West Highland Way Race : Even Effort Splits

At time of writing there is now just a day and half left till the start of 2016 West Highland Way Race.  I will be running this 95 mile, 14.000ft ascent/descent race for the 3rd time.  Looking at my training logs I looks like in a similar shape as I was last year, and believe that I might be able to get near 19hrs if my day goes well.

In this post I'll outline the approach I'll take for pacing and provide splits generated by a spreadsheet I have written than applies Even Effort Splits to a range of finishing times so we can judge whether we are going too fast or slow to meet out finishing target time, or to judge how well we are maintaining pace.  If the day goes well you'll be able to maintain effort and stick closer to the Even Effort Splits, if the day goes less well then you'll steadily fall behind the Even Effort Splits.

Pacing to HR and Splits

A big part of my plan to maximize the chance of me achieving this lofty goal is to get my pacing right, for this purpose I'll use a mix of running to pacing to HR and using splits.

From previous races I know that I should be able to maintain an average HR  of around 135 for 20hrs racing, so a HR range of 130 to 140 would keep me honest.  10bpm roughly equates to running 40 seconds/mile faster or slower, so my pace can vary +20 seconds/mile on the flat.  On the hills I stay within this HR range or make sure the effort stays the same, but as consequence my pace will vary significantly, going much slower uphill, typically walking, and faster downhill, typically running if my legs and feet can handle it.

If you want to see what HR range might be appropriate for you my 130 to 140 range equates to 75% to 81% of my Lactate Threshold HR, or 70 to 76% of my max HR.   So if your Lactate Threshold HR (say HR during a 10k) is 160 then a range of 120 to 130 might be suitable.

The way I'll use the splits to check my progress through the day against the splits to see how it looks the day is playing out and what my projected finishing time might be if I can maintain the effort right to the end.  I really hope the 19hrs will come naturally as pacing in my target HR zone, but if a little out of touch then I may take the risk and up the intensity a little such as my targeting a 135 to 145 HR range, such as change would mean upping my average pace on the flat by 20 seconds faster, over the whole 95 miles we might expect this to mean 30 minutes quicker.

However, upping the intensity range is a gamble, if I push on too hard then I might be faster to next check point but risk burning out more and being unable to maintain the pace.

Upping intensity isn't just a matter of higher HR, your whole system is taxed more, muscles are working at a higher rate and will burn muscle glycogen stores more quickly, you generate more heat so will sweat more, more sweating will mean quicker rates of dehydration.  Blood flow to the stomach is also reduced when working harder so the amount of food and drink you can digest goes down.  Finally working harder is more stressful on the muscles, ligaments an bones so their structural resilience will be tested more.

Listen to the body will be key to figuring how much I might be able to bend the HR zone rules to fit my ego of finishing faster.  Listen to your ego too much and you'll be sure to crash and burn.

Even Effort Splits

Follows are series of splits that can be printed out/copy and pasted in race plans to give runners and crew an ideal of progress.

 Splits for Elite runners:

Even Effort Splits for 14hr (Course Record :-) to 17hr finishing time

Even Effort Splits for Good Club Runners, note the introduction of green times at the lower right part of the table, green numbers means that you are allowed to have a support runner with you at this point.  For Even Effort splits tracking 20 and 20:30hrs the green times appear but then disappear so you'd loose your support runner at the next check point when the time goes back into the black!

Even Effort Splits for 17 to 21 hr finishing time

Even Effort Splits for Sub 24hr crowd, note the green times again, here you can have your support runner with you. It only turns permanently green for 21hrs and slower so it's probably worth just thinking about this time as one where you can consider getting a support runner

Even Effort Splits for 20 to 24hr finishing time

Even Effort Splits for Middle of Field runners

Even Effort Splits for 23 to 27hr finishing time

Even Effort Splits for Back of Field runners.  Here it's important to take note of the time out cut off times, I've used the colour red for points where you'd be timed out.  Essentially if you are using Even Effort Splits and tracking for a 27:30hr finishing time you'll get timed out.

Even Effort Splits for 26 to 30hr finishing time

Timing out a runner who is successfully running Even Effort Splits at Balmaha even though they are capable of finishing in 27:30 seems a bit harsh, but if you look at my previous WHWR 2015 splits analysis article there are no Back of Field runners that come even remotely close to Even Effort Splits, so this point is really more hypothetical than anything else.

Realistically this means that Back of Field Runners can't use Even Effort Splits or pace by HR. Instead they will need to pace to comfortably meet the early cut offs then settle into a lower intensity that keeps them ahead of the next cut offs points but without getting to hurried early on as you will end up slowing down more in the end.

Crew and online folk assessing progress using splits

I will get my crew to keep track of my splits and mark them on the printed out splits as I go through the race so they can access how I'm doing.  What will result is a wiggly line as each leg won't be perfectly paced.  If I have the perfect day then we'll see a straight line down to my target 19hrs, if the wheels fall off then we'll steadily drop of this and likely see a diagonal line shifting to the left and to slower finishing times.

For folks following progress at home via twitter, facebook or the Sports Ident live tracking Website you'll be able to use this splits to access progress as well. Please note that the majority of the field don't manage to stick with Even Effort Splits so it's perfectly normal to see a diagonal progress through the race rather than just tracking down vertically.

For those following online, there is no timings generated for Drymen, Inversnaid and Lundavra so if you can have a long wait sometimes, the splits should give you an idea of how long, but as the splits are for runners who take an easy start/strong finish early on you'll find the above splits slower than those estimated online/via twitter/facebook updates and later in the race the above splits will suggest earlier times.  This discrepancy is due to Sports Ident using average splits rather than Even Effort Splits.

Best of Luck!!!!

This will be my last post till I finish.  Best of luck to all runners, crew and the legions of volunteers that are giving them time freely to make some magic happen for a 200 hardy souls.

West Highland Way Race 2015 Splits Analysis

To help gain an insight what type of splits to use in the West Highland Way Race it can be useful to look at previous years races.  For this article I have taken 2015 race splits published on westhighwayrace.org, and processed them in three different ways:

1. First half vs second half pace to look how much runners slowed
2. Comparison between individual runners splits% vs average split%
3. Comparison between individual runners splits% vs even paced split%

Lots of my own prep to complete for this years race (in two days) so I won't spend long explaining how I did the analysis, instead I'll just dive directly into the results and then wrap up with conclusions.

 1. First half vs second half pace to look how much runners slowed

ratio of Average Pace second half / Average pace

This graph shows the ratio of the pace for the second half (Tyndrum to Fort William) divided by the average pace for the first half (Milngavie to Tyndrum). A value greater than 1 shows a positive split, while a value of exactly 1 is an even split.  There were no negative splits in 2015, we had two in 2014 so it can happen!

The most obvious takeaway from this plot is that there is a broad trend of faster runners running more even splits and slower runners running slower splits.

The second observation is that there can be a lot of difference in first half and second half even for runners that finish around the same time, especially for those in the middle of the race.

The third observation is that the top 8 runners all had slowed less than 20%, with three slowing less than 5%.

Paul Giblin slowed by 9.9%, which is substantially less than he slowed in 2014 where he slowed by over 16%.  This suggests that racing Robbie Britton hard in the first half of the 2014 had penalty on how well he could maintain pace in the second half.  Compared to the rest of the field though even in 2014 he was still finishing far stronger.  In 2015 ran faster without the pressure of any close competition - he was in effect race himself and was behind even as late Kinlochleven but was able to overhaul his 2014 self over the Larigmor with some very impressive running.

Second placed runner Neil MacNicol came very closer an even split only slowing down by 1.7%.  It's worth reading Neil's race report to see how it unfolded.  Neil ran an exceptional race, especially considering it was his first outing over the distance.

By contrast if we look at the tail enders then then are slowing down 40 to 75%.  This level of slow down will be unlikely to be down to planned pacing, I suspect it's more to do with runners encountering problems as the race unfolded rather than just going out too fast.  I'm sure going out too fast will have been a big factor though, you are much more likely to struggle later if you go out too fast.

2. Comparison between individual runners splits% vs average split%

Speed difference between Actual runner splits 

For the second part of the analysis I computed the split % for each leg and compared these to the average split %, this shows how well using average splits for the whole field is able to predict what splits the actually saw in the race.

The clearest takeway from this is that in the middle of field, between 22 and 30 hrs the average spits do a reasonable job for most of the runners, with most being only 10% off, with a decent number below 5% suggest good match.  The way these difference manifest themselves will be different for each runner, a runner who runner a more positive split than another runner might be equally far away from the average so the accuracy relative to the average splits can end up the same.

As we move to the front of the field the average splits provide a much poorer fit for most runners, you have to get out of top 8 before you seen any close to average splits.  A different splits model would be appropriate for front of field.

Also if we look at the tail ended, runners over 30hrs, again the average splits start to be a more proxy for the actual splits runner see.  This will be related to the the significant slow down that these runners experience.

3. Comparison between individual runners splits% vs even paced split%

Individual runners splits vs even effort splits

For the 2015 West Highland Way Race I created a set of even effort splits that where based on 2014, adjusting for parts of the race where I had problems such as tending to blisters or succumbing to injury late in the race.  I ran the 2014 pacing by heart rate and got the effort level throughout race right, finishing strong despite injury.  These adjusted splits are my best attempt at estimating what even effort splits would look like. 

Even effort splits aren't even paced for indivudual sections - some sections like the first to Drymen or the final descent to Fort William are relatively fast even with the same effort level thanks to the easy terrain or downhill, while by contracts Inversnaid to Beinglas or going over the Devil's Staircase are significantly slower pace wise even if you are maintaining the effort level.

If we look the plot we see a very similar trend as we saw for the first graph that looked at average pacing in the first half vs second half.  Clearly even splits works much better for the front of the field than the majority of the field, especially the tail enders.

For the front of the field the top eight are actually closer to the even effort splits than the average splits.

By contrast the rest of the field the even effort splits increasingly show a poor correlation to the actual splits runners saw on the day.

However, there are still runners where even effort level splits were representative even up to 25hrs.  This suggest that good pace judgement isn't just the preserve of the elite, other members in the field can do it too.

Lessons learned from the analysis

It's very clear that the elite runners are able to maintain their pace far better than the majority of the rest of the field.  This is likely a factor of the training they do and their genetic disposition to ultra racing, as well as experience with how to eat, drink and manage themselves through the whole race.  Part of this ability will also be experience in pacing, they know what they are capable of and pace accordingly.

There is also a factor in that not everyone has a perfect day come race day, those at the front of the field will mostly have been having a good day.  Even great runners who have a bad day will end up slowing badly and moving further away from even effort splits.  This applies even more to us mortals further down the field.

Last year I was one such runner, slowing by 14.55%.  I was very close to even splits as planned up to Bridge Of Orchy, but stomach problems that began at Tyndrum eventually got so bad that I had to walk for the majority of the rest of the race.  My training and pacing weren't to blame, I was fit and pacing for a sub 20hr time, but my day went wrong because of other factors.  In my case the other factor was that I picked up a cold days before the race, and then just hours before the start I strained by back so was in pain at every step.  The cold and back injury meant that I ended up taking pain killers/flu tablets during the race to keep on top of things.  I believe it as the co-codamol pain killers that were the mostly likely cause of the stomach problems.

My experience from last year illustrates that there are many things that can cause you to slow down, so under your control, some out of control, but the analysis can't tease apart these individual stories, all it can pull out is general trends.

When planning your own race we can learn from even these broad trends.  If you want to have a perfect day of racing like the front of the field then it makes sense to pace like them, and this means that even effort splits are likely to be good aspirational place to start from.

Even effort splits have runners start the race well within their capacity, starting off at an intensity that they know they can come close to maintaining for the whole race.  Some runners are really good at judging this by feel, others are terrible at it and even when they try to hold themselves back still go out too fast.

Practice approach to pacing with even effort level

For my own racing I made a number of mistakes in pacing in ultra's before settling upon using a HR monitor as a guide for managing my effort level.  The HR monitor is a good proxy for effort level so if you pace yourself within an appropriate HR band then won't be too far even effort pacing without ever having to look at splits.

For myself for this year's West Highland Way race a HR range of 130 to 140 is roughly appropriate, this is 75% to 81% of my Lactate Threshold HR, or 70 to 76% of my max HR.

I have also computed even effort level splits for this year's West Highland Way Race and will publish these in a follow up article.  These splits will take account of a small route change in this year's race so won't match exactly to those I used in 2015 and for this articles analysis.

West Highland Way Race 2015 : Race report

This is my long over due race report from my 2015 race, alas I've been so busy with work, family life, training and racing that my blog has had to take a back seat.  So sit back and transport yourself back a year and read on...

West Highland Way Race 20th June 2015

My training in the six months before the race went BRILLANTLY, every single capital is fully warranted.  I was chuffed to bits with how well my body coped with running every day.    My peak weak I managed to hit my target of running 96 miles in 7 days, with back to back half marathon+ of most days.  I've never come close to this mileage before and I felt strong, smooth and efficient.  I was fitter than I've ever been as an adult.  I was ready to knock the race out out of ballpark, confident of going sub 19hrs.

However, things started to unravel on the Wednesday evening before the race - I started to loose my voice, going down with the same cold that my wife had suffered with for the previous 10 days, loosing her voice for much of it.  I ate raw garlic, loads of greens and colourful veg, beetroot.  This onslaught of vitamin and mineral rich veg helped halt the cold getting worse, but I still had a bit of inflamed throat on the night and day of the race.

The grand preparation came a little further unstuck just three hours before the start of the race when I over excitedly picked up a heavy container of food+drink for the race to pack it into the support vehicle.  Don't twist and lift up heavy stuff fast ever, let alone right before your biggest race of the year... unfortunately I did and strained my back.  After all the careful planning, fantastic training I had suddenly through a massive spanner in the works with a split second of stupidity.  The back was sore enough to force me to take pain killers even before I left the house. 

Food and drink all laid out, packing all the drinks into one container is what did my back in!

Thankfully my first half support crew Tom and Toby were on the ball and got everything packed in the car and to the start with plenty of time. At the start I just got on with all prep as usual and this went smoothly, great to see lots of familiar faces and such a great atmosphere.  While I was focused and business like in those final minutes I was also in pain, even walking was uncomfortable.

Race start : 1am, Milgavie

Race start went and we all plodded off into the dark woodland trail of Mugdock park.  A little drizzle meant that I kept my jacket on.  My HR was a bit high, but I was moving well enough, save for every step jarring the back.  I arrived at Drymen in 2:08hrs, a few minutes up on my 2014 split, happy enough but a little disappointed to not be faster.  I wasn't going to force the pace this early though, I just stuck to my target HR range of 135 to 140.

Conic hill, atmospheric in the clearing mist/rain

Conic hill came and went, my descent went well despite my sore back, my quads were feeling strong even if other parts of my body weren't a 100%.  I passed John Kynaston in the woodlands just before the car park and he asked how I was getting on, the reply "It's going to be a tough day at the office" pretty well summed up my physical feeling and resolve.

Balmaha: 19miles, 3:37hr elapsed, 4:37am

Save for the sore back and high HR I was moving OK, and happy to moving and the atmosphere through Balmaha couldn't help perk up the spirits, views help too :-)

Balmaha

On route to Rowardennan

The route along to Rowardennan went smoothly, no problems with midgies this year,  A bit of dampness under foot over the past 5 hours had taken it's toll though with a hot spot on a toe developing as I approached Rowardennan

Keep moving

the midges might catch up...

Rowardennan: 27 miles, 5:07hr elapsed, 6:07am

I arrived 9 minutes up on my 2014 time, but rather than push on did the sensible thing and stopped to get my toe checked over.  This meant I lost 5 minutes, but my crew were great, surgical tape wrapped around the blister on my left little toe and then I was on my way.

I pushed on to Inversnaid and felt that I was now in my groove, the pace felt a bit more of effort than it should have been, heart rate typically in the 140 to 145 zone.  This was above my planned 130 to 140hr zone, but I was still chasing my 19hr target and 10 minutes behind schedule so knew if I was going to up the effort level have any chance of getting anywhere near it.

At a style a couple miles before Inversnaid I caught up with Sandra (now Beattie :-) who had been powering up all the hills ahead but now seemed to be taking it easier on the more technical trails.  As I take the first part of the race easier than the majority of the field I didn't expect to see her again, this was be proved wrong by the end of the day!

Inversnaid: 35miles, 6:37hr elapsed, 7:37am

 I was still in pain but moving OK.  I had been taking a combination of flu tablets and a combination of straight pain killers, alternating the different medications to spread it out evenly.  I didn't want to risk over dosing but also needed to take the edge of pain I was in.  This pain management was working well along the lochside, the pain was stable, my mood was positive despite the discomfort.

Eating and drinking was also still working well, everything I took with me I was able to consume. Unlike in 2014 my path along the lochside was mainly a solitary affair.  I was occasionally catching other runners and exchanging a few words but mostly paces never synced so I just got on with the job of moving as efficiently through the technical trails as I could.  I actually quite enjoyed this section despite the back pain.

Beinglas: 41 miles, 8:14hrs elapsed, 9:14am

By the time I arrived at Beinglas my assertiveness on pace had was now 11 minutes ahead of my split in the 2014 race.  I was now 11 minutes off my 19hr splits though, I'd need to keep the effort up.

A mile out of Beinglas I caught up with Stuart Chalmers and Myvanwy Nenton-May.  Myvanway stopped for comfort break so Stuart and I moved on together.  Stuart was going well and moving assertively especially on the ascents.  For the first time I had found another runner working at the same pace so we settled and catching up on all things running and life.    Cow poo ally came and went without fuss, we attacked the ascents above Crainlarich and stormed down the descents.  It felt like we were pushing on a bit hard as passed the mid point of the race but it was fun, more like play than racing a 95 mile ultra.

Auchtertyre: 50 miles, 10:11hrs elapsed, 11:11am

We trotted into the check point and got weight right after each other and then split up as we met up with our crews and restocked.  I was through quicker and left on my own feeling strong and with positive as I was now 16 minutes up on my 2014 time, and while I was still 10 minutes off my splits for 19hr and now likely out of reach, it looked like a time of 19:15 to 19:30 was still on and well worth chasing.

At Auchtertyre I took a single Co-codamol pain killer and a cereal bar that I munched on the way to Tyndrum,  the familiar landmarks before Tyndrum appear quickly and then I was past the Fling start in 10:44, 2 minutes quicker than my first Fling time back in 2012.  Back in 2012 I finished with a death march and couldn't contemplate going a step further.  Fast forward to June 2015 and I was feeling strong and looking forward to the next 42 miles.

Tyndrum

At Tyndrum my north and south crew were changing over so it was good to see every one in good spirits together.  I dropped off empties, picked up drinks and food and a ice cream.  The day had transformed itself from a drab start to a warm beautiful day so the ice was welcome.  Unfortunately the ice cream was melting so as I walked up the road out of Tyndrum I gobbled it down before it turned into total mush.

All seemed good with life, but then my stomach just decided to protest strongly.  My stomach hadn't been 100% up to this point but was pretty good considering the abuse my body was going under but there wasn't any hint that I was pushing my luck.  Back in 2014 my stomach didn't cause any problems even when eating ice-creams and bacon rolls.  Summer 2015 was going to be a different story.

Working on the assumption that my my stomach just needed a bit of rest from constant feeding and my blood flow to my stomach was probably compromised by the higher effort that I had been putting I just began sipping water and dropped my target HR zone back to 130 to 140.  My stomach didn't get better but I was still able to run flats and descents so I was I just hoped this would be a short lived hiccup.

Bride Of Orchy: 12:02hr elapsed, 1:02pm  

As I was still 20 minutes up on my 2014 splits and still within 4hrs of race leader, Paul Guiblin, at BoO I couldn't get a support runner over Rannoch Moor.  Initially I tried to keep jogging on where possible but the faster I moved the worse my stomach got.  I finally decided that I had to stop racing and just walk off the problem and hope that once my stomach had calmed down I could get back racing.

It was fun to see everyone at Jelly Baby hill and get my 100k treat but even the a single Jelly Baby was not an easy proposition to get down.  I ate my sweet and a sip of water but it just increase the pain levels, anything hitting my stomach now was just pushing stomach pain levels up.

Across Rannoch Moor the miles passed very slowly, I lost a number of places, including Stuart and Myvanway would trotted by both looking strong.  Despite taking things very easy my stomach got no better.  It was like having a brillo pad stuck in my stomach, any up and down movement was really painful.  At one point I just wanted to find a hillock and crawl into a ball to sleep it off.  I resisted temptation and kept walking on, hoping that things would sort themselves out.  Thoughts of DNF'ing if I couldn't get back drinking played on my mind as I still had 30 miles to go.  I also considered just getting to car and sleeping for several hours.

Things turned around a little as I got into view of Glen Coe Ski center - an almighty gurgle from my stomach and suddenly my very fuzzy head cleared and the pain in my stomach reduced down several notches.  I got back to a very gentle jog down to the check point.  My stomach was still painful on every foot plant but at least I was able to move.

Glencoe ski center:  70 miles, 15:01hrs, 4:01pm

Once I arrived it was good to be with my support crew and my wife and three girls had arrived to give support.  I took a few minutes to try and work out what I should do next, what I could eat and drink.  My crew and family were great and were really positive.  There was no talk of anything but finishing, my DNF demon’s weren't shown any respect or time, it was now about getting things done.

Up to the Rannoch Moor crossed I had been 100% focused on going sub 20hrs, given my training and good Fling race a PB has looked easy.  I now 24 minutes down on my 2014 split, with the prospect of walking the rest of the way.  In preparation I hadn't really given much thought to the possibility of the not racing all the way to the finish.  Mentally I had to find resolve that I hadn't prepared for, just finishing even if walking being a achievement worth suffering for.

I then marched on, now with my support runner, Andy, jogging where I could, albeit it at pitiful pace as my stomach was so painful at any other pace.

Still the views were pretty epic, sure helps when otherwise suffering

At Devil's Staircase Craig took over to run with me with Andy driving around to Kinlochleven.

Trying to find something I might be able to eat...

We made it across to Kinlochleven slowly, but still moving forward.  I regularly kept trying to sip water and nibbling bits of food but anything I consumed soon made my stomach worse.

Kinlochleven: 81miles, 17:57hrs elapsed, 6:57pm

At Kinlochleven I felt a bit jaded but my legs still felt strong and my head was in the game.  However, I was really concerned about not being able to eat or drink anything substantial.  I felt I was living on borrowed time as I had hardly eaten or drank since Tyndrum, so over 6hrs and 28 miles over on perhaps a hundred calories and just sips of water.  I fully expected my body had to crash and burn.

At the Kinlochleven weight in my weight had gone down further but still within limits and I was still lucid so there was no problem with me continuing.  I tried to eat and drink bits but nothing really went down easily.  Out of desperation I also tried a swig of coke but this burnt my stomach like it was molten larva so really wasn't a good move.

Looking at my watch I realised that if I was to finish in the same day I'd need to get moving, stopping to eat/drink hadn't helped so there was no point delaying so I then headed on.  This thought process I didn't pass on to my family and crew I just got on with a march in my own little private world.  Taking to them later they were all taken by surprise by my departure, I just left walking briskly away packing my drinks for the next leg.

Despite hardly drinking or eating my legs somehow were still strong and got up the ascent out of Kinlochleven OK.  Once the trail flattened I started to jog a little and then off all of sudden I started throwing up everything I had tried to consume.  It burnt on the way as much as on the way down.  Dry heaving I tried not to strain by back and stomach muscles, funny how the utlra-marathon brain can function in an almost detached way to the rest of your body, think how on minimizes the damage from the current problem to compromise the rest of the journey.

This grim point was turned around when a support runner for a fellow runner arrived and gave me a small bottle of soda to sip.  I was able to drink this bottle a sip at a time without it causing my stomach to go in knots so it was progress.  It was still too painful to walk fast or jog any faster than 12 min/miles so progress was slow.

Craig was doing a great job of nursing me along.  My pace was abysmal though. I was passed by several sets of runners and crew.  Sandra passed with her support runner with total commitment, none of the polite gate opening back at the Lochside, she was blowing the barn doors off her PB, complete focus and determination.  Inspiring to see other having great races, but well made my miserable pace seem pretty pathetic a faint shadow of the athlete I had expect to be.

Before arriving at Lundavra the rain came on/off and with it my jacket had to go on/off as I tried to avoid overheating and getting cold in quick succession.  The last half hour before Lundavra I finally started to feel a bit vague and fuzzy headed.  My legs were still strong but clearly by blood sugar level was getting low.  I just sipped my soda and clung on to as a lifesaver even after it was empty, I got a few tangtastics down but still anything I ate caused lots of discomfort. 

Lundavra : 88 miles, 20:28hrs, 9:28pm.

My second crew member Andy had run back up the course after leaving the car in Fort William, this way both Craig and Andy could join me for the final 7 miles.  Andy was really concerned how much I had deteriorated since Kinlochleven, my colour had left me, I was withdrawn and talking in less coherently.

Andy forced me to consume one of his gels.  I didn't want to eat it but he wouldn't let me go one till I had.  I totally expected to bring it back up, but I did what I was told and drained it all - there would be no cheating under Andy's watch!

I wasn't really in a place for chat so Andy and Craig walked ahead up the hill, occasionally checking back to make sure I wasn't being left behind or struggling.  With an hour and half left to cover 7 miles It looked like I might still be able to squeeze in before 11pm if we push on.  This was a goal that I clung to, but one tempered with the expectation that I pushed on too hard that my energy levels would crash and leave me walking like a dead man.

The gel had mad my stomach more uncomfortable but I kept it down and bit my bit I think the 100 calories of sugar that it provided perked me up a little.  I didn’t particularly notice it by Andy saw a change for the better.  We got through the woodland walking the ascents and gently jogging the descents.  My stomach was still painful on each step but my legs were solid and happy with the pace.

We finally got to the wide forest track that leads you down into Glen Nevis and on to Fort William.  We worked out that I had a bit over 3 and half miles to go and only 34 minutes left to do them in, it was doable just if I could run the whole of the rest of the way.  This just seemed tantalizingly out of reach, chances of pulling it off remote.  Andy and Craig were really positive, I wanted to try even if if it going deep into the hurt locker.

Each step was painful, even going downhill at 10 min/mile pace hurt on my stomach, but my legs just kept spinning over.  We hit the flat through the woodland and hadn't earned any safety margin from the descent so still had to push on.  My legs kept responding and I was winning the battle with my stomach, sure it was painful but there was less and less distance to put up with it.  Light was failing now as we went through the final tree cover before Braveheart carpark.  I was torn between stopping for head torch and tripping, I was also really aware of burning out of my less energy reserves.

We hit the road, we weren't sure exactly how far to go, we thought around mile? We had less than ten minutes left to get there, there was no letting up now.  I sent Criag ahead to locate Julia and the girls to tell them of my impending arrival and here tore away at 6 min/mile pace.  Turns out he went straight past them!  It was now dark as he headed up the hill past the 30mph sign, I had to run every step up that cruel incline, as it levelled off I picked up the pace, now down 7mile pace, all pain and exhaustion had gone, I was no-longer conscious of what my body was doing or the pain, I was just running. 

At the round about Julia and the girls were all waiting to run in with me. It was such a glorious sight to have them around me and I finally felt awesome.  Getting in before 11pm was still on the cards, and my pace just got faster and faster, not all my family could pace as I hit 6 min/miles, with only my youngest running at my side.   I was charging down the street in full flow.  It must have been quite a sight a family at full pace, jackets flaying in the wind with a possessed runner at the front.

My strava records suggest I fit 5:30min/mile in the last quarter of mile as I tore towards the entrance to the Leisure Centre.  I tapped my card on the timing unit and was done.

Fort William : 95 miles, 21:58:26, 10:58 and dark!

It was a crazy last mile and all to just squeeze under 22hrs.  It was worth it though, what a turn around to finish so strong, charging along a dark Fort William street with my family is such an amazing memory to have.

Once inside the Leisure Centre I was well taken care for.  There was quite a buzz as Sandra had just arrived before me and had ran the race of her life with a huge PB, it was such a happy atmosphere despite the carnage of runners sat in chairs on massage tables.

I tried to eat and drink but soon regretted it and headed to loo to empty the contents of my stomach.  Craig was a star and waited outside the loo as I prayed homage to the porcelain god, he was there concerned that I might end up in more trouble such as fainting etc.  That's what a great crew do - they look after and out for you, even we the going gets unpleasant.

I showered and changed then headed back with my family to our accommodation.  Craig and Andy set off back home.  Passing through Rannoch Moor past midnight they recall seeing all the head torches out there toiling through the darkness.

Prize giving

What I can say other than it's Awesome!  Paul Giblin ran a stunning race to lower the Course Record yet again, but there were so many other amazing performances with people setting PB's or struggling through to finish despite some pretty unpleasant over night rain.  I never been to another race prize giving like the West Highland Way Race one, it's a real celebration of every single runners achievement from first to last.

Lessons Learnt

The Rolling Stones lyric "You don't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need" seems to resonate with my 2015 WHWR experience.  I was confident of a 19hr finishing time, I really wanted it, but it wasn't to be.  A sub 22hr time is well off what am capable of on a good day, but in the circumstances it was all about learning about what reserves of mental and physical strength I have within me.

I trained to burn fat efficiently in training, but never planned to have to run the final 42 miles on just a couple hundred of consumed calories and the rest off my fat reserves.  It was fast and it wasn't pretty but my legs never faltered - they were strong and full life right through to the end, the only thing that really slowed me down was the stomach pain.

Looking back what caused my stomach so many problems?  I believe the Cocodomol pain killer that I consumed along with paracetamol and aspirin that were the main culprits rather than the ice cream.  The pain killers I took for back pain, so had I not strained my back I wouldn't have needed them, so likely wouldn't have had the same issues with my stomach.  It all stems back to that stupidly lifting a heavy box the wrong way when packing the car, had I not done that there the house of cards likely wouldn't have fallen at the half way point.

This year I'm lining up for the West Highland Way Race again.  Training hasn't gone quite as smoothly as in 2015 but somehow I've ended up in similar positive place fitness wise.  I should in the shape to go chase 19hrs once again.  This time I'll be doing everything I can to avoid having to take pain killers, so making sure I don't do anything stupid in the final days or hours before the race.

Physiologically, this year, finishing is the foundation stone upon what my race is built rather than an after thought.  Tapering well, running a sensible race, looking after my body and letting the time happen.  I am planning to race to the best of my capability, but the bedrock will always be getting my 3rd West Highland Way Finishers Goblet.

Thanks

My thanks go to my crew Tom, Toby in the first half and Craig and Andy in the second half, and to family, especially for that last crazy run together into the finish, what a memory to cherish!

Thanks also to the WHWR committee and all the army of voluteerrs that make it all possible.  Without these people how give their weekends for us to do what we love none of these great races would happen. THANKYOU!!!