At the end of March I bailed the EcoTrail de Paris, I had an awful day! One week later I was in the English Lakes with the prospect of running 30 miles or so over the Lakeland 50/100 mile route.
Let’s put things into perspective! The EcoTrail is a a lovely race, it has some hills but in comparison to the English Lakes, it’s flat! Therefore I was really hoping that the previous weeks ‘bad race’ was a one off!
The Lakeland team really do a great job. Not only do they provide the recce’s at a very affordable price but they also provide so much more… The night before the run we had a series of lectures, Marc Laithwaite from the Endurancecoach discussed nutrition and Gaynor Pryor talked about how she was first female in the 100 mile race in 2011.
On the morning of the recce we awoke to a light frost and some blue skies. Thank goodness! The Lakes can be a tough place when the weather turns nasty. We arrived at our meeting point at Waterhead just before 0800. This allowed me some time to record some audio for Talk Ultra. I spoke to last years winner, Terry Conway, I also spoke to a few ultra novices. It’s great to get a variety of feedback.
Our day ahead was covering Pooley Bridge back to Ambleside. Depending on which race you are doing, this is roughly the first 30 miles of the ’50’ or mile 55 to 85 in the ‘100’ give or take! It’s a stunning part of the Lakes with wonderful views, good runnable trail, some tough climbs and a day when the sun shines, it’s just a pleasure to be out running.
Always surprises me with a recce how some runners just fly off at the start…. Guys, it’s not a race!! The whole purpose of a recce is to run the course taking good mental notes of where and how to navigate, build up some time on your feet and also meet and talk to some like minded people.
The gradual climb out of Pooley Bridge soon had us running some great single track as we by phased Ullswater on our right and headed down to what would be a checkpoint in the race. For today’s purpose, we had no checkpoint. We crossed the road, through gates and then jogged through the valley to start our first big climb of the day.
We walked, talked and discussed the race ahead in a few months. The Lakeland is a tough route and get your pace wrong and you’ll pay for it! Today’s weather was proving quite hot and you could already see some struggling.
Over the climbe we then had a period of good running before heading down to Mardale. Terry Conway had caught up and we chatted. Turned out the day previous he and some Irish friends had run the first 52 miles of the course; nice! He had no visible signs of his body showing what his previous day had entailed. I guess that’s the difference between being a winner and a participant!!
Around Mardale is beautiful and today with the sun out and blue skies it looked incredible. It’s tough underfoot in this section with the terrain constantly changing. It’s rocky and rolls up and down. At Mardale head we had a checkpoint and an opportunity to refuel. It was very welcome! I did my best to consume a malt loaf.
The climb up out of Mardale is a long steep one. The path snakes it’s way to the top helping to reduce some of the gradient. From the top it’s a long run down over rocky terrain. This is when you are really glad you have Hoka One One on your feet. The full suspension mountain bike of run shoes. Yes, they make that much difference.
At the bottom a right turn and over a bridge and another rocky climb… This time the path was blocked by a 4×4 stuck precariously with its wheels spinning. At the top of the climb another 4×4 getting ready to help winch the other guy up… I wondered why? And then thought to myself, they probably had the same thought… Why are they running?
We dropped down to Kentmere and a final checkpoint before the last long tough climb of the day. A few runners started to suffer here. It had been a long day, a hot one and this climb sapped the calfs and hamstrings. At the top the decent ahead is very technical and I guess it’s like running down a quarry. It’s all rocks and they just vary in size and sharpness. Again, the Hoka’s are a dream on this stuff and it’s noticeable how much less impact you get.
Some trail now and finally road. A right turn, a left, up the trail and now we are parallel to Windemere and on the final run in to Ambleside.
We covered just under 30 miles and it was a stunning day. You cannot beat the Lakes on days like this! What was also nice was the easy and relaxed pace of the day. No pressure just running, chatting and meeting new people.
That evening we had some chill time and a great meal in Ambleside.
Monday, Niandi and I headed back out on the trail and started on the remaining section of the Lakeland route heading out to the Langdales. We didn’t run far, 90 mins but it was great to get back on the trail and it was good for the legs to feel fresh.
Looking forward now to the full 50 route recce in June which will take place over two days. Day one will be about 50k with remaining 30k done on day two.