Sorry, it’s a bit of a long post coming here, just to warn you…This race was 2 years in the making. I trained for it last year only to have it deferred for Covid in the last weeks before the date. I actually ran the course last year solo just to get a feel for it, albeit slowly and with WAY too many breaks because my very supportive friends had setup an aid station that was just too tempting 🙂. Leading up to this race this year I tried to focus on hills rather than speed sessions. The elevation here is around 537m (1700ft) and I did find it challenging last time. So in the last couple of months I did around 1000ft hills each Wednesday along with more hilly long runs and it did seem to help. Fuelling also got to me last time as I sampled way too many food types and felt sick at the end. This time I stuck with a Nutella soft dinner roll every 10k for the first 30-35k and PBJ sandwich sections from the aid stations after that. As for liquids, on my first lap I had my full run vest and tailwind, but soon realized it was too muggy to run with it so I ditched it and my rain jacket on lap 1 and put my trust in the aid station hydration. It varied from nuun to coke and then ginger ale but i grabbed one every 5k. The weather was very wet and foggy as it had rained all night and the morning had another 25 mm coming so the trails got really chewed up with both the 50k and 25k runners going round and round the same loop. (The 53k route was 10 x 5.3km laps around the lake.) The trails got softer and softer until they were like a thick soup with a squelch every time you lifted a foot. The hilly bits were almost treacherous trying to descend while staying vertical. But I’m happy to say no headers were had on this day! 👍🏼 I also met some lovely people and one fellow from Newfoundland and I chatted about everything: our families, our jobs, the pandemic and life in general for half the race before we split off. I don’t remember his name now. Another young lady and I chatted for some time too. She was super kind and supportive with this being my first real ultra. This is what I love about this sport. You can deeply connect with people on a long run like this. At around 40k I felt a bit weird. Too much cola and peanut butter was making me feel like hurling but it did not come to pass. Then my left hamstring just froze up - so weird. I stopped and massaged it and it was ok. I also had to stop to get some sharp stones out of my shoe. And right at the end after 50k was done, both my calves just jammed up and i had to walk and massage them. I had a chat with them to please help us get around this last bend to finish the loop and promised I would look after them after that 😂 They seemed to say “ok fine let’s get this over with” and off we went. Got to the finishing gate and it was so nice to go through it this time after having passed it on so many prior loops. The medals were hand made slices of a small tree trunk with the race logo burned into them- very cool. The race director personally congratulated every single runner that passed through. Also very cool. And I will treasure the hoodies they gave out to all the 50k runners. I then collapsed somewhere for a bit and then walked into the lake in my shoes and socks to cool off and wash some of the mud away. That bit was wonderful! Checked my time and found that I was mid pack 31 out of 65, I think, at around 6.5hrs. I’ll take that. There were supposed to be food trucks at the end but there were none and I was famished so that was a bit disappointing. . All in all this was still a great race, well worth the wait and the training. I took some painkillers when I got home yesterday and today I am still so hungry, having just finished a bowl of gnocchi at 5am! 😅
Sticks ‘n Stones trail race report - Fun Beyond 10K & ...
Sticks ‘n Stones trail race report
Amazing stuff Decker and a great run report!🙂 This is exactly the kind of ultra that I would expect you to run…wild and unrelenting! So pleased that you smashed it after waiting so long to run it! Lovely medal too.😍🏅Enjoy eating ‘all the food’ and hope you recover well!🙂
Oh wow, epic Decker. My legs are burning thinking about it. I know all about squelchy footing, but only for dinky 5k runs! No comparison there, so huge kudos to you. 👏👏👏👏👏👏
Thanks Cheeky, yes I thought often about those squelchy UK runs you are all faced with on that side of the pond. 😅
That’s one epic run! Absolutely amazing Decker 💪 I’m delighted you (and your calves) got round although it does sound so harsh 😫 A big well done to you and congratulations on your time and placing too 👍 That’s brilliant.
How many calories did you burn on it? You’ll probably be eating from now until November!
I love the bling, very cool 😍
Thanks IP. Strava says 3800 calories were burned, but I must have consumed 1500-2000 or so going round so it’s not such a huge deficit. After a breakfast dinner and breakfast I am going for a third breakfast now 😁 Looking forward to the Thanksgiving dinner later today 🦃
I didn't eat much during the trail marathon, considering that I hadn't been able to eat more than two spoonfuls of cereal for breakfast. For the following 24 hours, though, I consumed everything in sight !
I love a cooked breakfast and can have one at any time of day 😋
Enjoy your dinner 🙂
Me too! I had bacon and egg sarni on homemade bread post run yesterday 👌
Yum, one of my favourites 😋
Well done Decker 👍🏻
Hi Decker
Congratulations, that’s good going, especially given the conditions.
The medal looks really cool too, and very fitting for that kind of event.
Congratulations on your ultra trail run! Well done. It sounds like an adventure. Great run report and nice hoodie. I’m glad your calves listened to you. Happy recovery! 👏👏👏
Thanks Lav. I’m not taking this hoodie off any time soon 🙂. Mu calves and I are once again on friendly terms apart from the odd twinge
Wow! Great run Decker . Such an accomplishment. You should be so proud. You dialled in your training and got it done. My hat’s off to you 🙌🙌🙌
Thanks Sask. I think you would have enjoyed this one. Yes the hill training that I hated at first, became something friendlier and I even missed it in my taper weeks.
My latest half marathon was a killer! I thought I’d done enough hill work in training but sadly not. I won’t make,that mistake again. More vertical 😃💪🏃♀️⛰
Great post it long run must equal a long post 😉
Wow that's amazing I cannot in any way imagine running that far .Congratulations 👏🥳
And I do love the idea of chatting with your calves .
Oh my! That's just awesome! I have a lovely image of you chatting with your calves, perched above your muddy feet! You have a lot of calories to replace - go for it and enjoy!
Great report and run!! Well done. Pleased your calves listened up too.👍💪
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 superb. Sounds like good fun all round. That's the trouble with lap races though, the ground gets awfully trampled. I've had similar with cycling events, you come to dread certain corners/parts 🤣🙈
6.5 is a great time in my view and all your training/experimentation paid off. Very well done 👍🏻😁
Thanks Jo. Yeah we knew it would be soft. It was just so slippery by the end. They even had to detour us at 30k in as the trail at one point was too deeply gouged for anyone to run on.
I’ve tried to incorporate the lessons I picked up from past long runs into this training cycle and it seems to have generally worked though I am still sore but not too bad this time.
Well done Mr Decker, fabulous work!!! I'm a bit scared of mud which makes me all the more impressed 😂😂😂 Love the random mini-lifelong-frienships 😍 Such a pity about the lack of food trucks!! I sort of love that feeling of hunger that goes on for days after a really long run, although I have a hard time making myself realise that I can't carry it on for a couple of weeks 🤣🍕🍰
Hope you found some good IPAs to celebrate!?
Rest well xxx
Thanks so much Roseabi. I like mud but this was something else. I managed to track my new friend down in Strava so maybe we will run together sometime soon! I am happy this race falls on Thanksgiving weekend so there is plenty of food about. Yes I’ve sampled a few brews to celebrate the occasion😎 🍻 Also the course photographer is letting us grab whatever pics we like so I am adding a few to Strava as they get posted. I took almost no pics myself on Saturday.
Wow, amazing Decker!! Congratulations 👍 Sounds very hard work with all that mud - and you didn’t slip it fall?! You must have some great trail shoes 😀
Thank you skysue. I somehow managed to stay vertical for once. The last race I ran in mud like this in 2019, I lost count of my headers! Yes I have Hoka Torrents and they have really good lateral grip as well as forward grip. My old Peregrines did not seem to have really good lateral grip and I kept sliding sideways. Live and learn 🙂
Phew! You made it... to the end of your post 😂🤣
Fantastic perseverance and fortitude! 💪
I bet you're looking forward to the continued carb recovery tonight!
Or does a gentle recovery run take precedence?
🐱 Katnap 🐱
Haha, thank you, yes I’m not normally a long poster so this was the exception :). I skipped my run today to let the muscles settle a bit more. Walks seem to feel good at the moment. Maybe tomorrow for a short easy run. I’ve downed 3 breakfasts and two thanksgiving dinners for two days running now so I am good on the calorie front 👍🏼😁
Well done!!! Well done indeed Decker. 
👍🏻
Good read that Decks! I enjoyed that thank you 😃👍
What an adventure. As I read Nutella, PNB, coke, ginger ale I started to worry 😁
I expect all that running in heavy gloop caused your leg issues I’m glad you were able to overcome 💪👍🙂
It’s a huge undertaking and I’m relieved and pleased you’ve nailed it 👊✊
Yes I don’t know how people that do longer distances manage their food intake. My stomach was turning at the idea of another PBJ or Nutella sandwich or Coke. 🤢
Yes the recovery has been much better than last year. I did a flat, gentle 8k yesterday and it felt good.
Thank you. I see many areas that can be improved next time around. Looking at what to focus on in 2022 now.
Me too 🙂. Good int it 👍
I was watching a guy refuelling on the UTMB 100 miler. He was downing great spoonfuls of thick gloop. It could have been mashed potato. One or two of the top contenders were having trouble stomaching their food. I think Courtney Duwalter mentioned that she did. So if the top pro’s do then it’s not surprising us lesser mortals struggle 🙂
Yeah for real food I think Courtney likes burritos and sweet potato. I don’t know how she keep all the candy down though. Last year I tried boiled mini potatoes in sea salt. It was tasty. Someone has since recommended adding some grated parmesan cheese and a bit of olive oil which sounds even better and quite stable in the stomach. Things to experiment with!
Scott jurek talks about food in his book and there’s some recipes in there. He totes foil-wrapped burritos that include rice
Nicky Spinks eats baked beans and rice pudding. Not at the same time 🙂. Baked beans 😳
Oh I should take a look at this book. The only Jurek book I’ve read is ‘North’ which was fantastic.
Baked beans ?!?🔥 💥 I love them though
Eat and Run I think it’s called.
I made his anti-inflammatory smoothie recipe many times during my shin splint woes. Delicious 👌😋
I don’t know how you do this but you do it and it’s incredible. 🤩 What an achievement that is. I hope you’ve fully recovered now and replenished those carbs. Well done. 👍
Thanks Brian. Yes the recovery is going quite well thanks. Carbs are fully replenished 😋
The Man is back! I was wondering (to the point of private messaging) where you were. Great report, looking very fit, seems all is working out for you. Great job, well done man! 👍
Thanks mrrun. Yes I was still training, just not posting so much with a lot happening on the family front lately. Things are a bit more relaxed now. Hope you are doing well with your recovery training post injury.
Hard Core Decker!! Awesome achievement man, simply awesome!
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