Ep 30 - A 200 mile Ultra is a long way. Is doing three in a season sensible?

In this mini episode Kev owns up to his plans/experiment  for running 3 x 200 miles in an ultra running season.  Nutter!

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Transcript

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Hello and welcome to episode thirty of A Station. This is a two hundred mile special. This is the first in a series of uh three podcasts based on the two hundred mile ultra running event. Uh why the hell would anybody want to run two hundred miles, which is a very, very long way to run? The two hundred miler. What is inside that makes someone double the hundred distance? In a series of three episodes I'm going to explore this DAF notion by being an experiment of one. So we take a knackered old 65 to 66 year old lab rat and send him running on his three times two hundred mile, six hundred mile race wheel and see what happens. Will he get injured, ill, sick, or maybe just expire? Will his hips or knees wear out? Or will he just become stronger, more empowered, younger than most of his age? Well, I'll let you know in January when the experiment is concluded and the results are known. I've heard it said that 200 is the new hundred for ultrarunners. Well this is a nice term, but it's not true. The two distances are totally different and require quite different approaches. We're talking a one day to one and a half day event versus an event taking over four days in a lot of cases, especially for mid to backpack runners like myself. For example, the race cutoffs times for the three events on my 200 list vary from 110 hours for the Northern Traverse down to 85 hours for the King Alfred's Way 220. These cannot be compared to say the Centurion Autumn 100, which I've taken less than 24 hours to complete. The approach strategies to them are completely different. For example, there is no sleep strategy to consider in the Autumn Hundred. That is unless you're right at the front of the pack. You could in theory go to sleep for quite a while and still finish well within the time cutoff, but obviously nobody does that. This means that I'll run 200 miles around 75% slower per mile than the 100 miler. You don't just have a quick aid station stop or wash down a few salty snacks with flat coat at 200s. Now you have life basis or support points with full meals, including in the case of the Northern Traverse, a full menu at each support point. So why would you do a 200? Well for me it's just become a natural progression, pushing through new barriers and finding a new me, discovering new challenges, new areas of our country and exploring new terrain, or quite simply just going on an adventure for the hell of it. People say to me, why do you do it? And I always say because I can, a humble brag maybe, but I dread the day that I can't do it anymore. I guess then that there is always the driver in me from the end onset of time. Having the grim reaper chasing you has to make you run faster, right? Actually I don't run ultras to cheat death, I run them to embrace life. Life is what lies ahead for me and is full of positivity and promise. Okay, enough of the deep crap. This is really not me, I'm not a deep thinker. If I was, I wouldn't be running 200 miles in the mountains. Anyway, it was the Northern Traverse that turned me onto the concept of running 200 mile ultra races. If you want to get a feel for that event and you haven't yet, take a listen to episodes twenty-five and twenty-six of the Aid Station podcast, which documents my epic journey across England. 190 miles, 6,500 metres of elevation, northern terrain, cold early spring conditions, all lead me to consider things that I'd never considered before. Levels and quality of equipment, sleep deprivation, mental fortitude, coping strategies, and self-management. Besides self-discovery, the race also lets me discover remote England and provide a logical point-to-point racing journey. After I did the Northern Traverse, I became more aware of the concept of 200 milers. While the Northern Traverse is only 190 miles, um I started to think more about this 200 mile barrier and heard of the USA Triple Crown of 200s, which are the Tahoe 200, Bigfoot 200, and Mohab 240, all taking place in a 12-week time span between June and October. Obviously there are more uh 200 plus ultras in the States, but this is the triple concept that they all seem to have latched on to and is grabbing the imagination of the Ultra runners across the pond. So I decided to attempt my own triple two hundred, because I'm not going to fly over to America three times in twelve weeks or spend twelve weeks over there either. I'm taking a bit of a license here as I'm counting the northern traverse, although I've as I've said it's only 190 miles. However, with that elevation, um I'm counting it in anyway. And uh my second event, the King Alfred's Way, is 220 miles. So that gets up to 410 for the two events anyway. And finally the third event uh is the brand new Centurion's Winter Downs 200 that takes place uh in mid-December this year, and more on this race later. So uh it's coming up this Friday. Today is Tuesday, the 8th of August, and I start on Friday, uh the 11th in Winchester, and this route goes for 220 miles, it's a circular clockwise route uh from Winchester back to Winchester, and it takes in a lot of our history, obviously starting in the original capital of England, and it heads out to Old Sarum, uh Stonehenge, the Avebury Stone Circle, goes up onto the Ridgeray, which is I believe the oldest uh footpath in England anyway, uh, and loops right round back from that Swindon area, back to Reading, back down through Fleet, Farnham, all round my home area, uh out to Lis round to uh Old Winchester Hill, uh Beacon Hill, Butsa Hill out in that direction on the South Downs, and back into Winchester. Uh the event is a one-off, so it's a one-only race, which is one of the reasons I thought I'd entered it. So to be a chance of one of the very few that uh have run the route, in fact, because it's actually a cycle route and it's a fairly new, one of the newest cycle routes in England. Um, and uh actually as of today, there were only 40 enter, I think there were 70 odd in entered in the event, but only 40 had said that they were definitely going to do it on the uh recent media stuff that had come out. Uh it run by the mad crowd of Cockbane events, who you might have heard of some of their races. Uh, them and beyond Marathon have partnered up to do this race, uh, and they do these quirky events like running through a tunnel for 200 miles or over a bridge for 200 miles. Uh so thankfully it's uh not quite as mad as that, but it's still a good distance. Uh, I was also attracted to this event because it's low key and I like the fact that uh it's right on my doorstep, it appeals to my green runners membership in cutting down on carbon footprint to travel to events. Uh so it all seemed to fit pretty well for um my first 200 plus event. Another great reason uh to do this 220 miler is that the club I run for, Heart Roadrunners, it's their 40th anniversary, and the club always supports Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in which is based in Farnham. And uh I've decided to raise some money for them. So if you would like to donate, please go and look me up on my uh just giving page for Phyllis Tughwell Hospital. You're a hospice rather Phyllis Tutwell Hospice, you will find me there. Any small amount, even if it's a pound, will be great. I'm only trying to raise two hundred and twenty pounds, uh which is a pound for each mile I do. So thanks very much in advance if you contribute. So that's two parts to the triple, and now we come to the completion um the previously mentioned Winter Downs two hundred. In April, um I was listening to a podcast by James Elson, uh, and he was discussing this event with Ali Bailey, um, and he'd announced this new event for Centurion. It was a step up from their hundreds. Obviously, they run these very successful 15 and 100 events, and they were looking for a 200. And my immediate thought was, What the bloody hell have you just done, James? Because I so wanted to enter, but felt at the time that it was too much um at the end of a season's racing with what I'd already got planned, having done the Northern Traverse and entered the King Alfred's way. But when it came round uh to it, I just couldn't resist. Also because it's um the first time it's been run. I mean, I presume they'll run it again, but who knows? It might not be, so I just couldn't resist entering it. And I thought it then fitted in really well with uh doing three 200-mile races in a running year. Uh this race is also 10 days before Christmas, and after my illness following the Northern Traverse, um, I didn't want to be wiped out leaving my wife Jill with all the Christmas stress. So it was quite a debating issue to actually stump up the cash and get in and enter, but I'm definitely in, and if I get through the King Alfred's Way event fairly unscathed, I'll have a decent recovery period uh between um mid-August and December before I have to race in that one. It's both a bloody annoying and brilliant concept from James. I mean, basically he's linking up the North Downs Way 100 and the South Downs Way 100. So as he says it uh seemed to be a logical thing to do. He's put in two linking routes at each end of the and in fact the course um overlaps part of Kitting Alfred's Way um anyway, um, and I've run some of the South Downs Way, so I know a bit of that course as well, uh, particularly the western side of the course, but not the eastern side of the course. The race is full with 120 entrants with a view to probably getting a hundred started in the race, and that race has a 96-hour cut-off time. So there it is, my 200 challenge or experiment, Northern Traverse, King Alfred's Way, and the Winter Downs 2000. So, of course, uh, if you would be interested in having to go at two hundred, there are quite a few of those. Um, and uh the UK has quite a few on offer. Uh the I think the Wild Horse Ultras, which are run by Pegasus, I think. I think there might be three of those. I know of two, one's based uh in North Wales and one in South Wales. And in fact, the South Wales one was the one that Ali Bailey won this year. Um, then there's a Hardmore Series 200 that starts in Kingston upon Hull in May 2024. There's a 7 Challenge, which is 218 miles, it starts at Aberyswith in May 2024 as well. Uh there's GP Ultras Race Across Scotland, which I think is on now, it's in August. Um, then there, if you are have the might slightly more unhinged persuasion, there are those mad cockbane events uh of the tunnel and the bridge, which are both 200 mile events, uh backwards and forwards out in the open or under the ground if you're the mole type. And they just keep getting added to the race calendar. Last week, Canary Trails just launched the Copthorne 200 based in Surrey, and have also had the cheek to include in their promo a picture of a 15-year-old J Melson's, or he looks 15 anyway, running in one of their events many moons ago. And then of course there are even longer races than 200 miles, such as the Winter Madness classic epic that is the spine race, which is 268 miles on the Peno Way. I've decided that race is for lunatics. I mean the leaning lunatic last year stuck his lips to the hotel that marks the finish at Kirk Yethelm in extinction rebellion protest. They're nutters, the lot of them who take that on. I hope you may be inspired, or maybe just you think I and my kind are nuts. Either way, I bet you can't wait to see what happens to this lab rat. Uh my plans for the King Alfred's Way coming up, uh, since I completed the Northern Traverse and my subsequent illness and a longer recovery period, I've kept a low profile in the King Alfred's Way. I only decided in the week ago to start the event. I wanted to see how I coped with the Wales Ultra 50 and the Beacons Way hundred. Um I've had about there will be about 18 days recovery after the Beacons Way 100, which my feet seem to have recovered from. That was the main thing. Um all the blistering and any rubbing and abrasion I had now has now gone away. Um, and I keep applying aqueous creams to my feet and keeping them supple. So I think they're going to be all ready to go. The rest of me feels okay. I've been getting uh I'm having a couple of massages with Hannah Hall, keeping the legs moving, but I'm actually doing no running at all. I've decided to see how I go on not doing any running in those 18 days between the two events. So that's about where I'm at. I mean, uh quite a few things to consider with the King Alfred's Way. I've given my schedule uh uh somewhere around 78 hours. As I said, we get 85 hours, I think, to finish the event. Um, there's a lot more things to think about, they're very low-key events, these cocaine or cockbane events, I'm not sure how he pronounces it. Um, and uh so things like um carrying a sleeping bag and sleeping mat. Uh I haven't got a crew for this event. I am being met by some people who have nicely volunteered. Uh Hannah's one of them, uh Graham Smee from the Running Club, a good friend of mine. And I'm also out on the course gonna meet a guy who met on the 2021 2021 Dragons Bat race, uh, Peter Bedwell, so who's gonna meet me out on the Ridgeway? So I have got three points of contact out there at least. Um, and I'm intending picking up my sleeping gear from Hannah, probably after around 50 miles, so I haven't got to run for it for that long. Um, and we'll probably either sleep on the trail or maybe in the support points, but I don't know what the support points are like or how noisy they're gonna be, or whether there's a chance to get any sleep in those. Uh, so those are all considerations, but I'm definitely getting more sleep on this one than I did on the Northern Traverse. We've only got 50 minutes. Um, I have planned in three sleep stops of around uh two and a half hours, which will probably end up being two hours worth of at least laying down flat. It's three decent length stops, which should get me at about six hours rest within the 78 hours that I have on my race schedule at the moment. So there we are. Um the next time you'll hear me is obviously on the next episode, which will be episode 31, and it'll just feature the King Alfred's Way Ultra. Um, and I intend treating it not so much as a race but as a a tour around the country and an adventure, and I'm gonna this time definitely podcast as much as I can during the event and interview people on the event um and all the volunteers and people I meet along the way hopefully. So it's gonna be much more of an adventure log than a race, I hope. Uh the forecast is looking pretty good with just some rain on the Saturday, uh and the race will for me will cover Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. So until you hear the next aid station, it's Kev saying bye for now.