Speyside Way Ultramarathon race report.

Ah, long overdue but thought I had better  (figuratively) put pen to paper before the ultra becomes a distant memory, embellished by fond memories of running along the coast with the breeze in my hair and good times. Rather than the aching body and engorged toenails that were apparent by the last hour of the race!

Race distance  36.5 miles ( 59 km for me- as had an extra detour , more on that later)

The Speyside Way is a long distance walking path, of which there are many scattered throughout the British isles. Most of the way is disused railway and snakes alongside the River Spey and several whisky distilleries, until it reaches the river mouth at Spey Bay. From there it follows the coastline to a market town called Buckie; it ends in the town square.

The ultra mostly followed the way with a few detours - up Ben Aigen , the only sizeable climb en route, several rolling B class roads and rolling twisty forest track behind some sand dunes until the last stretch of road along the coastline to the finish.

http://www.trainingpeaks.com/av/SNVF6XYGAO474GNJTSICWVKFRE

Garmin file from Training Peaks above. It says total ascent was 3000m but there was nowhere near that amount!  ~ 1100 m over the entire run which isn't too bad really. Also noted in the file is what I consumed during the run . No nutritional problems although I ran out of fluid on the descent of Ben Aigen and had around 6-7km with nothing to drink. I didn't stop for a pee the entire run, toilets were very sparse or a wee way off course.

Smiling up Ben Aigen- eh???

There were 2 aid stations to refuel, one at 12 miles in and the next at 24 miles in. I chose to carry a hydration pack ( My Salomon XT wing which I LOVE) as prefer to be self sufficient and had done all my training runs carrying the pack. I didn't use the first aid station but had put a special needs bag in for the second aid station with a large bottle of water to refill my bladder and a small bottle of flat coke; to get me through the last hour or so.

There was no compulsory gear requirement but, given that we are in the north of Scotland ( ~ 60' N approx) albeit during summertime, I thought it prudent to carry a beanie, light rain jacket, space blanket plus some paracetamol, a very small container with vaseline in and some lip balm as well as   race nutrition which was a mix of gels, blocks, lollies etc.



The weather was reasonable; some light mizzle early in the morning in Buckie and again at the start but no more for the rest of the day. We actually had perfect conditions for running - cloud cover, very mild ( warm, even!) little wind. It could have been a whole lot worse - my biggest fear was torrential rain and having to deal with potential blisters and trench foot through the race. Phew!!

View from the run- Charlestown of Aberlour old railway station

I won't bore any of my (one) readers with  a blow-by-blow in depth analysis of the run; the garmin file should suffice. I have, however, made a noteworthy list of points pertinent to losing my Ultra virginity :)



- the last hour of the run feels like the last 15 km of an ironman marathon

-***pacing is everything*** - I started at the back ( little choice as we had to cross a narrow swing bridge which funnelled everyone into an even longer line) had a very steady first 2 hours on the flattest section of the way and spent the final couple of hours passing an awful lot of people!

-Toe socks with vaseline in between the toes again proved to be my best defence against blisters.

-Ate lightly the day before and a smaller breakfast which had no negative effects on my energy but plenty of positive effects i.e. not feeling like a walrus on the start line!

-Coke travelling in the side pocket of a hydration pack while running may have been flat to start with ….."all shook up..uh-huh"……

-Drinking said Coke resulted in a bad stitch, a problem that has plagued me in my last 2 iron mans.Definitely must be result of gas- don't gulp your drinks, even if they are non fizzy!

-Was able to keep running through the stitch- a HUGE bonus and something to harness for my next ironman.

-Cut up Mars bars taste SOOOOOO good 39km into a run!

-Walk the steep bits, didn't spot many people running Ben Aigen but make sure you can run downhill+ practise in training.

- Wore my iPod , was great. ***allowed to, btw***

- This was the ideal race for a first ultra - pretty mild terrain, reasonable gradients and surfaces i.e. nothing too technical ( apart from a few rooty sections in the latter half), achievable distance if you have already run a marathon.

-Concentrate on the sign posts+ way markers ! I missed a turn about 41km in and ended up way down a wee path to the river. Realised my mistake ( thankfully) and was able to get back on track. Only an extra 800m at most but it coulda been a whole lot worse!

-Enjoy the scenery and the great camaraderie that exists between other runners. A cool bunch of people. Especially when there are four of you that all got confused in the same spot and ended up deciding that running straight up the road ( parallel to where we were supposed to be) must be the right way. Then a marshal appears and we had to stop and wait while he rung the race director to check we could continue. "No ******* way are we backtracking" was the consensus; we had not actually taken a shortcut and we were 10 km from the finish.

FINISH LINE is 20m away!! Embrace the Suck!!

Mum and Aunty Sylvia, Joanna, Jonny and their daughter Faith were all waiting for me in Buckie so it was great to see familial (?!geddit?!) faces.  They live 35 miles round the coast in Fraserburgh so had come over for the day to keep Mum company while I was running and catch up.
As with iron mans, I tend to find that as soon as you stop you feel HUGELY worse than you did previously so best to keep moving. We ended up in a pub/cafe on the main street and I was finally able to get a cup of coffee and had a large bowl of wedges. Yum- salty chips are just what the Dr ordered post endurance event. We said our goodbyes and then Mum and I walked   shuffled up to the high school to pick up the car and make our way back to Cullen.

Once back at the B+B I was able to inspect the damage - very little chafing (bonus!!) and 2 massive blood blisters on the outer aspect of my big toes . I tend to build a lot of hard skin here as despite wearing orthotics I still have some pronation causing the big toe to roll in and rub on either my shoe or orthotic. I had visited the chiropodist and had everything dealt with 5 days prior to the race but I guess six hours of running must create some unavoidable friction!

I'll write a short post about the rest of my holiday back in my beautiful homeland…very soon, promise!

Rehydrating and replenishing with a fine brew