my tiring legs. Although the later stages of the race are retracing your steps the variation in terrain and number of twists and turns meant I had no chance to get bored. As the day progressed we were lucky to continue to enjoy a beautiful dry day, but the strong winds took their turn to help and hinder us throughout. In the last few miles I felt as if my hamstring was on the border of wanting to cramp. I had visions of needing to walk and things all going wrong. Thankfully, it held up despite the brutal head wind that made the last mile back into Jedburgh drag big time. Crossing the finish line in 5:01 I was delighted to find out I had broken the course record by over 20 minutes. It turns out you do need to listen to your body.....but not be afraid to question what it tells you. Thankfully on this occasion it was worth taking the gamble but like anything in running there are few hard and fast rules another friend ran the race with a cold and had a very different experience.
It was a great way to finish my season and I would highly recommend the race. Thanks again to all the team who worked so hard to put the race together.

Results:

Matt Williamson	05:01:48		Joanne Thom 06:17:24
Neil MacNicol	05:12:25		Elaine Omand 06:23:57
Duncan Oakes	05:23:29		Victoria Reid 06:34:17

Kit:  Helly Hansen Terrak Trail Shoe

         Helly Hansen Pace Short

         Helly Hansen Dry Elite Long Sleeve

         Helly Hansen Pace 1/2 Zip Lifa Flow Short Sleeve

Helly Hansen Beauty and the Beast

I purposefully hadn’t entered any races in the couple of months after the West Highland Way (WHW) race because I tend to find that when I step up my racing distance it takes longer to recover and the odd niggle/injury isn’t uncommon. This proved to be a wise decision, as true to form after the WHW I was decommissioned for 3.5 weeks due to tendonopathy on the front of my shin (tibialis anterior: for those who care). I had considered doing the Tour of Skiddaw Race at the end of August if I recovered well, but after the time out I decided to give it a miss and focus on my next target.

The Helly Hansen Beauty and the Beast isn’t an ultra it is a six lap trail marathon with 1400m of ascent, but it was my first opportunity take part in the race since becoming a Helly Hansen ambassador at the start of the year.

When training for the WHW my speed sessions had begun to suffer and eventually all but went by the way side so I knew I needed to get my finger out and do some speed work before the race. Once back training that went pretty well for 4 weeks but come the start of September I was out in the Alps for 2 weeks. The first week Dawn and I walked From Chamonix to Meillerie along the GR5, the second week we stayed in Meillerie and did some walks, runs and a bit of sailing from there. Some longs days out but not much to help the lack of speed in my legs, so my preparation wasn't perfect .

The day prior to the race I went down to west Wycome Park, the venue for the race, to meet some  of the other UK Helly Hansen ambassadors and do some filming to profile some of their new clothing and footwear range.  

West Wycome Park is a National Trust Property, so naturally in a beautiful setting (hence ‘The Beauty’), the guys from HH had done a great job already of setting out the race village ( space hoppers and welly wangying for the kids to boot) and the guys from Trail Plus added “The Beast” i.e. the course,  billed as the Toughest Multi Lap Trail marathon in the UK.

My fellow ambassadors for the day were Jules Roberts, another Ultra runner and Inge Solheim an expedition leader/adventurer who amongst other things lead the Walking with The Wounded Team to the North and South Pole. They were both doing the half marathon. I don’t know about them but I felt a bit nervous about the race, feeling that there was a certain amount of expectation on me to have a good. That remained to be seen by as always I would give 100%!.

On the morning of the race the weather was overcast but warm and slightly humid. All the runners including the marathon, half marathon and relay teams started as a mass start which made pacing the more difficult as it took me a while to work out who was in which race. I wanted to take it steady to start with, get a better feel for the course over the first lap and take it from there. One benefit of a lapped course is the fact you know what is coming after the first lap without the need to recce the whole course.

The lap starts with a deceptively small looking hill, which in reality climbs for longer than you would think sucking the energy out of your legs with every stride. I got to the top not far behind the leaders with no idea what race they were doing, once we got there it was a quick 180 degree turn before heading back down toward the start and the beginning of the next climb.

The pattern of up one hill and down the other side was a pattern that was repeated frequently throughout the 4.4M course with little cahnce to settle into a steady pace. One way of describing it would be a long cross country course, the difference being that they normally last 4-6 miles not 26! Oh and they don’t normally take you through a river six times!

I felt pretty good through the first 3 laps and by that stage I had worked out who my competition was. I was in 3^rd place but within sight of the two leaders. I hoped that my endurance would stand me in good stead for the second half of the race. Come the fourth lap of the course I began to feel something in my legs that I hadn’t felt for a long time in a race: lactic acid as I climbed the steepest hill of the course. In an ultra, it would be normal to walk a hill that steep to save the legs but I was determined to run on. The hard work paid off as I caught Scott Forbes who was in 2^nd place.  The same hill on lap five was a real chore and I could feel the impact racing at a faster pace was having on my legs. I push on as hard as I could but in the end Scott was too strong passing me on the final lap and finishing 25 seconds ahead. Majell Backhausen who won the race had stormed the second half of the race and won comfortable in 3:10. I finished in 3:19.

While I was disappointed not to win the race for the Helly team I guess I wasn’t too surprised. You can’t expect to perform at your best if your training is focused accordingly. Despite that with was a fantastic couple of days and great to be part of the team at Helly Hansen.

Kit:  Helly Hansen Terrac Trail Shoe

         Helly Hansen Pace Short

         Helly Hansen Pace 1/2 Zip Lifa Flow Short Sleeve