Race Report: GR10-Xtrem 2020

A mountainous 93km ultramarathon

The GR10-Xtrem is a 93km ultramarathon, it follows a waymarked trail, called the GR10, through the hills of Valencia.

I signed up to the GR10-Xtrem as a test race for a bigger race I have lined up in April, the Northern Traverse. Update: unfortunately the Northern Traverse was cancelled due to covid.

I picked the GR10-Xtrem because it was outside the UK, I didn't want to race in the cold, wet, and dark British winter. The course profile roughly matches a single day of the Northern Traverse, which is 305km that I'm aiming to complete in 3 days.

Goals

My goal going into the race was to finish without getting injured, I needed to continue training for the Northern Traverse. I gave myself a minimum time of 12 hours, if I was on track for finishing faster than that I was probably going too fast and likely to blow up. I also didn't want to drop below 18 hours, I didn't want to be chasing cut-offs, the cut-off time was at 19 hours. I didn't know where within that 12 to 18-hour range was a reasonable finish time, obviously, I wanted to be closer to the 12-hour mark than the 18-hour mark.

Setting off

The race started quickly, I made an effort not to get carried away, I didn't try and keep up with those around me and I let myself fall back. After 2km the trail narrowed and started climbing, queues formed and my pace was now being set by those in front of me. I understood why there had been such a rush at the start. I made a few passes where I could but mostly had to just stick with the group pace.

The first third of the race was the hardest part of the course, with the most climbing and technical terrain. At one point there was even steep scrambling that involved pulling on fixed chains. Despite the difficulty, or perhaps because of the difficulty, this first third of the race flew by.

Strengths and weaknesses

Vertical

I found that I was much stronger than those around me on the uphills, most were slowly walking the uphills. I found I could happily power hike the steeper hills or slowly run the more gentle hills. My weakness was on the downhills, I was often overtaken by the runners I'd just passed on the uphill.

I suffered from painful soreness in my quads, for many days, following the race. I've discovered this is often caused by running lots of downhills without being conditioned to them. The eccentric contraction of the downhill is very stressful. My training so far hasn't contained very much vertical, most of my training is in Manchester city centre which is pretty flat.

Eating

I went in planning to eat a small amount every hour, I vaguely stuck to this plan for the first half of the race. I didn't feel hungry and had to make a conscious effort to eat, but I didn't have any stomach problems when I ate. I think it's important to eat as much as you can early on in long races, while your stomach can handle it.

The midway checkpoint had a bigger variety of food and was set up as a bit of a lunch stop. I decided to eat a bit more than I had at previous checkpoints. I scoffed a couple of chocolate spread sandwiches and a bit of everything else on the table. I soon regretted eating so much, leaving the checkpoint I felt full and sluggish. I also didn't take on enough water and could tell I was getting quite dehydrated.

I found that the overeating affected me mentally more than physically, my pace didn't change drastically but I was feeling miserable. I held off eating for a while and gradually felt better. At the next checkpoint, 2/3 of the way through the course, I just ate oranges to take on some liquid, and easy to digest sugar at the same time.

Finish

KM 78

It got very cold leaving the 78km checkpoint, it was up at 1,000m and climbing to 1,300m and it was on the shady side of the mountain with the sun setting. My fingers got painfully cold, I stopped to put my gloves on but could only find one. I spent a long time, stopped, searching with awkward numb fingers. In the end, I wrapped my hand in my windshirt and carried on. I don't know if this demonstrates smart thinking, or if the fact that I couldn't find my glove (which I hadn't actually lost) shows that I wasn't fully switched on this late into the race.

KM 84

I felt pretty good from the 78km checkpoint onwards, my stomach had sorted itself out, and I had managed to take on a good amount of food and liquid. I approached the last checkpoint with a strong plan. I didn't need to stop, I was carrying enough water to get me to the end and I didn't need any more food. That plan fell apart immediately, as I approached the checkpoint I was ushered inside. People started offering me water, I said yes, I saw the food and I started eating. I was still in and out reasonably quickly but it wasn't what I had planned.

KM 93

I looked at my watch and saw that the finish line was just around the corner, I put on a little surge up the hill I was on, I turned the corner and entered an empty street. I didn't understand, I kept following the markers and went off the end of my GPS track. The finish line was one confusing kilometer away, I still don't know what happened, if I had downloaded an old GPS track, or if I'd missed something in the Spanish briefing (I don't speak Spanish). This confusion made the finish a bit underwhelming, I had lost my rush of excitement. Still, I was happy to have finished. I finished in 13 hours 48 minutes.

Lessons Learnt

The race was a good tester for the Northern Traverse, I learnt some important lessons. It's given me confidence in my 3-day target, I feel like the slower pace needed to complete the Northern Traverse in 3 days shouldn't be too taxing as long as I can improve my downhill ability.

Increase efficiency through preperation

My running vest is the 2016 model of the Inov-8 Race Elite, which has small front pockets, but no large side or back pockets. Trying to access food or equipment, from the main compartment, on the go was very awkward. On the Northern Traverse, I will need to eat a lot more on the go as there are only a few checkpoints, very far apart. I will experiment with adding some accessible stretch pockets to my bag. So that I can make most of what I need accessible when I stop at a checkpoint, then I can eat or change clothes on the go efficiently.

During the GR10X I wasn't arriving at checkpoints with a clear plan, and when I did have a plan I ignored it. There will be fewer checkpoints at the Northern Traverse, but with tents, proper cooked food and warmth on offer, there's a lot of potential to lose minutes or hours if I'm not focused. I will prepare and print checklists that I can follow at the checkpoints, this will let me avoid thinking and make it easier to be disciplined at the checkpoints.

Do more vertical

As mentioned above, my biggest weakness during the race was on the downhills, and my biggest problem I had after the race was 4 days of painful soreness in my quads. Going forward, the focus of my training will be to accrue as much vertical as I can. This will involve long runs in the Peak District on the weekend, and finding short hills, close to home, to repeat on weekdays.