Two Dragon’s Back Races, the second ends in victory!

The victory

Let me clarify to avoid misunderstanding or confusion. I DID NOT WIN THE RACE. That amazing achievement belongs to Robyn Cassidy, who is one amazing and incredible runner.

So what was my victory? I could write a book to answer that question and maybe one day I will. That will be another victory. Sometimes turning up is enough. Learning something is always enough. Gratitude and contentment, self-acceptance, self-belief, honesty, even happiness or the ability to express our sadness, all of these can be victories.

Perpetual forward motion, smiling even when it hurts, especially when it hurts creates a life of victories. It is not even that long ago that I gave myself permission to run without guilt, to have that time and activity for myself, simply because I enjoy it. That was a victory too. So to say I am over the moon to have had two Dragon’s Back Race attempts with one completion is an understatement.

Here I will share how my experience of 2021 helped me to do some things differently to increase my chances of completion. I am glad they were enough and that no misfortune befell me along the way.

Learning from 2021 implemented in 2023

Pacing

If I learnt only this and implemented only this, I think that it would have been enough to make the difference. After all, it determines almost every gain or loss that really matters. A list will be good here:

• Start slow enough.
• Slow enough on uphills to still talk.
• Slow enough on downhills to preserve quadriceps and avoid/delay ilio-tibial band issues.
• Slow enough to maintain over 6 days.

I practiced backing off my pace on my long mountain days. It was quite nice to give myself more time to enjoy those training runs by taking time for photos or hiking up the hills when I could run. Other training runs were for moving a bit faster.

Counting family hikes as training massively helped my mindset with pacing. I practiced placing value and appreciation on hiking, rather than a sense of failure and frustration at not running.

My son who turned 13 this August had some great adventures with me over the last two years. He has been up Snowdon 3 times and has summitted Tryfan, the Glyders, the Rhinogs, Cadair Idris and Fan Brycheiniog. We did the section between Llyn Ogwen and Pen-Y-Pass on a cloudy day in March and the Rhinogs on a roasting day in May. He said the Rhinogs were much harder than Tryfan and the Glyders. The reality is that the heat made the Rhinogs harder!

This insight from my son is a great example of experiential learning. We can lose confidence in what we know through over analyzing and too much reasoning and somehow unlearn lessons from our own experience. I definitely needed to practice placing value on my own journey and experience in order to succeed.

Recovery post race

In 2021 I wrote a blog about my post race experiences that summarised the first 6 weeks. I called it ‘The aftermath of an ultra marathon indulgence’. In 2021 it was arguably the hardest part of doing DBR, because I had little idea of what to expect.

There are countless blogs about preparing for a race like this and about the experiences during the race. Information about what you might go through afterwards is comparatively scarce and impossible to recce! Previous experience is the most reliable information yet it remains important to keep an open mind.

It will be 5 weeks post race tomorrow. Having a post race plan and being mentally prepared has made a huge difference for me (so far).

Have a plan

To kick it off, I booked a hotel with a swimming pool for Saturday 10 September in Cardiff. This was also to be a treat for my son, who really is a fish in disguise. We spent 90 minutes in the pool on Sunday morning before heading home to Swansea.

I took a week off work to have my feet up, quite literally. I actively looked forward to this time. It was a precious time to digest the previous week, to nap in the day, to eat in the night, to have long baths and short walks. Apart from the occasional 4 am awakening, sleep has been pretty good. I have no sweats, terrors or nightmares to report.

After not engaging with my WhatsApp or Social media for the duration of the race, this was the time to indulge. The indulgence was very focussed, there were so many stories and people to catch up with! This is a part of DBR that I truly love and intensely looked forward to. The reliving of precious memories never has to stop.

Writing this down and sharing my own experiences as a blog is an important part of digesting and remembering my own journey.

Yoga

I almost forgot to mention yoga! Regular practice has been part of my life since 2016 and is hugely beneficial to all aspects of my life, including running.

Initially I was mostly lying on my yoga mat, releasing tension with every breath. Then I progressed to resting in various supine postures to continue the release of tension in surrender to gravity and the waves of breathing. I found this very helpful to improve sleep.

Weekend projects

I was also actively looking forward to having more time for some other projects, once I had recovered my energy levels. There was the allotment on weekend 1, the 13th birthday party on weekend 2, then a makeover of my son’s room on weekend 3. On weekend 4 I was cutting oranges at a checkpoint on RunWalkCrawl’s Gower Ultra. This was fabulous, especially because there were a good number of DBR runners/event team to cheer along. Weekend 5 (this one), I’m on-call and aim to finish this blog.

There was a nice surprise on weekend 4. In September 2022 I was working through some tough emotional stuff – basically a grieving process delayed by 11 years. My process included writing and resulted in a poem that I shared with a room full of strangers in a Wine and Ale bar in Port Talbot. The Port Talbot Drunk Poet Society gang are not strangers anymore. They asked me to join their line-up at the Swansea Fringe. You can guess what I told them about when I had the mic.

What next?

This time of not running is also perfect for planning future running. In 2021 I felt restless and lost until I had entered the Northern Traverse. For some reason I was resisting. By 2023 I had fully embraced how happy the mountains and the exhaustion and being part of the ultra running community makes me. Rather than lost and empty, I have felt content, overflowing and hugely grateful.

I have been self-coached for most of my running over the decades and finally signed up for a coaching certification with Lydiard Foundation in 2022. It was about time to pursue this lifetime dream and I am massively excited to embark on this new journey.

Ready to run

I’ve been mostly walking till now, with about 4 short runs up to 5 miles. Yesterday I racked up 20km with a slightly longer run of 11ish km and then two walks.

My body has recovered right up to the return of the muffin top! The cravings and continuous hunger suddenly stopped after 4 weeks. I never cease to be amazed at the intelligence of our bodies. It seems to me that my body just wants to be ready with a little fat store for the next ultra-endurance challenge. It would be foolish of me to fight it, both the reality of the muffin top and the inevitable next ultra marathon!

Do or do not. There is no try.

Yoda

I put the post-race bit at the beginning, so it doesn’t get missed at the end of a long post! Now I will do a comparison of my two Dragon’s Back Races.

When, what and why

How

You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems…

from Atomic Habits by James Clear

I heard this quote in a podcast on Dr Shawn Bearden’s website ScienceofUltra. The guest did not only interpret ‘systems’ as personal habits, but as the context of our lives. Our success and fulfilment in any pursuit does not happen in isolation from the rest of our lives. My brother often refers to ‘lots of moving parts’ when individual and collective plans within the family are negotiated.

As I reflected on those words, I started to see opportunities for more integration in my own life. My perspective on what ‘training’ is broadened, making my bag of tricks so much larger! I was learning how to view running as an integral part of my life that only adds value and joy.

I do not make any sacrifices to pursue my running goals and have no guilt. It is rather the opposite! Running brings only good into my life and definitely helps me to be the best version of myself. I am grateful for every opportunity to run and have been immensely lucky to enter and participate in many races. This is not something I will ever take for granted.

Preparation, Race and Recovery

Recces and big mountain days

This must be my favourite part of preparation, simply because it means glorious, soul nourishing fun days in the mountains. Here it is an excuse to share some photos.

March: Snowdonia weekend with Matthew and Sophie (Littlefair)

April: Outeniqua mountains George6Peaks FKT route

We were on holiday in South Africa to visit family for 3 weeks during April. I connected with the Garden Route Trail running community via Instagram and managed to join a all day training run. It was spectacular! 29.1 miles; 10 719ft elevation gain; 13hours30mins.

May: Halfterm hike in the Rhinogs with Matthew and family friends.

June and other long runs: Brecon Beacons in rain, clag, snow and yes, also heat!

July: Day one with a Dragon’s Back gang!

I finally get out with some other Dragon’s Back runners where I got to meet a brilliant bunch of people. Wishing I could stay the whole weekend, I am grateful for Saturday to socialize on the mountains of Snowdonia.

August: Taper with family and friends hiking in Snowdonia

Timing

Experience and knowledge will most definitely increase one’s chances of achieving a desired goal. At the same time, the importance of context must not be underestimated. What else is going on in our lives? We are, after all, more than the sum total of our runs!

The two years leading up to my 2021 Dragon’s Back were extremely stressful. The two years that followed was a journey of stress reduction. Preparation for 2023 Dragon’s Back Race was an integral part of the stress reduction. The resulting reality was that life circumstances were favourable (in reality and by perception) in 2023 for my successful completion of the race.

Injuries and mindset

One common piece of advice for ultra marathon is to be prepared for the unexpected. I had the most wonderful unexpected things happen to me on Dragon’s Back Race 2023. My plantar fasciitis was apparently cured by doing it! I am so glad that I kept an open mind about it.

I am convinced that injuries that fall into the ‘overuse’ category are blessings in disguise. They start as the niggles that will teach us how we can train better or improve our form or whatever else it is we can do. They are merely the manifestation of an imbalance (strength/mobility/movement pattern) that we can improve upon. I came to have this view through ultra marathon running.

Runner’s knee 2021 learning

The runner’s knee (ITB pain) that ended my 2021 Dragon’s Back Race was a huge learning curve. I did not even try K-tape during Dragon’s Back!

My knee was fully healed by September 2022. During that year I learnt to find the answers to the following five questions:

• What is weak and why?
• What is tight and why?
• What can I do to strengthen and loosen?
• Can I tape it?
• How can I move better?

Plantar fasciitis 2023

Three weeks before DBR 2023, on my very last long mountain run, my left foot started to niggle. This turned out to be raging plantar fasciitis that made running impossible a few days later. I have never suffered with this before and had no specific idea of what to do.

I asked, listened, read, and stopped running. There is a lot of conflicting advice out there. Dr Angela Walk’s website was very helpful. I was already doing all the things suggested for rehabilitating the possible root problems:

• Functional shoes
• Develop a strong foot core
• Improve ankle mobility
• Improve calf and peroneal strength
• Barefoot walking with toe spacers

What to do?! I increased my foot strength routine, added massage and continued with daily hiking. I also experimented with K-tape and discovered how that could also make it worse! To my relief I learnt that plantar fasciitis is not a reason to stop running. I knew I did not want to go down the path of orthotics, splints and steroid injections.

I was glad it didn’t first manifest on the race itself. At least I had a bit of time to learn before rather than during. I am sure the extra time on my yoga mat and the extra break on my taper was hugely beneficial. It meant I was properly fresh on the start line.

Plantar fasciitis pain slowed me down on any tarmac or flat tracks on day 1-3. Time on technical terrain brought complete relief and by day 4 I had no plantar fasciitis pain. The pain has also not returned since completing the race. So it appears as though Dragon’s Back Race might just be a cure for plantar fasciitis (no randomized controlled trials available!)

Feet

I’ve had blisters and I’ve lost toenails, but never during an ultramarathon. Those blisters and toenail losses happened during hikes and half marathons before foot shaped shoes were a thing.
It also happened when I imprisoned my size 9 feet in size 8 shoes.

So far I’ve managed to complete DBR day 1-4, Northern Traverse and DBR day 1-6 without a single blisters and all toenails intact.

Maybe I am lucky, but I think well fitting footwear (socks and shoes), soft skin, skilled shoelace tie-ing and judicious early taping definitely helped! I swear by Altras and wear either compression socks or toe socks.

Some (obligatory) feet photos!

Food

On DBR 2021 I really struggled to eat. My first proper meal was breakfast on Day 3 due to a combination of dehydration, exhaustion, electrolyte loss and who knows. Despite the recurrence of extreme heat in 2023, I was able to eat all the way through.

These are the things that I think made a difference:

• Better pacing
• Maintaining better hydration and electrolyte status
• More food options, especially savory options

Some favourites were: macadamias, salted peanuts (also great for night time snacking), crisps, dried mango, seeded cheddar crackers, snickers.

I used only salt tablets and water for hydration and electrolytes. For my next adventure I might try something like Tailwind, Active Root or High 5.

Recovery on the go

When days out on the course are long, there is not much time for recovery. I had to make every opportunity count be very intentional about taking them. When done consistently, every little action adds up over the course of 6 days and nights.

• Get off feet in camp. The temptation to stand and study the results and race progression screens was huge, but I resisted. I’ll pack some binoculars next time, so I can study if from a bean bag.
• Cool down in cold stream daily whenever possible. (4/6 day done)
• Sit on the ground rather than chair at support point and water point whenever possible.
• Legs up on chair for 10-15 minutes on arrival in camp each day.
• Daily stretching and limbering of joints, no matter how little time is available.
• Gentle self massage of tight areas whenever possible.

That’s it!

I hope at least some of this was useful or interesting. Thank you for reading. Stay curious and happy adventuring till next time!