The Railway Ultra 2015

I fancied a change from my usual training routes along the canal towpaths and Warwickshire lanes, so decided to run The Railway Ultra, organised by ‘How Hard Can It Be Events’, as a long training run this week.  The race takes place along part of the disused Severn Valley Railway track, which runs beside the River Severn, between Coalport and Bridgnorth.  I guess a disused railway is an appropriate place for a ‘training’ run!  There’s a choice of distances – 19 miles, 28 miles or 36 miles – so, as part of my build up to the World 100km Championships, I chose the 36 mile option (which actually turned out to be just short of 38 miles by my GPS watch!). 

On the start line



As we started off I settled into my planned pace – I wanted to run at a steady pace and not get caught up in racing people, as I wanted to be able to recover well afterwards in order to get straight back into training in the following days.  This was quite hard, as I race to win, but I was very disciplined and maintained a pretty even pace throughout.  As it happened, I slowly picked people off who had started too fast.

Drinking on the run

The 36 (38!) mile option comprised four out-and-back laps with a drinks station at each end, giving me ample opportunity to try out some of my nutrition options for the 100km.  Les, as usual, did a great job handing me my drinks, as well as offering plenty of encouragement, at the far end of each lap.

 

Being an out-and-back course meant we were continually passing people going the other way and exchanging encouraging words which was great.  You got to recognise faces and everyone supported each other, which gave the race a lovely friendly atmosphere. 

 

 

 

Approaching the finish

 

As you would expect from a disused railway, the surface was quite stony and more uneven than the surfaces I’m used to running on.  I was a bit worried this might hurt my feet more, but I’d worn my most cushioned Mizuno trainers (Wave Creation) and, thanks to them, my feet were absolutely fine.  The route was very scenic, with glimpsed views down to the river below, as it flowed towards the famous Ironbridge Gorge.  Luckily, much of the route was within woodland which provided some welcome shade when the sun came out and some shelter from the breeze.  And the rain that was forecast fortunately didn’t materialise. 

 





I eventually finished 1^st lady and 2^nd overall out of the 30 finishers of the longer distance.  I was pleased with my official time of 4 hrs 51:19, especially as I ran the second half of the race around two minutes quicker than the first.

Chuffed with my 'training' medal!

It appears that my time was approximately 25 minutes faster than any woman had previously run on this course.

Added to the friendly atmosphere and scenic route was a striking finisher’s medal (that I think my Dad would probably rather like, being the Great Western Railway enthusiast that he is!), an engraved pint glass and a very yummy ‘9 Bar’. 

 

 

 

A satisfied finisher!

 

 

So, all in all, it was a very worthwhile trip to Shropshire to take part in a well organised race that I would definitely recommend.  And thanks to my fantastic X-Bionic compression clothing, and copious amounts of Blue Active Gel muscle rub, my legs seem to have recovered well enough to be able to do today’s two hour run as planned.