Triple Trail Races, by Embrace Ultra Running, is a 100 km, single looped course, in Kent, UK. The course “brings together three of Kent’s most scenic and historic trails – the North Downs Way, Greensand Way and the Weald Way, to create one seamless, varied and beautiful route“.
Conditions were about as good as ultra running gets. It started chilly, stayed overcast for almost the whole day, and never got above 22°C.
My only real aim was to finish. I decided to run entirely by feel, ignoring pace and heart rate, because I was carrying two pre-existing injuries into the start line: my right knee and my right hamstring. This was the third race in a row I’d started already knowing I had an injury to manage. The hamstring was the newest of the two, picked up only a couple of weeks earlier out of nowhere, mid-way through a long hilly training run in the middle of nowhere — I had to limp back to civilisation. By far the least fun I had had in a while.
The completion
Up until I started climbing onto the North Downs, I felt relatively comfortable. My hamstring was a constant low ache I could mostly ignore if I took every step carefully, and the first 60 km — flat, even terrain — mostly allowed that.
From around 60 km to 80 km, the steep inclines and descents took over. I caught a couple of stumbles that jarred my right leg all the way up. By the time I reached the North Downs, my hamstring was moaning a lot more, and I could feel the old ache returning on the inside of my right knee. By the time I came off the North Downs, my right knee and Achilles were both screaming at me — putting any weight on that leg was very painful. I kept run/walking as best I could.
But I was definitely not enjoying this particular pain cave. It wasn’t the usual all-body moan about the running so far, the kind I’ve grown to tolerate towards the end of these distances. This was acute pain, sickening, and it distracted me from the experience I knew I could be having — the joy I could be feeling, coming to the end of this long day. Instead I found myself hobbling the last kilometre to the finish line, with a sense of disappointment.
For the first time in a long time, whilst completing my 14th 100 km race (in 13:11:34), I was seriously considering not racing another ultra. I was seriously questioning why I had just done that to myself. I gave everything to the race and got nothing back. I had completed the last three ultras and had gotten progressively worse finish times, and injured my body more, with each race.
Don’t race injured
I know how obvious that sounds. I still got it wrong three times in a row.
Race to the King – I injured my right knee just 10 days before the race. It calmed down just enough to convince me to start, then flared up in the later stages.
Race to the Stones – Four weeks after RTTK. Not enough time to recover, heal, and train properly. That gap has worked for me before, but not this time, not with the knee injury still hanging around. I told myself four weeks would be enough for it to settle, maybe even heal. I was wrong.
Triple Trail Races – Eight weeks after RTTS. Surely that was enough time. I took the first two weeks off running completely, then two weeks of mostly cycling with a handful of short runs, followed by a steep ramp-up in weekly volume.
The ramp was far too steep — 47% in one week — especially carrying a knee injury into it. I was also still lifting heavy weights twice a week deep into the peak volume weeks. Week 6 was supposed to be a taper; instead it was just more build. All of it compounded into a severely pulled right hamstring that left me barely able to walk for the first couple of days afterwards.
TTR weekly volume ramp-up:
| Week | Volume | Change vs prior week |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 64 km | first outdoor run, from 0 |
| 2 | 64 km | flat |
| 3 | 94 km | +47% |
| 4 | 100 km | +6% |
| 5 | 100 km | flat (peak) |
| 6 | 93 km | −7% (meant to be a taper, not a build week) |
| 7 | 14 km | race week |
Moving forward
I have cancelled the rest of my races for this year. I intend to hard reset. If all goes well my next race will be in February next year. It is much farther and much more ascent/descent than this years races. I have about 22 weeks to get my body and mind ready. I will listen to it this time.
Leave a comment