This is the first of 3 or 4 ultras I have planned in for this year, as part of my prep for somewhat optimistically hoping to enter the Cape Wrath ultra in 2023 or 2024. For once I had actually tried to follow a proper training plan, with speedwork and everything, rather than just setting monthly mileage targets. I had created an 18 week plan, with 4x 4-week phases and a 2 week taper. The moment I start it I came down with a cold then covid so lost about 4 weeks, then 5 weeks before the event I picked up a couple of injuries so my mileage dropped gradually down to nothing. But I was optimistic that the 9 weeks I had managed would see me through, it's more than I managed for my last 2 ultras!
Driving to the event I felt really underprepared, perhaps because it was the first race of the year, or perhaps my extra long taper had messed with my drive and motivation. Also, although it's an area I'm fairly familiar with, I was 6 hours from home and felt quite alone. I had a good deal of trepidation over the snow dusting on Snowdon, the forecast (likely dry but possible hail showers, snow, and thunderstorm, with wind chill of up to -10•C on the summit), and the resultant question of how many layers to pack. I decided I had the right amount for my top half (vest, super lightweight soft shell, lightweight waterproof, and a spare lightweight long-sleeved baselayer in the pack), but
I donned my calf sleeves under my leggings, and my shorts over them, to effectively double the layers on my bottom half. At kit check I was all ready to empty out the contents of my bag for inspection, when the lady said ‘we’re only doing random kit checks, and it looks like you’ve got all of it in there!’ clearly having spotted the size of my bulging pack as I approached.
The race started as it meant to go on - having to climb awkwardly over a series of locked gates to reach the Ranger Path. Later it was granite wall stiles. And many fallen trees. We had 885m ascent straight out of the gate, over 3.8 miles, so gained height quickly and were soon at the snow line. Around here it started snowing lightly, and we were on Snowdon, on snow and in snow! Now what I’d expected what I entered the race. I don’t really like snow. I certainly didn’t think I’d enjoy it. But by god it was beautiful, heavenly. I was quite moved by the experienced and I wouldn’t change it for the world, It felt like how it was meant to be.
I summited in 1:15, and along with most of the other competitors I took a small detour to reach the summit toposcope.
Descending the Rhyd Ddu path was a different story, it was rocky and icy, and I didn’t have poles or spikes and I’ve never been super confident on my feet despite plenty of mountain experience. I have never used poles when running but I always used to use them when hiking, which this was more akin to, and my muscle memory was craving the control of them. Instead I squatted on my heels and slid down the initial steepest sections. Then I just took it carefully.
I had tried to gain places on the ascent where I am relatively stronger (an advantage of long legs!!) because I knew I’d lose them on the descent, and I did, dozens of them. My average pace dropped to 22 minutes per mile, a far cry from the 15min/mi I wanted to aim for, but it wasn’t possible to go faster safely, and I was quite accepting of that, it would be fun trying to make it back on the flatter terrain. We descended out of the snow line then there was a long section of rocky slabs which were thankfully not slippery, then it started to level off. Here I was at 21:22 min/mi, 6.7miles in, time to pick the pace up. I was pleased with how my legs had fared, with two injuries leading up to the event. My calf must be better as didn’t hurt on the ascent. My left ankle was not too bad, in fact any pain was on the inside not the outside.
We crossed the road and headed into the forest. The route gpx had been updated 2 days before the event and we had been told to follow that not the map, but it wasn’t quite right in places. I missed a turning as it was sooner than shown, and was then worried about missing the checkpoint which means a DNF, and I’d already failed to find CP1 on the summit of Snowdon although everyone else had too. Thankfully I came into the check from the other side, and after that I was more alert to the signs, although still had occasional sign blindness and was called back on route by others! I’m more used to navigating myself, so paying attention to signs is a skill I seem to be partly deficient in. The next section took us along tracks with nice views down to Beddgelert with the white clouds of a steam train rising above the trees, the toots of which followed us for some time, then there was a whole section of marsh. I didn’t mind this as it was very much like my home territory of Dartmoor, and not as squelchy as it could have been. The route was very unusual though… as well as all the clambering over objects involved, large sections of the route didn’t follow any recognised footpath, just took an arbitrary direction across tussocks and between low gorse, where you had to try and spot the next route marker as there wasn’t an obvious way on. Although they were many markers, there were still times when you wanted more.
My focus was on catching people up one by one and passing them, this is usually my focus in a race, not because I care a lot my finish position but to keep me motivated and keep my pace up. It does, however, mean I am always running alone because as soon as I reach someone I try to leave them behind. I don’t mind that in general, but I had a lot of personal stuff on my mind which was giving me some anxiety which threatened to rise up and give me trouble breathing, so I spent some time pushing it back down inside, but that’s quite hard to do when you’re working hard which is already emotional. I had support coming in from a couple of friends on my phone which helped.
The marsh became more complicated, with vague, narrow, tramped paths with bramble trip-wires, which took us into a difficult section section with fallen trees and peaty moss. I tripped a couple of times. CP3 at 16 miles wasn’t far ahead though. After CP3 my legs were very tight and fatigued, feeling the effects of trying harder than normal. I normally race to a heart rate cap of 158 but usually finish strong feeling like I haven’t tried hard enough, so this time I wanted to see what I was capable of, and while trying to catch people it had been been reaching 178. That had clearly been too high as I was very fatigued now, so I abandoned any thought of places for a bit and just ran what I could, while the food I’d eaten worked to re-energise me. It took a little while, as the food sat heavy on my stomach at first, making me feel bloated. I had to charge my watch anyway, so put it in my bag and plodded along a long section of road, which is one of the course alterations that they’d had to make due to a recent fire. I managed to hop into a field at some point too to relieve some of the bloat 😉
At 20 miles the watch went back on and I did a bit of shoe re-tying as they were starting to chafe under the laces. I don’t remember CP4 but it was somewhere after this. At 23.5 miles my leg finally recovered and I could change from a shuffle run back into a proper running gait. I could feel how strained my tendons were though so had to be careful not to do an injury. Thankfully the next section was really beautiful and engaging. We turned North East up the Cwm Pennant valley past many signs of its industrial past - ruined ruined slate houses and quarry buildings; a old tramway now grass-covered and great for running; a dam with reservoir; and a mine.
I was finding it really hard to keep pushing to stay ahead of people, but I guess that’s the case when each person you pass is faster than the last. Two lads re-passed me just before mile 25 and I slowed to walked a bit, feeling a bit jaded. It occurred to me that I didn’t actually have to pass anyone else, if I settled down down a bit I’d probably still maintain my position, and that gave me some peace. The sun came out too, and I was then running in just a vest and arm warmers, a far cry from the ice from earlier. I re-passed the two guys, and they cheered me on and commented that I was faster on the rough ground whereas they were faster on the roads. I knew I'd see them again, because picking my way down to CP5 I could feel a strain in my left lower leg where the shin tendon comes up into the knee. There wasn’t any water left at the checkpoint so I topped up with coke to get away fast without being caught up. I wasn’t bothered about my overall place, but I had set an arbitrary aim of being in the top-10 women, so the most people I stayed ahead of the closer I was to the next woman! There wasn’t any ibuprofen at the checkpoint either, and I was in increasing amounts of pain gently descending the now-good paths through Beddgelert forest, from my foot and also where the tracker was bruising my shoulder (I grew a big lump on my collarbone the day after). I crouched down hanging into a pole and begged ibuprofen from another passing runner who was kind enough to extract some from the bottom of his bag for me. I took my tracker from my bag and held it in my hand too to relieve that pain also, and kept pushing, not long now, only a couple of miles.
On the good, flat, gravel track past Llyn y Gadair the two chaps from earlier caught me again, so I cheered them past. As we left the lake though they were still in sight and had stopped at a car, they flagged me down and said the water had arrived. I squeezed my bottles… ‘hmmm… I’m still full with coke’. Then brightened and cheekily said ‘ah well, later then guys!!’ and shot off, taking that as a challenge to race them the 1.4 miles to the finish which I could soon see off to my side. There was another good forestry track, followed eventually (past the point the gpx said) by a switchback down a narrow path with many fallen trees I had to climb right over, but the boys were still not in sight. I crossed the road as they came out of trees and waved back, then ran up the stream and round the event field and over the finish line, 9:21:04 on my watch. I waited to cheer Aaron and George across the line, and we met properly with a big hug.
I came in at 7th lady (out of 52 entrants and 13 finishers), and 48 overall (out of 241 entrants and 74 starters). And two days later I still can't walk down the stairs!
