Chris runs ultras

This year I want to focus on consistency, especially in race completions and injury prevention. I want to focus less on competing and more on completing a race. Last year I did not start (DNS) or did not finish (DNF) 4 out of 7 races; meaning I only completed 43% of the races I entered. This is not a completion ratio that I’m proud of. The following is a brief recap of those experiences.

1. The Lakes traverse 100k in April 2023

I did not start this race as I sustained a knee injury in February 2023. I couldn’t run for a month and didn’t have sufficient time to prepare for the race. If I haven’t trained sufficiently or covered the relevant distances then my body won’t be ready to cover such a large distance.

2. Essex 50 mile in July 2023

For every race I need to have clear objectives of why I’m doing it and what I hope to achieve. The Essex 50 mile was a ‘filler’ or ‘in-between’ race that fell between two much more significant races in my schedule.

Despite feeling fit and being injury free, I approached the race with complacency. I saw it as a relatively short, easy race that would keep up my level of fitness. I tend to view filler races as extensions of my training block and as such value them less. I did not respect the race, or mentally prepare for it. Furthermore, I do not do well on looped courses, as I find them repetitive and uninspiring. As such, it is easier to make excuses or give up mid race.

On race day, I started well and was leading the race in my category for the first 30 km, but decided to stop as my head wasn’t in the race. Mental health significantly impacts upon performance. If I am not in a good headspace it is hard to focus my mental energy into race planning and race execution.

Staying positive is key to performing well and completing races. This isn’t the first time I failed to complete the race, I DNF’d the same race in 2022 because I had pushed too hard, overheated, and was exhausted.

3. SVP100 in August 2023

This is a special race for me as it was my first ever ultra race (the 50 km in 2021) and the first 100 km race I completed (in 2022). I felt confident and I started this race in great shape. The weather was perfect and the course seemed easier than other 100 km races I had completed recently. My objective was to push my limits, I wanted to race it and hopefully achieve a PB at the 100 km distance. But alas, I pushed too hard. Way too hard. In fact, my pace was just wrong. I started too quickly, blew up after 50 km and did not finish. I ran the first 44 km at around 6 minutes per kilometre when I should have averaged 6:30 per km. I ‘bonked’ and pulled out of the race at around half way.

It’s all too easy to get carried away on race day and to push myself beyond my physical capabilities. I allowed eagerness to get the better of me. I should have double checked my pace and race strategy prior to starting.

4. Chelmsford half marathon in October 2023

I ran the Chelmsford half marathon in October 2022, where I achieved my half marathon PB. I entered the following year with the aim of using the race to maintain my fitness level. Like the Essex 50 mile race, I viewed it as a ‘filler’ race, as I intended to run the Battersea park half marathon just a few weeks after and wanted my fitness to peak in time for that (in the hope of achieving a PB).

The Chelmsford Half Marathon is a local race. If I haven’t made the effort to travel or if a race is too close to where I live then I tend to not have the same incentive to ‘give it my all’. With races that are further afield, I have gone to the effort of travelling, the expense of booking accommodation and taking time off work. As such, I have invested more into the race.

Furthermore, the day before the race I was in central London attending the Marathon Des Sables (MdS) expo. As such, my headspace and concentration was on the MdS and so I just abandoned the Chelmsford Half Marathon without much consideration.

Reflections

I think I may have left a lot of myself on the hills of The South Downs 100 km in May 2023, which was my peak race of the year. I was both physically and mentally prepared, I executed the race well and had a massive PB of over 1.5 hours.

After the South Downs 100 km I think I allowed myself to slack-off and not be mentally prepared for subsequent races. Endurance running and finishing a race is often more of a mental challenge than a physical one. Sometimes we are not aware that we are lacking some aspect of preparedness in our psyche when we start a race.

My plans for 2024

This year will contain a couple of firsts. I hope to run four 100 km races (not including the MdS) with little time in between for rest and recovery. I will need to maintain my fitness and be conservative across all of the races if I hope to complete all of them.

2024 will be my first attempt at a multi-stage event – the Marathon des Sables. The race will consist of 7 days of pure running in the Sahara desert, covering more than 250 km, fully self-sufficient, except for water. 

My current (as of 1st February) 2024 race schedule:

Race	Distance	Location	Date
North Downs Ridge	50k	Dorking, Surrey	25/02/2024
MDS	253k	Morocco	11/04/2024
London to Brighton	100k	Brighton	25/05/2024
Race to the stones	100k	Wiltshire	12/07/2024
SVP100	100k	Suffolk	03/08/2024
Ultra X England	110k	Peak District	14/09/2024

I am raising money for Hope for Children which supports vulnerable, overlooked and exploited children, living in extreme poverty.

I would be most grateful if you would support this very worthy cause and my MdS journey. Please visit my JustGiving page at: https://www.justgiving.com/page/chris-mepham-1700516585862