Crawley 12hr track ultra - race report (Read 706 times)

It was with a great sense of trepidation that my support crew and I made our way to Sussex for the Crawley 12hr track ultra. My training had not really gone to plan and I had been suffering from plantar fasciitis. I was determined to get to the start line and gain as much experience as possible from my first track ultra, even if I wasn’t able to finish the race. We met the race director, Pam Storey, and some other competitors at a low key pasta party in a local pub the night before and then checked into our hotel to get some sleep. I was away as soon as my head hit the pillow at 2100hrs. The next sound I heard was my alarm going off at 0530. We arrived at the track for 0615, and the race started at 0700hrs. My support crew were my brother Nick and my wife Catherine, they were fully briefed on my nutritional plan, my planned pace and my run/walk ratio. I had planned to run for 28 mins and then walk for 2 mins. The best laid plans…. From the outset there were clearly three of us in contention, myself, Matt Hobson and Robin Gardner (a former GB ultra runner). Matt set off at a fairly brisk pace and I tried to remain in contention. I was later to find out that I was running 7:40 pace compared to my goal of 8:00 to 8:30. This led to a marathon PR of 3:20 (all of my previous marathons have been tough off road trails so this was not hugely surprising). I was more surprised to achieve a 20 min PR at 50 miles (7:22) and still be feeling pretty good. My routine was to consume a gel every 20 mins and about 750ml of electrolyte every hour, split into probably 3 water bottles. This seemed to work well throughout the race. Solids were a different matter. I was planning to consume bananas and cheesey mashed potato during my short walking breaks. This worked well for the first 6 hrs and then my body started to reject it. Increasing nausea mean’t that just the thought of solid food was turning my stomach and I was worried that I would lose it all. Luckily, at this point, GB ultra runner Chris Finill turned up at the track to support his friend Andy Smith. Chris very kindly gave me, and my support team, some great advice and almost forced me to take on more food… and to walk a couple of laps. His theory was that this was an investment that would pay off in the final 90 mins. He was right. I was very lucky to benefit from his enormous experience and feel greatly in debt to him. By the 8hr point I was definitely going through a low point. The lead was changing hands rapidly and it was very difficult to know where you were: mental reasoning was out of the window by this point and the leaderboard was only updated every hour. It seemed that I was running faster than the others and would just get myself into the lead but then have to leave the track to deal with some gastro-intestinal issues. By the time I got back onto the track I had lost the lead, on some occasions I had dropped back into third place. This was very mentally and emotionally draining. I used every psychological trick in the book to get myself back on top, only to have to leave the track again 30 mins later. The most effective technique I found was to imagine a strong length of elastic stretching from my chest to the back of the lead runner that was gradually pulling me closer and closer to him. The key was not to put in any fast surges that would sap hard earned energy, but rather to very, very slowly make up the deficit. This seemed to work well. Luckily after 10hrs my stomach sorted itself out and I was able to concentrate on ensuring the win was mine. I knew by this point that 80 miles was unachievable, so concentrated on making 75. It was getting increasingly difficult to get back into my stride after walking breaks, but I still thought it worthwhile to take them. I could see the second and third placed runners were really suffering and realised that they had not been taking any walking breaks at all. This gave me a big boost and I was able to lap them a couple more times. The final hour was emotional and went pretty quickly. By now I was fairly sure that the win was mine and I that I just needed to concentrate on running smoothly and conservatively. The final lap was run in under 2 mins and as the final whistle was blown I collapsed onto the track, a physical and emotional wreck, tears running down my face. Result: 1st place with 75.8 miles. Almost 3 x 4hr marathons back to back. My wife and brother had to support me as I hobbled back to the start line to collect my stuff and make my way to the showers. The final laugh? The race director held the prize giving ceremony at the top of the grandstand…. Those steps were great fun! In summary – a great race from which I learned a lot about myself and about how to run long ultras. This should stand me in good stead for my planned 24hr race in October this year.

Very impressive. What an amazing achievement. The report gives a great insight into the whole event too. Thanks for taking the time to write it, especially when you must be shattered!

Good job in adapting to the conditions as they presented themselves. And congratulations on the win!

Congratulations Purdey, awesome race.

Great job Purdey and a very well written race report, I enjoyed reading it.

Wow!!!

Purdey - great show - Congrats on the win I am curious about the solids - I did eat a few solids (4 pieces of pizza, 1 PB&J sandwhich, a couple of bananas) durin my 24 hour, but mostly liquids (Endurox R4 and succeed clip). Why did Chris think solids are so important and do you think forcing the solids led to all the bathroom stops?

wow - that's intense! (for lack of a stronger word.) congrats!! those grandstand steps musta hurt!