So time again for my favourite race of the year Brook Hellrunner Series - Hell Up North
This race is run in Delamere Forest about 40 mins away from my home town the terrain is very hilly and muddy with bogs and a freezing cold lake you go through and is billed as "the toughest HM in the UK" it lives up to it's name
Preparation - Nutrition and Training
So after EHM I decided to go into this race a bit more prepared both training and nutrition wise
Training for EHM started the following day 19/09/2016
I dropped straight back into LCHF and MAF
I normally level about 1960-2000 calories but when doing LCHF I just log my food choices and don't count the calories
My weight dropped from 238lbs (19/09/2016) to 224lb (13/10/2016) over the period
At first it was hard doing the training and LCHF as my body adjusted but all of a sudden it just seems to click into place
Training was different story - I decided to try and focus on some hills it's not really easy where I live we have a few hills but nothing like the terrain that I would face on the day
The is a hill called Red Lane about 4 miles from my house so I decided to run there do a few loops (3) then tack on about 9ish miles to get me up to 13.1 as I needed it in my legs I suffered on that run as I didn't hydrate properly and it was a hot day and we have another bridge which is quite steep I did 5 miles run over and back
I hit 72.3 miles over the 4 week period which is 18 miles per week on average as you can see to the left.
Race Day
I was getting picked up at 7.30ish so I had my Fat Burning Coffee we arrived at 8.40 to a light rain shower the race started at 9.45 ( I was in the 1st wave at 9.45am the second wave is 10.15 and 3rd wave is 11.00)
We met up with some members of my running club who were running it dressed as Daffodils and waited round for the race to start
I'd decided last year after the first year of doing this race ( I plodded it with some friends from club) that I was racing it this year around so I'd got myself in the right mindset and off to the start line we went
5...4...3...2...1 and we were off for the first climb up Old Pale Hill for about 450- 500ft of elevation in the first mile - I set off too fast even for me I'd aimed for 12mm average the whole way round and I was sub 9 mm for the near the first mile....I dropped back but what goes up must come down we ran down the side of Old Pale back past the start and into the forest - the route follows a pretty similar path each year with a few tweaks.
This year was different in that you ran more before you got to the first Bog ( mud pit to crawl through) last year was about 4 miles in this year it was about 6.5 miles in after the Bogs you move onto the Hills of Hell very steep climbs and descents repeated 4 times minimum added into the other hills and terrain during the race
After HoH it's onto more running through the forest until you hit Lucifer's Lido at about 10-105 miles in - a very cold lake my strategy during the Bogs and Lake was move through them as fast as possible I cleared the lake very quick and was off again
You then are back into the forest for 2 miles until you hit the Bog Of Doom the final Bog but it's more like a small lake you climb over logs but there are one hidden under the water again my idea was move through as fast as possible which I did, once done it the last half mile to the finish slight forest run and then.........DONE.
Once done I got showered off via the Fire Service (for charity) got changed into warm clothes and had my food
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| Breakfast |
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| Sign |
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| Bit muddy afterwards still smiling |
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| Post Race Nutrition |
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| Free Sugar Bars |
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| Free Carbs |
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| Different types of sugar |
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| Jelly Sugar |
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| Sugar and more sugar |
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| As if one type isn't enough |
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| 13 different sugar flavours |
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| War wounds |
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| Bumps and scratches |
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| 2016 finish time |
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| 2015 finish time |
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| Strava Route |
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| Pizza for tea |
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| Goody bag |
Review
This is the part where I learn and reflect on the race............firstly I love Hellrunner it's one of the best races I've ever done it's very tough but I really enjoy it and it will be included in my race schedule as long as it's continued that said it's a race and upon reflection what I would do differently is below
- Increase the weekly mileage personally 18 mpw wasn't enough as during the race the body is being stressed from the constant changes in elevation and terrain and while I went it prepared I could have done more longer runs
- More hills - the 13.1 mile run I did on 02/10/2016 included Red Lane but after 3 loops I sort of give up and started to run back home - I should've done more loops as when my legs got tired during Hellrunner I still had more climbs and more running to do
- WARM UP.... This was probably my biggest error I did a bit of jumping around and stretching but I could have easily gone for a 20-30 slow run before the race I will definitely not make this error again
- On the plus side the course was much tougher than last year and I did it 17 secs faster not a major PB by any stretch but still faster so with the fact I've been injured most of 2016 and only started back training in August it shows MAF works and I've got some base built from the last two years work
So while I resisted the trappings of energy bars and noodles on the day it got me on Sunday in which I indulged heavily see below
Nice LCHF breakfast which was ruined by Pringles, Biscuits, Ben and Jerry's and Full Sugar Coke.. I own this reaction and am currently back on LCHF
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| Still smiling after 12.5 miles of Hell |
Post Race
So I'm currently in my rest phase - the week after my race and I've discovered ChiRunning so I'm researching that and seeing if I can incorporate it into my program
I've got a 10 mile race on 12/11/2016 in which I hope to get up to 20 miles in prep for Manchester Marathon in April - I might slot another Hellrunner during Jan 17 if possible but if not it's back to Hell Up North in Oct 17
Thanks for reading
