UTMB: night training
Updated 03/07 (I was quite
tired while writing yesterday.)
Last night I went running by night to Lake District in order to
test the gear and the beast in rather real conditions. As I got
lost (some would say "missed the path"
) several
times, I don't know exactly the distance and total ascent I've run,
but it should be roughly something like 50km +1700m -1700m (ie. 1/3
UTMB distance - 1/5 UTMB ascent). I started yesterday from
Windermere at 10:30pm and finished at Penrith this morning at 7am.
The weather was quite good: around 10°C, quite cloudy with a
small moon croissant (isn't it nice my frenchism ?).
I could train on various kinds of path: bogs (very nice by night
!), grass, bridle ways, road, stones, rock ... Running by night is
also a good way to evaluate the navigation skills... I went jogging
(7 to 10km/h) on the flat and slighty downhill paths, walking fast
on the ascents and steep downhill sections. No more than 5-minute
stops. It went quite ok, although I expected to be a bit
faster.
I don't think my mind was very clear towards the end. I noticed
afterwards that I obviously got lost pretty more often and in
easier conditions in the second half of the trail. I'm glad I
finished still running and had good feelings. Surprisingly I didn't
feel so tired while arriving at Penrith but if I actually did, it
would have been disappointing ...
About the gear:
- shoes (Asics Gel
Orient) went perfectly ok: not a single blister after 8
hours in the mountains ! very light - the grip was ok even downhill
in wet grass
- bag (
Décathlon Diosaz raid 17) with its 2L bottle was
rather confortable although I got a bit marked on the hips (belt
probably too tight), but I'd prefer more inner pockets because it
was a bit messy
- head torch (
Frendo DIODEX) (*) was used only from midnight to 3am - I
switched on 1 LED for most of the time, 3 LEDs for the fast
downhill sections and the xenon bulb when I was really lost
About the beast:
- my knees were quiet most of the time, but could feel
them at the end - I should rely more on my poles
- my stomach was not very very happy, but I could eat
anyway - I had some power gels, power bars and the energy powder in
salted water, for a total of approx. 2000 Kcal
- my brain was a bit anxious to run alone by night during
the first hour, but was great after that
Even though I could have been slighlty faster, I'm satisfied by
this training. I'm quite optimistic for the UTMB up to Courmayeur
(72km).
(*) page translated by google - original
page in French
