The last stage was simple in comparison to what we’d all completed the day before, none the less it was nice to finish at the pyramids and even better to finish alongside my tent mates for at least one of the days.
I must say a huge thank you to my tent mates. I know I didn’t come across as the most sociable person during the race; this was mainly down to the fact that I couldn’t eat anything, so talking was a hardship. I am forever grateful for the great friends that I made with my tent. We got on so well that we all agreed we should do another event together. We each put an event into a bowl and the last to be picked out would be the one we’d attempt next. It turns out it was probably the hardest one that was picked: 430 miles self supported, in 13 days, in the Arctic Circle
– The Yukon Ultra! Roll on Feb 2013!
So, this being my first ultra I have some advice and reviews of some of the equipment that I used. The following is only my personal view and is only from my experience in the Sahara
, others may have different ideas. I hope that this might help future competitors in the same way that past blogs and other competitors helped me.
Training:
It true that you can never do enough training. However it’s key to remember not to get disheartened when you get injured. And it’s pretty much a guarantee that at some point when training for an ultra, you’re going to get injured. I think every competitor went into the race with, if not an injury, then a niggle. For me it was Plantar Fasciitis initially. I used a Muller arch support when the pain was too bad, both during training and after. I was then hit by ITB, this effects a lot of long distance runners and the only cure is rest, however you can help prevent it with good stretching of the glutes and of the knee joint itself. The key to training is to start early and build up the mileage slowly, easier said than done. When you get an injury think about cross discipline training, deep water running, cycling, swimming. One thing that I can’t say enough about is yoga. Each session is basically an hour of stretching; it’s great for preventing injury and will be something I’ll certainly keep at now I’ve finished this race. To help with the heat training bikram, or hot yoga is the best.
Equipment: Trainers – I used the PT 03 desert trainers. These were a last minute decision as I was going to use my Asics, but I found they let too much sand in. The PT03 were great. I have heard that they got bad reviews in the Atacama, but for the Sahara, with the soft fine sand, they were great. They didn’t stop me getting blisters, but then I’m one of those people who will get blisters no matter what. The gaiters they came with were great in that they worked well to start with. I super glued them to the shoe as well as using the Velcro tabs that they come with. However as they are a gortex gaiter they didn’t allow my legs to breath and I ended up with a bad heat rash on my legs. On day 4 the zip on the left gaiter broke and so it was rendered pretty much useless after that. I also had a pair of Raidlight ankle gaiters, however these are rubbish. I used them in training and they barely did anything. Those who used them on the course were cursing them, they didn’t stop the sand, and the band round the bottom of many of them fell apart.
Rucksack – I used the Inov8 30 L pack, which has the integrated 2 L water bladder round the waist. This was a great rucksack and a good design. When working properly it was very comfortable and the fact that the water was round the waist meant that it helped stabilise the bag. The negative was that the chest strap is poorly designed, it easily pulls off the band that it is clipped to which is very difficult to put back on without plyers and even then it weakens it. The water bladder was great initially, but leaked on day two, and then pretty much fell apart by day 6. I will be writing to the makers, but if you get it make sure you have a spare bladder or some from for repair tape/glue.
Hat – I used the sea to summit legionaries hat, worked great, does exactly as it is supposed to.
Sleeping bag – I used a Snugpac Softie Elite 3, a sleeping bag I’d already got to save me buying a new one. This was as light as others and very much adequate. The temperature at night didn’t go down low and I feel I could have slept in just a sleeping bag liner and still be warm enough (apart from the nights I didn’t sleep in the tent)
Food and Nutrition:
Expedition Foods – Well my view of all the foods I had are going to be marred. I could barely keep anything down me. However I should have spent more time tasting these before I left. They were expensive and so I didn’t try them before going out and just bought a selection thinking that would be good enough. Never buy the fish pie, it was pretty much universally decided that no one in their right mind would have eaten the fish pie! The Spag bol however was lovely, by far the nicest of the lot. The hot cereal start goes in the same category as the fish pie, terrible. In fact the breakfasts in general were pretty horrid and most people came with evening meals as their breakfasts. The shepherds pie and beef casserole were nice enough for what they are.
Energy Bars – I had cliff bars and mule bars. Both nice enough in training, but horrid on the event. So much of food is linked with morale; in future I would have a lot more ‘normal’ things. Crushed crisps was a good favourite with other competitors, along with pork scratching, peanuts and jerky. All of these would have been a great thing to have at checkpoints, great for energy, high in salt, and a good morale boost to look forward to.
Salt and Electrolytes – I used endurolite capsules, these do the job fine, but it would have been better to use the salt sticks as you have to take less of these (one an hour instead of two an hour) And every little counts when it comes to weight. I also used Nuun, these are great especially to put in the little bits of left over hot water I had at the end of the day, makes it easier to swallow the warm left over water and helps give you the electrolytes you’ve lost during the day.
Gels and Energy Tabs – I used Lucozade energy gels, these were a good boost, and are easy on the stomach, so even when I couldn’t eat anything I was able to have one gel a day which helped get me through it. I also had the Lucozade energy tablets, because they pretty much dissolve right away in your mouth they also helped me when I couldn’t eat, and being easy on the stomach means you don’t have to spend time digesting them.
Extras – If I was doing this again I’d have a big supply of anti nausea tablets, the medical tent had some, but I’d have preferred to be able to support myself with them, they also gave me Tums which would have been good to have more of. Blogs and other competitors: A great way to get information on the event is to speak to other competitors. If you’re reading this as someone who’s looking to do an event then please do not hesitate to contact me through my website http://extremechallenge.weebly.com/ or via here. The friends you make out there are the family you have out there, they get you through it and so making contact before you all meet is invaluable. There are always competitors at the events who have done a desert before and can lend advice, get in touch with them early and start asking questions, get to know them and it will make meeting them like meeting old friends right from the start. The learning curve on these events is VERY steep indeed.
The experience of the Sahara Race 2010 is one that will live with me for the rest of my life. It was hard, I think my blog during the race shows that, but it was so worth while too. It’s not going to be easy, have no illusions about that. But if you want a challenge and want to push yourself and see what you are capable of, then I would certainly advise signing up to this amazing experience. I know, once the rose tinted glasses come on, I’ll be signing up to do more – for now I’ve the Yukon
ultra to look forward to – Tent 14 all the way!
Thank you to those who have sponsored me, to those who have been there for me, who have spurred me on. For those who helped me when I was down, for those who pushed me on, for those to pushed me to go out training when it was raining yet again. Thank you so much. Sahara
Race 2010 – Done.