A look back at 2022

Well, 2022 didn’t quite finish as I’d hoped!  In fact, it finished exactly the same way it started – with a grumbly Achilles tendon.  Luckily, much of the time in between was relatively injury-free and I managed to get some semi-decent mileage in, and even a few races too! 

February was spent building back up after the Achilles injury, ready for my annual warm-weather training camp in Portugal in March.  It was great to be back in Monte Gordo again, with my coach, Les, after an enforced break in 2021 due to the pandemic.  The weather was mixed, but I managed to get in some good training on the beautiful trails and felt raring to go when I got back home.

On the trails in Portugal

Setting off on the Coventry Way

At the beginning of April I ran the Coventry Way Challenge Event – a 40-mile circular route in the countryside and villages surrounding Coventry.  I’d run the route solo previously, but this was my first time in the annual organised event.  It’s not technically a race as you can choose what time you start but, whilst there are no official finishing positions, everyone is given a finish time.  Considering I’d done next to no long runs in the build-up (21 miles being my longest) I was very happy just to get round in one piece.  I deliberately took it very steadily and was pleased with how strong I felt in the last few miles, and how well my fuelling went.  Fuelling is always tricky to get right, especially in race situations when you’re operating at paces and/or distances beyond those in training.  The main thing about the Coventry Way event was that I really enjoyed it, and was smiling the whole way round!

My next race came only a couple of weeks after the Coventry Way Challenge, and was completely at the other end of the spectrum in terms of distance - the Massey Tractor 10K at Stoneleigh Park.  It wasn’t great timing, but I’d actually entered this race back in 2020, only for it to be cancelled twice due to Covid!  It was great for the organisers and athletes alike that they were finally able to hold it.  I think trying to run 10K as fast as I could was harder than running 40 miles two weeks previously!  I finished in 44:07, which gave me 11^th female and 2^nd W45-55.  I’m still trying to come to terms with the fact that I no longer have anything like the speed I used to have, this being over 10 minutes slower than my PB.  But trying to put a positive light on it – it was my first 10K since turning 50 last year, so at least I now have a benchmark to try and improve my age-PBs and age graded performances!

Massey Tractor 10K

After the 10K I started building back into longer runs again, and during May ran three FKTs (Fastest Known Times).  On a camping weekend in Lincolnshire I ran an FKT for the Wanderlust Way (3:46:53 for 21 miles).  This was fun as I didn’t know the area at all, so had no idea of the route or terrain.  Although the route is way-marked I was also having to use my map-reading skills quite a lot.  In contrast, a week later I ran a women’s FKT for the Arden Way in Warwickshire (4:28:47 for 27+ miles) on a route close to home which I had recced several times.  I ran the first half with one of my training partners which was great, but the second half felt much tougher as the temperature rose and the route became hillier.  I picked up again in the last two or three miles, although the sheer number of stiles to climb slowed me down!  Finally, at the end of May, I ran a women’s FKT for the Tissington Trail (out and back) in Derbyshire – Ashbourne to Parsley Hay and back (3:43:42 for 27+ miles).  This is a good path, used by cyclists as well as walkers, and despite a sore hip I felt really good.  I was slightly frustrated to only just miss the men’s FKT too!

The Arden Way, Warwickshire

With my MK24 medal and pin badges

After this I had to rest my sore hip for a while, which was very frustrating.  I managed to start running again mid-June, just in time for the MK24 Midsummer Run on 25^th June.  This was a 24-hour race on a 6.55 mile lap around Willen Lake in Milton Keynes.  My goal wasn’t to run the whole 24-hours as I was using it as a training run for a race I was aiming for in September.  I managed 7 laps on the Saturday afternoon / evening and was aiming to run another lap or two on the Sunday morning.  However, after resting overnight in my tent, my knee decided it wasn’t going to play anymore, so I ended up just walking (well, hobbling) one final lap on the Sunday just to get my pin badge for completing eight laps!

Shortly after this I went on holiday to the Isles of Scilly, which gave my knee chance to settle down.  I managed to run every day, but mostly just short runs before breakfast, to give us the rest of the day to explore the islands.  It was lovely to run in such fabulous scenery and the coastal paths were a welcome change from the Warwickshire countryside!  Not long after returning from holiday I had the pleasure of watching Les carry the baton in a leg of the Queen’s Commonwealth Games Baton Relay in Stratford-upon-Avon.  I’d nominated him in recognition of the 50+ years he has given to the sport of athletics in various capacities, including field official, committee member, team manager and, of course, coach.  We were both thrilled when we heard he’d been selected and I was incredibly proud to see him carry the baton.  2022 was a good year for Les as he also won the England Athletics ‘Services to Athletics Award’.  Les has coached me for the whole of my career (36 years) and I am indebted to him for all his support and positivity that has helped me, and the rest of our training group, achieve our goals.  Les has been instrumental in helping me achieve all that I have, and his awards and recognition are thoroughly deserved.

Les carrying the Commonwealth Games baton

After returning from my holiday, it was time to really knuckle down to some hard work, in the build-up to my main goal race of the year – the Self Transcendence 24 hour Track Race in London.  As part of my training I ran the Railway Ultra at the end of July.  The race was approx. 37 miles, four times out-and-back along a disused railway line near Coalport.  I set off conservatively, but gradually worked my way through the field, eventually winning the race outright in 5hrs 40 mins.

The Railway Ultra

One of my may training on the Leamington track

After this, I ramped up my mileage and spent many hours running round and round my local athletics track in Leamington, much to the bemusement of the other athletes training there.  They couldn’t fathom why I would want to run round a track for hours on end, and they were also intrigued by my fuelling practice – rice pudding, flap jack, and much more besides!  One of my long training runs coincided with a children’s athletics summer camp, organised by my club, Leamington C&AC.  I was invited along to chat to the children before my run, to show them some of my medals and answer their many and varied questions!  I love talking to school kids as they’re so enthusiastic and always have loads of questions.  And if it inspires them even in a small way then it is definitely worthwhile.  Doing these long runs during a very hot summer wasn’t easy, but I knew they had to be done so I devised coping strategies.  On one of the runs I ended up running 100m turnabouts for 4 hours in order to stay in the shade!  Les also rigged up a bowl of water with sponges and cooling towels which was a godsend!

Self Transcendence 24-hout track race

And so, after a two week taper, it was finally time to travel to London for the Self Transendence 24-hour race at Battersea Park athletics track.  This was actually my second attempt at this event, having run the race in 2021, and my main goal this time was to spend less time with the race physios!  If all went well, I was hoping to go a bit further than the 164.96km I managed the previous year.  However, nothing is guaranteed in ultra-distance racing, and so it was with some apprehension that I lined up alongside 42 others for this year’s race.  For those of you unfamiliar with 24-hour track races, the concept is simple – run as far as you can round and round a 400m athletics track in 24 hours!  The winner is the person with the furthest distance when the 24 hours is up.  In practice, however, it’s not really that simple at all, with fuelling, hydration, fatigue (mental and physical) and injuries all playing a part.  In order to keep moving for that length of time, you need to ensure you’re taking in enough carbohydrates to keep fuelled and enough fluid to keep hydrated.  You also need to think about replacing electrolytes and salt, which you lose through sweating.  And you need to make sure you regulate your body temperature by adding / removing layers as the temperature varies between day, night and back to day again.  Finally, a huge amount of mental strength is needed to make yourself keep moving when your body is screaming at you to stop!

The race started at 12 noon on the Saturday and finished at 12 noon on the Sunday.  During that time there were many ups and downs.  Times when I felt really good, like I could run forever, and times when I hated running and never wanted to run another step!  There were times when I fuelled really well, and times when I felt nauseous at the mere thought of food.  I was taking on fuel every 30 minutes, alternating between Mountain Fuel energy drink and solid food such as mashed potato, rice pudding, flapjack, jelly babies and Battenberg cake!  Ultra running is really just a big picnic with some running thrown in!  I tried to keep moving as much as possible, stopping only for toilet breaks and to add / remove clothing.  And no, I didn’t need any physio breaks this year!  The hardest part was through the middle of the night, when it was dark and all I wanted was to be snuggled under a duvet!  But then you start to see the sky becoming a touch lighter, and with the morning comes a renewed sense of energy (well, up to a point, considering we’d been on our feet for over 16 hours!).

24-hour women's winner!

Things certainly went better for me this year, and I reached the 100km mark in 11hrs 07 mins 59secs and the 100 mile mark in 19hrs 23mins 42 secs.  At 20 hours we had our final change of direction (we changed direction every 4 hours) and it felt like the end was almost in sight, despite 4 hours still to go!  By this time, however, my lower back had really tightened up and I realised I was stuck in a bent-forward position and unable to straighten up!  I felt very unbalanced, as though I was going to fall flat on my face!  Luckily, I managed to stay upright, and eventually the hooter sounded, signalling that the 24 hours were up.  I managed to run a distance of 197.72km (122.8 miles), finishing 6^th overall and 1^st female, nearly 50km in front of the next lady.  I was over the moon to find that my distance put me top of the UK all-time rankings for my age group (W50-54) for a track 24-hour race, and second for a 24-hour race on any surface.  It also ranks me 7^th in the 2022 UK rankings (all ages).  It did feel slightly strange to be racing 24 hours in London on the same weekend as our late Queen’s funeral.  I kept thinking about all the thousands of people, just a stone’s throw across the Thames, in The Queue, and the thought of them being on their feet all night too helped me to keep going.

I had a well-earned break after the 24-hour race, before starting back into some shorter runs again.  In October I ran a couple of parkruns at Warwick Racecourse.  I’d only just started running parkruns in 2019/20 and had only done four before the pandemic kicked in, so it was good to be back there again, even though I find them way too short!  I’ve started using them as part of a 10 mile training run – run there, do the parkrun, run home again!  I even managed to get a ‘parkrun PB’ of 21:48!  Nothing to write home about compared to my track PB of 16:32, but as I said earlier, I must stop comparing myself to 20 years ago!

Warwick Racecourse parkrun

My final race of 2022 was the Draycote Water 10K in November.  I had vain hopes of beating my age-PB from April, but it was never really going to happen given the windy weather and my lack of speed work.  So I had to be content with 1^st W50 on this occasion.

So I ended 2022 with another 2,468 miles under my belt, making my lifetime total 72,952 miles!  I certainly couldn’t have done all these miles without my brilliant physio, Mark Buckingham, and it's well worth the pain he inflicts on me to keep my body in one piece!  And a huge thank you also to Mizuno, for supplying me with great kit and amazing shoes that are so comfy that I didn’t need to change them at all during my 24-hour race.  My long-time favourites, the Wave Rider and Wave Skyrise (which I wore for the 24-hours), are so comfy they feel like slippers! 

2022 also saw me return to the gym for the first time since all the Covid lockdowns.  For the last couple of years I’d tried to keep my strength training going in the back garden, but limited equipment and inclement weather meant I couldn’t always do as much as I would have liked.  I’m extremely grateful to The Warwickshire for renewing my complimentary membership so that I can use their fantastic gym facilities, which will be invaluable to my training.  Finally, I’d like to say thank you to Mountain Fuel for making some great-tasting food and drinks.  I’ve finally discovered a drink that I can use throughout an ultra without getting fed up of it!  As well as all three flavours of energy drink I used their Morning Fuel and flapjack bars during training and racing too, and would definitely recommend!

So that’s it for 2022, time to see what 2023 brings now ... ... watch this space!  

Happy New Year everyone!