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The London to Brighton ultra marathon has a long history,
with the first recorded race between the two cities, a distance
of some 88km, taking place in 1837. This makes the London
to Brighton a race with a history spanning 165 years.
The race starts at Big Ben in London, with the starting "gun"
being the first chime of 7 AM. With a time limit of 9 hrs
50 minutes, this is not a race for those who wish to walk,
jog and drag themselves to the finish of an ultra. Rather,
I would describe it as a race for a well-trained ultra runner,
be that a fast runner or one who is merely racing the cut-off
time.
The streets of London at the starting time are busier than
one might expect, but then this is London and maybe the streets
are never disserted. Nevertheless, traffic was not a major
problem as the race field made its way through the streets
of London towards Brixton and on to Croyden at around 15 miles
(24 km). At this stage of the race, I was already in trouble
with a hamstring injury that had been a problem going into
the race. Despite the injury, I was still up with the leaders.
However, I strongly suspected that I was unlikely to finish.
This particularly injury has proven to be remarkably resilient
to all forms of treatment. Normally, a chronic hamstring tear
responds well to treatment by physiotherapy such as cross
friction, to application of ice, and to stretching. However,
in this case, despite such treatment, as well as a strengthening
regimen that included eccentric training and brief periods
of anti-inflammatory drugs, the hamstring still did not recover
fully before the race. I have now started a more concentrated
eccentric training programme and only time will tell if this
specialized rehabilitation is successful. Let's go, back
to the race.
 The
seconding tables provided are quite novel in that every runner
can supply their own drinks before the start, to be taken
to each table by the organisers. However, these are spaced
at 5-mile (8 km) intervals, which are a bit sparse if a runner
is to rely entirely on the seconding tables for fluid and
carbohydrate intake. Ideally, one would want to ingest approximately
500 - 600 ml of fluid per hour. With the tables situated as
they are, this means ingesting 300 ml of fluid at every table
at 6 hour pace. Since only the race winner runs at that speed,
it represents a problem for the slower runners who will be
reaching a table at much more timely intervals. One way of
overcoming this problem is to run a short way with the bottle
picked up at each table and consume the contents over the
next mile or so.
 Going
through the Sussex countryside, at about 50 km, I decided
to call it a day even though I was still in the top10 since
the hamstring was now so bad that I could not even run at
a much slower pace. I had also developed a sore calf muscle;
a compensatory injury induced by a change in gait due to the
hamstring.
Meanwhile, Michelle Stewart, another South African participating
in the race, was running very well and leading the women's
race. She had a personal seconder on the route who I then
joined. As a result of not being reliant on the tables, she
was able to drink in a more optimal pattern. Every 15 minutes
(approximately every 3 km) she ingested around 150 ml of fluid.
This consisted predominantly of a 10% glucose polymer solution,
which we had established from training runs and previous races
works very well for her, causing no nausea or gastric distress
that can often be a problem in long races. We have found that
a combination of the polymer with occasionally some "Coke"
for variety, supplies adequate fluid and carbohydrate. Ideally
a runner should ingest almost 1g of carbohydrate per minute
and the regimen just described meets that requirement. At
no time did Michelle find it necessary to ingest any solid
food during the race, as has also been the case in 100-mile
races, a distance for which she holds the official South African
record of 15 hours 44 minutes.
At this point Michelle was in 14th position overall and systematically
working her way through the field. As the miles rolled by,
she continued to feel good on the seconding regimen and the
pace she was running at. Obviously, there is no way to avoid
the increasing fatigue due to the distance of the race, but
optimal carbohydrate and fluid intake during long distance
races can minimize the extent of that fatigue. This, together
with long training runs over very hilly terrain to build leg
strength meant that the long climb up Ditchling Beacon, although
late in the race (about 75 km), was never a problem. The long
training runs are the key to a successful ultra: Ultimately,
training has to be specific so that the physiological adaptations
that occur as a result of that training are appropriate for
the race and goals that are being attempted. It is in this
area that science can offer a lot to the art of coaching.
A quick recovery after the top of Ditchling Beacon allowed
Michelle to pick up the pace somewhat and pass one more runner
to move into 8th position overall. While not a "kick"
as in track racing, this was a good sustained increase in
pace in the final push to the finish. To be able to do this,
a runner must arrive at the closing stages of a race in as
good condition as possible. As previously stated, this is
achieved through a combination of ingesting the correct amount
of fluid during the race (and more is not always better),
a good regimen for carbohydrate intake, and a training schedule
that includes long runs as well as some shorter, faster running.
The specificity of training is borne out in an unusual way
in this race. While most runners train facing the traffic,
the traffic police insist that the runners stay on the left
side of the road during the race i.e. with the traffic coming
from behind. Besides, I think, being more dangerous for the
runner since you can't see the cars to take avoiding action,
the resultant change in camber appeared to result in many
runners complaining of unusual hip pain.
A long downhill of approximately 2 miles (3 km) to the finish
saw a further increase in speed from Michelle, who was able
to use the downhill to her advantage. Anyone "racing"
an ultra must include some downhill training to condition
the thigh (quadriceps) muscles to withstand the increased
eccentric component of muscle contraction that occurs during
downhill running. This helps prevent the extremely painful
thigh muscles so often experienced at the end of ultra marathons
that can reduce speed to a painful jog. The "protective"
effect of appropriate downhill training can last for many
weeks.
It is not only muscle physiology, however, that determines
a good performance. The brain, too, is intimately involved
and probably plays an important role by acting on the various
signals of fatigue that it receives from the muscles, tendons
and pain receptors. Using these signals, it prevents a runner
from causing damage to the body by preventing a maximal effort
from the muscles. However, the best runners can probably over-ride
this built-in protection mechanism to some extent and push
just that little bit harder. Therefore, in the final 20 km
or so of a race such as the London to Brighton the brain probably
plays a major role in determining whether someone attains
an optimal performance or not. In this race, Michelle, probably
at a conscious level of the brain, would have overridden the
signals to slow down to some degree, enabling her to not just
maintain running speed, but actually increase speed towards
the end of the race to finish in a time of 7 hrs 25 minutes,
1st lady, and 8th overall.
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