Pushing Boundaries:
Tales from the Malvern Hills Ultra
Its 18:50hrs on Saturday 4th May, the sun has been blazing all day, I come off the Malvern Hills trail approaching Sally’s Café at British Camp, and the finish line, and I see my wife and daughter waiting. Alyssah runs to me and says, ‘COME ON DADDY’, and we trot to the finish line, 46 miles done, emotional, exhausted, a finishers medal gets placed over Alyssah’s neck, I sit down and cry which her snuggling me, my wife stood proud.
Finally able to stand at the finish
THE TRAINING
Wind back to September 2023, I was made aware of this Ultra, on a weekend I had off from work. I wanted an event that would test me, make me work hard, and more importantly, raise money for the Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Back in September 2021 our daughter ended up on life support, during covid, and had it not been down to the amazing care of PICU at the Children’s Hospital, she wouldn’t be here today. It was time to give something back - I had the time to train and prepare and coach myself, so the scene was set, and on 4th May 2024 I would set out on a 46 mile out and back route including approx. 8500ft climb, over the Malvern Hills and Worcestershire Way.
I had learnt a lot becoming a UESCA Ultra coach and had loads of experience coaching many athletes to finish various Ultra distances from 50k to 100 mile, so it was time to trust my own process as they had successfully, and dive into coaching myself.
I decided to use block periodisation, which when you have a good few months, is one of the most effective ways to prepare, so started with some base training from the beginning of October. This incorporated many runs at a chatty pace and me re-learning my body and surprisingly getting some longer runs in that I thought I was initially capable of.
My strength and conditioning would also be periodised, focusing initially on strength and injury mitigation. Knowing how my body had been recently, I also decided to follow a weekly yoga session, and this proved to be vital. I certainly noticed my body aching more, and being less mobile on the weeks I couldn’t do my yoga session, and that impacted my other training as well.
Moving towards the end of October I also began to utilise the WATT bike. With foul weather coming towards the end of autumn, it was a great way to gain more aerobic conditioning, strengthening the legs without the same impact that running has on the body and helping reduce the risk of picking up a silly injury so early in the game.
I was starting to feel fit in November and even running with my dog, Panzer, felt we were pleasantly gliding around the local roads.
My long 10ish mile runs were feeling great. The Lickey, Waseley and Clent Hills provide a similar incline to the hills around Malvern, not as long but enough to condition and provide a suitable workout specific for what we would be doing on race day.
As December began, I moved to more unilateral strength training, and eased on the longer runs as we wanted to enjoy Christmas. By now I had set up a donation page and contacted the Children’s Hospital Charity, mentioning that we would also be at the National Running Show in January, who donate a lot of money to the Children’s Hospital, so I could take Alyssah along and hopefully meet up with representatives of the Charity.
Once into the new year I was back on it, utilising my Midlands Tops Round as a training route and including VO2 max training during this block. One of my friends at work, Owen decided he was also going to challenge himself and join me on this adventure. We planned a recce, started to plan the kit we needed, and decided to enter the Long Mynd Valleys Fell Race on 11th February as a solid practice run to see where we were, build character, and practice fuelling. I left my soul on the Mynd, but it was a cracking training day.
During this month I took Alyssah to the National Running Show. We went to the Birmingham Children’s Hospital charity stand and she absolutely loved it, they loved her, and it was a perfect way to show what amazing work the hospital did to keep her alive to be the diva she is today.
Alyssah at the National Running Show and Birmingham Children’s hospital
Back-to-back sessions also began around this time. For those unfamiliar, the idea is to allow the body to be trained when tired, and learn to cope when it hurts, building tolerance, and to build your endurance without breaking down the body by doing say 20+ miles in one run. I had also reached 30 miles as weekly training which was a first for me in years, and not feeling tired. This was a win, and showed me training was going well.
By March we introduced the stair master every week, again allowing uphill ‘hiking’ conditioning, leg strengthening, and opportunity to get low impact tempo/VO2max sessions in too. It is a horrid machine but so useful for ultra-runners, and not utilised enough. March 6th Owen and I headed to Malvern to recce the start to CP1 and back which would provide a testing distance of 19 miles and half the total incline of the event. We were very pleased, and I was also happy with how soon I had recovered. My best friend Ted also decided to join us on the adventure and train - it would be his first ultra, but as an experienced triathlete, I knew he would be more than capable, so far so good….
I went on holiday with Becca and Alyssah at the start of April, a perfect time to relax with the family, get some chilled runs in, and enjoy some sunshine. Becca and I have a tradition where we take our oldest trainers and ditch them at the end of the holiday, ready for a new pair once back home. This was my mistake. The pair I took were cross training shoes, over a year old, and had minimal cushioning. We went out for a run early morning, watching the sun rise, and I just noticed I didn’t have my normal bounce, my right leg was tight, and I didn’t like the impact I was taking. Second mistake, the next day we went out for another run, and this made things worse. I could have kicked myself, if only I had bought my proper road shoes, this would have been avoided!!
The result, once home, was an aggravated joint capsule in the right knee, swollen and requiring my physio.
I didn’t hesitate and contacted Alex of Achieve Health asap and was booked in and this saved the event for me. Not ideal as training had to be reduced a few weeks earlier than planned, but it did mean I would land with a knee that worked. Alex is one of the most knowledgeable physios I know, an expert in biomechanics, and has a brutal pair of hands.
During this time of training, I had also discussed fuelling with my good friend and sports nutritionist Graeme, and we had worked out a good fuelling strategy of approx. 60-80g carbs per hour, plus fluid as I am a heavy sweater, utilising gels, real food, and sports drinks. My main go to was Mountain Fuel with some additional NAAK pouches, snickers bars and Torq hydration drink.
Pre Race with Ted and Owen
RACE DAY
The alarm went off at 04:30hrs on Saturday 4th May. I woke up, took a Mountain Fuel morning fuel, toasted a muffin with Jam, drank a pint of water, got my kit in my car, and headed the short distance to Ted’s to pick him up and onward to British Camp. We arrived in good time feeling fresh, fuelled, and hydrated, and checked in. Kit-wise, my shoes of choice were my Inov8 Roclite, and I was using the Inov8 2in1 bag for all my gear for the day as it’s the perfect size for this kind of event.
One bonus of this event was the use of ‘Timelords’ who were pacers, one for 11hrs finish, and one for 13hrs. I wanted to finish in under 12hrs, so a quick discussion with Ted and Owen and we decided to stick with the 11hr Timelord for as long as possible.
At 0700hrs, off we set and into the Malverns we went. The morning was gorgeous, the views were endless, and the temperature perfect. The pace was great and as we got to the far side of the hills, I was very happy with how things were going. I had even started my fuelling well. We entered the Worcestershire Way, and I was feeling relaxed. We reached CP1 in 1hr 50min, and took 5 minutes to reset kit, restock water and prepare for the next section. Towards CP2 we entered some very boggy sections which proved testing, featuring woodland which had an overpowering smell of wild garlic, endless amounts of bluebells, steep climbs, open fields and what was becoming a very warm day. I was sticking to the fuelling plan; however I was starting to feel sick, and something wasn’t quite right. We reached CP2, and I stepped to the side and threw up it was just clear liquid so my assumption was that I had just taken on too much water. I reset my flasks, and we carried on towards CP3 and the turnaround, 23 miles in. I started to notice my pace had dropped slightly and instead of sticking with the main pack, I had slowed down. Owen had also dropped right off but this was down to sorting his footwear out and then taking a slight navigational error when attempting to catch back up.
Ted was doing great, still with the main pack.
It was just past mid-day at this point, the heat was beating us down; I had remembered to wear a sun hat but I was unable to fuel. I stayed hydrated but was a good minute or so off the pace I had planned. We reached CP3, I threw up again, took on some more food, restocked water and carried on.
Approaching Abberley, having a mental word with myself
The climb out of Abberley was horrendous, very steep, and this was where I lost the pack, the rear runner only just in view. I stayed determined and battled, ever hopeful I could catch them up. I started questioning my life choices, ‘why the fuck am I doing this to myself?!’ and ‘I am so unfit, and you still have 20 miles to go, just finish at the next Check Point.’
That was when I had to really remember my “why” and had a stern word with myself – ‘No, get a grip, remember you have experienced worse than this, your daughter almost died, plus you’re an ex-paratrooper, YOU DO NOT FUCKING GIVE IN. Get a grip!’
Crisis over, I started to rationalise what was going on:ok, you have fluid, use it, you have gels, use them when you can. And then came a lifeline. Owen’s wife drove past and stopped, asking ”are you ok, do you need some water?”, I asked if she had any fruit, and then appeared a banana!! I thanked her and sat for 5 minutes to let it go down. It felt good my stomach behaved, and now I could crack onto CP4. They had cordial, which turned out to be a good call to try, as by that stage I wasn’t enjoying plain water, and the change in flavour helped me keep taking the fluids in. It worked, I was digging myself out of my cave and moving forward.
Having lost the pack, it was down to myself to get to the finish. In an ultra it can be a lonely place on your own- you rely on yourself, you are in your own world. I was hiking, and thinking, ‘why can’t I run? Why am I so slow?’ Then I thought, ‘hold on, the pros hike, just hike and hike fast, this is normal’, again using some logic to calm those unhelpful thoughts.
I reached CP5, restocked my cordial, and tried some jellybeans, which were amazing, so I filled my cup with some and had them to hand to consume to the finish.
View of Malvern near the end of the race
I left feeling I could finish; I knew this section of the route and knew that all I had to do was keep moving forward. Then some hope appeared. As I entered Malvern, there are steep steps to climb before hitting the path that switches back and takes you towards North Hill. On the switchback I saw some runners, then noticed it was Ted plus one other. Target set, I could catch them up! I did, and had a brief chat before realising we were only 5 miles from the finish and the sooner I got there, the sooner I could rest. It was getting cooler, and then in the distance I saw two other runners, another target; I kept pushing and gaining. I texted Becca who had arrived in Malvern and told her I’d be finishing soon so she could be nearby.
The final 2 miles was all downhill, so I went for it. I had caught the other pair up and overtook one, we then moved onto the road and final approach, and in the distance, I could see Becca and Alyssah!! WOW they were here. Alyssah ran towards me shouting “DADDY, COME ON DADDY!” We shuffled the last 100m to the finish together, and 11hrs and 55 minutes after starting, I was finished.
Alyssah greeting me near the finish line
I was presented with a finishers medal which I got them to place on Alyssah, and a lovely mug. I sat down, emotional, hugging Alyssah and Becca, then a minute later Ted finished, having also got a boost of energy from smelling the barn. We were exhausted, delighted and very emotional. We gave each other a big man hug as we sorted ourselves out and got changed, fed, and watered, then headed home.
Owen finished sub 13 hours which was a fantastic achievement!
An emotional moment having finished and raising £1950 for Birmingham Children’s hospital
LESSONS LEARNED
Finishing the Malvern Hills Ultra has given me a lot to reflect on. Firstly training: I was very happy and would follow this approach again and again- it works! I was fit, and strong, and learnt that the sooner you see a physio the better, and never never use old trainers!!!
Fuelling will have to have a debrief, I will discuss with Graeme what happened and see where we can improve.
Nothing beats seeing your close ones at the finish line, and it was also the first time Alyssah had seen me finish an event like this. That was a memory to treasure.
And finally, at the time of writing, we have raised £1950, £950 more than I originally aimed, and I am so touched by all the support and donations.
After an event like this your immediate reaction is, never again, a few days later… planning has started for the next……