Race report: Chilterns 50
Time: 06:53:28
On Saturday I took part in the Chiltern 50 Ultra Challenge. The event itself starts in Henley and makes its way up (literally and figuratively) to Turville & Lewknor before swinging round all the way back to Henley for a very hilly 50k route. Participants can choose to run, jog or walk the route, and there were shorter 25k and 10k variants for people to choose from. Rather handily I live in the area, so was familiar with a good portion of the route, which made me dread the initial 10k climb from Henley to Turville.
I've never trained for an event of this distance before, and it's safe to say I winged it a little bit. I had a decent baseline of a couple of 10km runs during the week and a longer run (20-30km) on a Sunday, alongside strength training and boxing. I did have a little niggle in my achilles 2 or 3 weeks before the race, which meant I perhaps went off the boil a little too early, but better that than injuring myself before the start line.
I was part of the first wave leaving Henley at 06:45 which was reserved for runners, around 75 of us. I made a few schoolboy errors that I'll have to factor in for next time. Firstly, the skies were clear which meant no rain to worry about, but also meant I wore more clothes than I would normally just to keep warm before the start. Inevitably I had to hastily rearrange myself on the first proper climb, I still have no idea why I didn't take my jacket off just before the start.
My silliest mistake was taking Tailwind in little bags, to empty into my water flasks as I made my way round. This turned out to be much trickier than I anticipated and meant at least half of it blew everywhere other than the flask I was aiming into. It could have been a big deal as I'd made tailwind a big part of my nutrition for the race, as I find it easier to drink carbohydrates than eat them while running. Fortunately it didn't seem to impact me too much in the end, so I got away with it.
The climb to Turville actually went much quicker than I thought it would, and my legs felt fresh even after the killer climb at Cobstone Windmill (of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fame). I made it to the second aid station relatively unscathed other than a bit of pain in my right leg. This pain developed considerably between aid stations 2 and 3 and reached a crescendo as I made my way back into Henley, meaning the most runnable part of the course became mostly walking.
One thing I hadn't factored in was that the 25k course and the 50k courses merged towards the end. Whilst the 50k runners naturally spread out and I was running on my own for most of it, I was suddenly deposited into lots of foot traffic which was fairly frustrating when you're trying to run and are stuck in a queue behind a dozen walkers on the shorter route.
I had pretty severe ITB pain in my right knee by the end but managed to run the last few hundred metres. It was a frustrating end as everything other than my right knee felt completely fresh, but I'll see if I can address the seeming imbalance in future training.
All in all it was a good event, and I'm glad I did it. I had a sore couple of days but mostly back to normal now, including my knees!
My next challenge is likely a 5k with my 11 year old Son in December, who is getting worryingly quick, so I may need a training plan focused on speed!