So with the fatigue fading from my legs and new skin growing on my feet
its time to have a look back at my experiences at The North Face
sponsored CCC. I arrived late in Chamonix with only an hour of
registration left so I stuffed some kit in my race bag and headed off.
The queue facing me stretched out the door and a time of two hours was
being quoted! A sneaky short cut for CCC runners was opened up and the
rest of the process was fairly painless.
However one problem with my late registration was there was only space
left on the early Cormayeur buses and so without any breakfast and still
with 3.5 hours till the start I was to be found wandering around
Chamonix in the half light. Courmayeur was just waking up as we came out
of the tunnel into the light of a stunning morning. I quickly forced
down two continental breakfasts at the ice rink, taped up my feet which
still contained a couple of holes from the Lakeland 100 and wandered off
to enjoy the building atmosphere
The start was spectacular and emotional with the national anthems of
France, Switzeland and Italy been sung loudly by hundreds of runners
before the volume swelled for the iconic Vangelis Conquest of Paradise,
unarguably the best start to a race I've been involved in
After nearly being taken out by a stray kerb in the town centre I
settled into a good climbing rhythm for a 1300m effort towards the Tete
de la Tronche.Within an hour I found myself stuck in a long crocodile of
runners snaking my way along single track where oppurtunities to
overtake were few and far between. This did stop many of us from going
out too fast but I only made an average of 4kmh to the first check
point. The short downhills were the worst where I wasted a lot of energy
hanging back and braking behind slower moving runners. For me this is
the worst part of huge events such as the UTMB but this was a small
niggle on a stunning day to be out running in the mountains
We'd seen the camera helicopter chasing the leaders along the ridge and
once on the descent to the Refuge Bertone we were able to revel in some
amazing ridge top running. the temperature was rising as we turned back
east towards Switzerland and the second big climb of the day. I picked a
good steady pace up the Grand Col Ferret and began to make up some
positions. Once on the other side I let myself go and had a blast on the
awesome long and flowing descent to La Fouly. I was beginning to see a
pattern with my running. I was faster than the majority of runners
around me on the climbs and steeper more technical downhills but felt
like I ground to a halt on flat or gently downhill sections. The perils
of living and training in the Lake District?
Mentally the long leg down the valley was always going to challenge me
so I stocked up on cheese and salami sandwiches and some form of fudge
that was like rocket fuel. I managed to keep a comfortable pace and only
made one wrong turn - too busy tweeting! The short hill up to Champex
(which is always longer than than it should be!) went well and I tucked
into a big bowl of pasta chased down with plenty of flat coke happy that
I'd clawed back to a sub twenty hour schedule for the first time.
I'd opted not to use a dropbag and use only what I could carry or pick
up from the checkpoints so after some more rocket fuel fudge I was soon
on my way into the gathering gloom. My blistered heels from my last
hundred now came back to haunt me despite being well taped and padded.
Concentrating on running with a forefoot strike helped with pain
management but is pretty tricky in a pair of cushioned Raptors!
In the darkness I began to overtake plenty of runners in duvet jackets,
wooly hats and gloves. In contrast I was still sweating in just a
t-shirt but these occurrences happened so regularly I began to question
my own sensations believing I was feverish or hypothermic!
The second half of the CCC really just consists of three big climbs and
descents. I'd last passed this way in 1993 while walking the TMB with a
huge rucksack and my memories were somewhat hazy. The first climb over
Bovine was a struggle with bouts of nausea slowing my pace. However in
typical ultra fashion it all came good for the second climb to Catogne
at 2027m which I felt like I cruised over. In even more typical ultra
fashion the wheels came off very soon after and my energy levels
bottomed out just before Vallorcine. Looking back I'd become fixated on
my watch and neglected my food intake telling myself I'd recover quickly
with some proper food at the marquee below. I almost blew it here and
despite stuffing my face I was running on empty and suffering
desperately from nausea on the easy climb up to Col de Montets. Above me
a line of stars were moving in a long line, zig zagging their way up at
an impossible angle - the infamous climb to the Tete Aux Vents. I'd
managed every other climb without stopping but half way up this wee
monster a bout of nausea and dizziness put me on the ground. I forced a
Powerbar down my neck and amazingly within 15 minutes was buzzing again
climbing well and making up a few of the places I'd lost.
The traverse to La Flegere was unrelenting and the checkpoint came just
in time. Hot sweet tea gave me a boost for the 800m descent to Chamonix.
My heels really made themselves heard on this and my slow hobble was
passed by a few runners but the legs were still strong and as the sun
hit the summit of Mont Blanc I managed a good sprint finish to the
iconic UTMB arch.
My time of 21:50:21 was slower than I'd hoped for but the vast majority
of runners I spoke to said the same thing. The heat of the first day had
sapped folks strength and made the night a struggle in keeping going.
My recovery has been pretty swift with my legs hardly suffering in the
following days. Not usually being a fan of the heat I was very pleased
with my performance on the first day. However nausea has been a feature
of my previous few races and some more work is needed to come up with a
better strategy. Finally my feet were my biggest weakness. A long
standing problem with blisters and callousness on the outside of my
heels severely restricted my descending pace later in the race. This
issue can be traced right back to Ten Tors as a 13 year old! In this
event it was the pressure of the edge of the callous pressing into
already damaged tissue that was causing the pain. New shoes and some TLC
for my feet would seem to be the order of the day.
