29 August 2014

106 miles of fun in the mountains, again

 



As most of you will know, I enjoy a bit of running round the mountains. To this end, today is the start of another milestone for me, being my second attempt to complete the Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc. Last year I made the best attempt I could, but after running 28 hours, 11 with a badly sprained ankle, I had no choice but to be rescued at 122km. This year I am here with a fair bit of luck, much excitement and a lot of determination to finish, I will do what I can!

The main purpose of this is to let you know that if you wanted to check in on my progress and make sure I am still in one piece, the event provides many ways to do it. You can follow me, runner 1887, as I make each checkpoint at http://utmb.livetrail.net/coureur.php. You can also follow Andrew Tolley and Jordi Moncada with whom I have the honour of running. You can also see coverage of the event on http://ultratrail.tv/en where you can watch the start, the highlights, and experience the joy of seeing half-broken runners wincing through checkpoints in the middle of the night!

For a taste of this awesome event you might want to take a few minutes to see the trailer http://youtu.be/2QFFdAyyuzA which shows you a little of the atmosphere and the environment. In facts and figures, the UTMB is a 106 mile foot race around the Mont Blanc massive, starting in Chamonix, France, and travelling through Italy and Switzerland before returning. The event takes in nearly 10km of height gain. So while it doesn’t ascend the peaks of the mountains, it does take in the equivalent of nearly three ascents of Mont Blanc! About 2,500 people are lucky enough to run this event, selected by lottery after qualifying through many hours and countless miles of other trail races, including hundreds of the world’s most competitive (and obsessive) trail runners. One of these runners is likely to finish in little over 20 hours, but the majority will take between 35 and 45 hours. That makes a slow average pace if you are used to road running, but the terrain and the gradients of these awesome mountains make progress challenging, and even the slowest competitor will need to run whenever they can.

I will be lining up in Chamonix this afternoon at 5:30pm local time, in the ranks of the dayglo lycra clad masses. Aside from a change of clothes and a few bowls of soup and some coffee, I should keep moving until at least 9am on Sunday, at which point I am hoping to have earned some sleep (and a few tartiflettes)!

Emily and the girls are here for moral support, my brother in law and family are here with Andy running the CCC race today, and many other friends. Also many friends checking in from afar, some who have been here and immersed themselves in this remarkable challenge before such as Andrew Laurie who helped motivate me to do these races in the first place. As I discovered last year, while the running and the eating and drinking and survival all fall to me, the knowledge that other people are supporting me from near and afar make all the difference. A race like this is much more a mental battle than a physical one, and every message of support helps build the wave of positivity that I need to get through – so please do check in on how I am doing, and do feel free to send me an sms or facebook me, I will be delighted to hear from you in the long hours ahead!

Thanks for all your support!

Julian


3 September 2013

UTMB - incomplete, but completely excellent!



So I guess should tell you how I got on in my run round the mountains this weekend. I know many of you have had updates of progress and I’ve had fantastic messages of support, thank you for that! But others have been a bit in the dark, and amid rumours of my state of well being, this is a quick summary of what happened. (For the preamble, check the previous post.)


First of all, you might want to get the BBC’s view of the event, which makes the event look quite dramatic... BBC - A Race Around Mont Blanc

Anyhow, all that drama aside, I entered this quite intimidating event with not a single run more than 30km in the last 12 months, having struggled with injuries. So to stand in the sun at the start line, music pounding and crowds cheering was a great feeling. But in the end I got much more from the event than I thought possible. 


Looking ridiculous is part of the trail running way!

The start of the race, 4:30pm in burning sunshine and high spirits

Going this distance in a race, particularly a race of this scale, means a lot of different experiences, many quite unique. The villages and towns passed in the late afternoon and into the evening put on a big show for us as we went through, with bands, the ubiquitous cow bells, and screams of bravo, courage, allez allez from all around. Then we hit wilder terrain, climbing well away from any civilisation to cross the Italian border high up in the mountains. The view looking down from 2,500m at a line of at least a mile of headtorches following me up in the pitch blackness was almost as startling as the stars above. I was treated to a perfect sunrise as I pounded down the hills through Italy, ending up in Courmayer to be greeted by family, a change of clothes and a big bowl of pasta. 

Headtorches strung along the hills and some very bright stars!
Greeted by a fabulous sunrise at the 2,500m entering Italy

77km and I was feeling great, better than I ever have in a long race. With one exception – the descent into Courmeyer was very fast and tough, 25-30% gradient sandy slippery switchbacks, and I fell and rolled my ankle a couple of times. I thought nothing of it. Adrenaline does a great job of obliterating pain, and the excitement of getting back on the trail was too much to give it any time for thought.
Steep and relentless trails, absolutely perfect conditions!

Climbing the following hills I was passing people, in the top half of the field and feeling good, chatting to other runners, all of whom were loving the event, with perfect weather to experience the amazing terrain. I was having fun, but it really is tough. It is often said that these are the ‘toughest trails in the world’ but the reality of kilometre after kilometre of relentless steep gnarly trails is quite awe inspiring. And casualties were dropping by the wayside now, and others with heads dropping and the trudge setting in. While tough on those struggling, seeing others beaten by the trails does lend a little boost of motivation, and spirits were running high amongst the runners. 

View back down towards Courmeyer, the terrain we had covered spread out across the mountains behind

But things took a turn for me as we crossed 100km into Switzerland at Grand Col Ferret, and started a relentless 21km descent. Descending was near impossible on my ankle, but I was not prepared to let it slow me down, so I sped up! More speed means more adrenaline and less pain, so I just gritted teeth and ploughed down to La Fouly, with 24 hours now under the belt. It took me an hour to leave again. Half an hour with doctors, 15 minutes being counseled over the phone with Emily, and I managed to get my shoe to close up over my elephantine ankle and head on. I was enjoying myself so much out there and otherwise feeling I was stronger and in better shape than most of the people around me, so I wasn’t going to let a dodgy ankle spoil my fun.


3 hours of frenetic running later and Champex Lac was the end for me. About 10 doctors crowded round me taking photos of my distended ankle on their iPhones and talking excitedly, while trying to remove compression socks without my screams upsetting other runners! My race was over, but there was no choice in the matter, and that makes it much easier to take. But I was so close to the finish… well being 75% of the way through seems like the work was largely done, but it is testament to the scale of this event that I probably still had 15 hours to finish even without an exploded ankle! 


Top support team picking me up and helping me home at Champex

So I spent the best part of 30 hours on the most amazing terrain Europe has to offer, among the most committed and intense group of 2,300 runners you could assemble anywhere, with amazing support from the locals, my amazing family, and lots of supporters from afar. An experience that tops all my adventures to date, and will be hard to beat.


After an event of this length and intensity, clearly there is much to say, but I have gone on for a long while already, so let me stop! But not without a couple of reflections. First, to anyone who considers embarking on such an endeavour in the future (I hope I inspire someone!), I would not consider it without having Emily Pieters as your support in chief. Emily has been fantastic in supporting me to get to the event, and through the weekend she has picked me up when I have found myself in a hole, made me feel that anything was possible, chased around to support me in day and night, garnered support for me from around the world, and all while looking after a couple of very frayed girls. Emily has been amazing and my achievement in this race is as much hers. 


Worn out girls!


Second, thanks once more for every single message of support and encouragement I have had. Until you get out on these hills and try to keep yourself going for a couple of days, I think it is hard to understand how deep you need to mine your reserves of motivation. I plumbed the depths of mine, and borrowed plenty from elsewhere!


We are on the way home, with the ankle refusing to let me walk (or drive, sorry Emily), but I don’t think it will keep me out of action for long. Will I go back to finish UTMB one day, maybe - it is rather tempting, but will I keep looking for more adventures to head out on, absolutely! 





Two days later, I still have a Hobbit foot, but it is mending fast! Will not be out of action for long...

29 August 2013

Anticipating the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc 2013



Hello All!



A quick message to let you know what I am up to – thanks to everyone who has been asking for details, apologies if that doesn’t include you! In brief, I am running the UTMB, Ultra-Trail de Mont Blanc, covering 168km on foot with 10km of up and down, circumnavigating the Mont Blanc massive. I start 4:30pm Friday 30th, and will run, walk or crawl continuously until I finish or it reaches 2:30pm on Sunday, whichever comes sooner. I am expecting to be on my feet, hopefully with forward motion, for about 40 hours. And no, I will not take a break – ‘beware the chair’ as they say – once stopped you can never get going again. And yes, that is a long time!

You can get a good taster for the event in this UTMB video...


 
It is exciting here in Chamonix. We are surrounded by quite a scene. There is an incredible cross section of the ultra-running community – 6,000 runners taking part, and thousands of others involved in the events, this is the biggest long distance mountain race in Europe, perhaps anywhere. The town and valleys are also filled with a quite remarkable array of fluorescent compression garments and technical apparatus beyond description! And the sun is shining down on all of this, and on the awe inspiring hugeness of Mont Blanc and its. Music blares out across the town centre whipping everyone up into excitement, and somehow everyone seems to be involved in the event in some way. Even our girls have been racing – they both took part in mini-UTMB races today, led around by some of the world’s leading runners (well, I was impressed even if Imogen wasn’t!).
Through all the excitement there is also a lot of trepidation too. I have not had the chance to train very much for the race, battling with injuries, so physically this will be hard for me especially by the time I am into day two. I am taking in comfort in the fact that these events have a huge mental element to them, and I can master that. But it is hard not to feel a little intimidated by the prospect of crossing brutal terrain through day and night, heat and bitter cold and whatever else the mountains throw at us.

Really though, the UTMB wristband I am wearing now that entitles me to line up at the start tomorrow is a big prize in itself for me. This is the result of several years of hard work, tough races, injuries, late nights in the gym and boring my ever-resilient friends. Just being a part of this event is a huge cause to celebrate for me. That will not stop me from putting every last bean of energy into the event tomorrow, but it does mean I will walk away (or be carried!) with a smile on my face.
If you would like to keep track of my progress, I believe there are several ways to do it. There is a more detailed tracker for each runner here: http://utmb.livetrail.net/ - enter my number ‘3641’ and you will see how I am doing. There is also a live TV stream from a few places, but it might be challenging to be watching for the second or two in which I pass!: http://www.ultratrail.tv/. There is also some crazy 3D map you can follow runners on somehow: http://www.nexxtep.fr/UTMB/FR/Directs/UTMB/. I suspect my facebook account will also fill up with info about what is going on.
A huge thanks in advance to anyone who does check in on me. It was fantastic to get comments and support during and after Western States last year, and the knowledge that others are watching me might just be what I need to keep going in the dark of the second night!
That’s all from me, and I will email in a few days to let you know what happened. If you want to know a bit more about the race, the details are all here: http://www.ultratrailmb.com/page/20/Presentation.html. I have pasted in the map and profile too, for anyone interested.

Julian


 

1 August 2012

Western States 100 report

This post has been suspended by the author

20 June 2012

Western States 100 - nearly there! (the long version)




On 23rd June at 5am I will line up in the half dark above the crystal waters of Lake Tahoe California. Around me will be 370 others, drawn from the diverse and everso slightly bizarre world of ultra running. Some professional world class athletes, some who have dedicated their whole lives with a passion to running through the mountains, a few exceptionally hairy mountain goat-like individuals, and many like me who just love the challenge and the excitement we are all anticipating.


This is Western States 100. A 100 mile trail race from Lake Tahoe to Auburn, crossing the mountains of the Sierra Nevada. The event is legendary in the world of ultrarunning, being the first ever 100 mile foot race, and one of the hardest contested to get a place on the start line. Just to arrive here I have had to run 100 kilometer races and put in hours of voluntary service, and then only to earn a 1 in 15 chance of getting a place in the lottery. But luck smiled on me (even if not everyone sees that as lucky!) and here I am. Since the end of last year I have pounded over 1200km of trails, 20km of ascent and narrowly dodged an array of injuries, and as a result I am just about ready to go!


A little bit of curious history. The route used to be an annual horse race, until 1974 when one guy had a lame horse and decided to enter anyhow – but without his horse and modern long distance trail running was born. Looking back it seems improbable that anyone would elect to do this, as the toughness of the course usually got the better of a good number of horses each year, often in a terminal way. Full marks for spirit of adventure!


The course

So the horn will sound across Tahoe and we will bound (struggle) up the first hill together, a crippling 1000m ascent over the first few miles to the highest point above Squaw Valley ski resort, the start of a 16 hour journey for the leaders, though more like 30 hours for me.



We will slip and slide through freezing temperatures, snow and ice at the top of the mountains, then descend into the dusty canyons where temperatures can exceed 40C. We will climb a total of 5.5 kilometers, and descend another 7.5km, through rocky trails, streams, and forests.


We will not stop except to refuel. As the participant guide explains, as far as we know, no one has ever finished a race while in a chair. And once sitting down it is near impossible to stand up again, so keeping up and moving is the only way!

And of course as it takes 30 hours, I will be running through the dark, with the company of my good friend Jordi who will stop me from falling asleep and disappearing over a cliff! And then the sun will rise and I will arrive seeking chips, beer and massage, into the arms of my family at Placer High School Stadium. A happy man too, if I can make it over the line in one piece!

The hows and the whys

Everyone I tell about this seems to have a similar initial reaction, which is how on earth can you run for 30 hours non stop. Then after a few minutes of reflection, they soon arrive at ‘why?’, and I confess that I don’t have great answers for either of these. But I will by the time I have finished, so check back here after the event and I can tell you all about it!

In short, getting to the end is going to be part an eating and drinking competiton (what gets used up must be replaced, or I will fall over), part mental game of making myself suspend reality and keep the motivation and self belief in tact through inevitable discomfort and fatigue, and a little bit of being fit and well trained, though this is definitely the least important of the three, I believe...

Why?, is more about enjoying the process of doing something that I once could not even understand, let alone see as a realistic goal for myself. Whether I end up being one of the 65% who finish or not this weekend, the process that has got me to stand on the start line has been life changing and inspiring. And more importantly I just love the liberating feeling of being able to run through wild country like this, there is nothing quite like it, makes me feel alive, so why not! And to top it all, I get to take the family to California for a holiday as a result too, a great bonus.

This is also a great way to do some good for my adopted charity Deafness Research. If all of you lot can do your bit to support me by donating to this great cause ( https://www.justgiving.com/JulianPieters ), the additional motivation that this will deliver will be invaluable, you will help me to succeed and you will help do a great job through this fabulous charity. So please go there now, please do your bit if you can!

And when all the running has been run, I think I will be glad to be able to put my feet up at the weekends a bit more often. I think Emily and the girls are keen to have me back home a bit more, so one major source of motivation for this weekend is knowing that if I succeed I will never have to go out and do it again!

The last few days...

Training at Red Rocks - 43C out there
I have had a crazy few weeks, culminating in a week in Las Vegas for a trade show, slipping out once in a while to run in the >40C heat, including a couple of trips the magical red rocks. I would have stopped for a climb, but it was frankly too hot and sweaty to contemplate anything (including running for that matter).

Another shabby training venue, Mammoth Lakes
I have a few days now up in the high country getting used to thinner air, climbing the peaks near Yosemite for a few days. Then to San Francisco to collect Jordi, my pacer. Being small and Catalan means he is a lucky charm for me, as the world leading ultra runner is from a similar mould! Then picking up all of my girls (very excited about this!) and heading to Tahoe. Other than that, lounging around combined with excessive eating and drinking are the order of the day!


Then off we go. The race is phenomenally well managed, attracting a huge number of volunteers and crews. One benefit is that you can follow me as I battle in and out of each checkpoint here http://www.ultralive.net/ws100/webcast.php following runner 316.
And that’s all there is to say, until I lie smiling in the sun in Placer High School stadium on Sunday, and then I will be sure to let you all know about it!

Battered toes. Don't do it kids...

18 June 2012

Western States 100 - a quick intro



On 23-24th June I am running 100 miles non-stop through the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, for fun, for the challenge and to raise money for the charity that I support. This is a legendary race, the Western States 100, about which there is chapter and verse here… www.ws100.com. This is a tough event and will push me to my limits in every conceivable way. It marks the culmination of 3 and a half years of running, and the end of a fantastic journey for me.

I am hugely excited by the event, and by all the interest that friends, family and colleagues have expressed, and I will hope I can do justice to all the great support I have had. I will post my reports here after the event, but you can participate by following the event live if you wish, on www.ws100.com, and you can track my progress – runner 316 – on this site http://www.ultralive.net/ws100/webcast.php

And please help to motivate me, and to do some good in the world, by helping me support Deafness Research, a charity to which I have a long term commitment. You find out more, and do your bit to support me here… https://www.justgiving.com/JulianPieters
 
Wish me luck…



10 October 2011

Norfolk Ultra 2011 - 100km of North Norfolk beaches



The Norfolk Coastal Ultra, is a 62 mile race following the stunning protected coastline of North Norfolk, a world of wild marshes, expansive beaches, huge skies and sleepy fishing villages. There is a long distance walking path along the beaches and marshes, following the line closest to the sea that is navigable on foot.
The route is not going to break any records for height gain (it works out at about 120m for the 100kms!), but there is no shortage of interest and challenge from the terrain the route crosses. A challenge mix of deep shingle beaches, long expanses of soft sand, soft vegetation and mud, duck boards hovering over marshy bogs, and hard pack trails along ancient sea defences.
The race started at 8am 8th October 2011, departing from a forest park near Sheringham, along the coastline West for 50km to Brancaster Beach, then turning around to head back East.

Why oh why?

I set out to do this for the simple reason that I have become convinced it would be a good idea to run the Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc (UTMB). This is really the pinnacle of this kind of sport, taking the 169km circuit of the Mont Blanc massif, attracting 2,500 runners each year. For such a masochistic endeavour it is incredibly competitive even to get to the start line, requiring all prospective runners to accumulate points from running other ultra marathons in the previous couple of years. To apply for UTMB next year I needed to get 2 points more (having 3 from a race in Australia in May), and my only realistic chance in 2011 was Norfolk.
So I entered, just a few weeks ago after being inspired by supporting Andrew Laurie doing battle with the UTMB in Chamonix this summer (it was Andrew that inspired me to get into this whole business, so he has a lot to answer for!). Anyhow, I was convinced that I had a low probability of success given my total absence of preparation, but decided I would go for it at a slow pace, with the aim of enjoying the process as much as I could, and the points may or may not happen.
Since my last big race in May I have averaged 3 hours per week of running, which is not a great deal of preparation for a race of this scale. And there is a limit to what you can achieve in a few weeks last minute preparation, so I didn’t really try to build things up too much. I tried one long run but it coincided with our glorious heatwave so my 50kms ended up being 30, and I had to be rescued by the ever supportive nurse Emily, somewhat overheated and dehydrated. So much for a carefully constructed training plan!

Setting off, and the journey West

Race day came around. We had rolled up at the campsite in the dark of Friday night, got the kids into a hastily erected tent and I had tried and failed to get any sleep with the trepidation for the day ahead. The weather forecasts gradually turned from grizzly to best-forgotten. 20mph winds from the West meant the first 50kms would be into a cold headwind with driving rain to make things just a little more challenging. Despite the overwhelming list of reasons not to get out of bed, the full complement of 82 runners got themselves lined up for an 8am start, and set off to the beach with good humour all round.

My race strategy was to take a ‘run while you can’ approach, so setting off at a reasonable pace, expecting that I would be hard pushed to run at all in the second half as my body started to object to the unaccustomed distance. This worked surprisingly well, hitting 30kms in 3 hours, despite the insane shingle beach.

This is the shingle ridge – almost impossible to run on except where bound together with vegetation. The harder you push, the more stones go flying and the more energy gets expended for no progress. We all seemed to end up flat-footed, running when possible. Lots of concentration though!
Things started to slow for the next 10kms which traversed the soft sands of Holkham, one of Britains more beautiful beaches and an almost impossible running surface. With the sand filled headwind taking its toll, I came quite close to finding a pub and calling for help, but managed to grind it out and get back to the trails.

This is some of the 10km of soft sand along Holkham Beach – others said this would be easy after the shingle, but for me it was shocking! Again, flat feet are key, with small strides, but it seems very energy inefficient. A fair few people using poles to great effect – I would have assumed the soft sand would make poles ineffective, but I have now witnessed the power of the poles and would not leave home without them again!

Feed me!

My eating and drinking was not quite as planned, a lot less technical, making use of the assemblage of treats at the many checkpoints (about 1 per 10kms). For the record I consumed:
·      6 jaffa cakes
·      3 fruit muesli bars
·      A handful of jelly beans
·      1 minestrone soup
·      4 energy gels
·      1 apple
·      1 banana
·      7 cups of strong tea with milk
·      1 pot noodle (chicken and mushroom, lovely, thanks Emily!)
·      2 bottles of powerade
·      About 7 litres of water with elyte electrolytes, provided by the race organisers
So much for the countless gels and protein bars I was carrying around all day, but this combination seemed to work well, and I felt in good shape throughout.
My ‘rules’ were – drink every 20 mins, eat something every 40. I stuck to that from beginning to end, finding some comfort in the rhythm it set for the event, and preventing me having a lot of doubt or eternal calculation to do about what and when to consume.

I think therefore I run

There is quite a lot of talk amongst ultra runners about what they think about when they run, and the various strategies that succeed or fail. I have found it very hard to control what I think about, so for all my ideas about what works or not, I always end up in the same sort of mindset, which is luckily one that seems to work for me. During an event I find anything that is not directly connected with the race to be annoying and upsetting. I can’t listen to an ipod, I can’t think about work, I can’t really take in and enjoy the scenery for significant periods. What I can do is to think alternately about how I am doing: my gait, my breathing, my digestion, my pace, my clothing, my feet etc., then about the challenge: how far to the next checkpoint, average pace per stage, weather conditions etc. Looking at this from the perspective of my armchair this seems extraordinarily dull, but while in the middle of it I find the hours just fall away and I am very happy in this rather zen-like bubble. Perhaps it is this that makes the long runs therapeutic and purging, the enforced exclusion of all other detritus from the mind and a total focus on the moment?

Keeping moving on the way back East

After a superb 52km turnaround, with Pot Noodle courtesy Emily, big smiles from Immy Alice and Ben and some Norfolk dwelling friends of ours, I headed back East to do it all again! 
The support crew!

The second half I had anticipated being very hard. But I was happy to find that I was in better shape than I could perhaps have hoped. I was still not fast – excluding the checkpoint stops averaging 7.5-8km/h, but still with substantially more running than walking. As the rain set in I became quickly soaked from head to toe, and my feet started to feel as though I had left them in the bath for a week (in hindsight I am glad I never checked to look at them, as I would surely have stopped!).
The key though, to keeping up a near constant pace for the return half was a revelation that I think I would only have come across in a flat race like this. The flatness means you end up in the same stride pattern, the same gait for long periods of time. This repetitive action becomes very hard work and the cause of a lot of muscle fatigue. I would start off from a checkpoint with a significant burst of speed, then 20 minutes later would be grinding on at a much reduced pace. By then changing to a fast walk, I could actually go faster than I had ended up running. 10 minutes or so later the walking pace would have become much slower, so I would change back to running, but with renewed vigour. I consciously alternated between my normal front-foot running style, a long flat-footed stride and a fast walk, by doing so getting muscle relief and a boost in speed each time. Maybe this is also a little to do with central nervous system fatigue too – by continually changing the gait it makes the mind wake up and try a bit harder, otherwise it gets lazy and doesn’t keep up the effort level? Anyhow, whatever the reason, I actually picked up the pace a little and passed a few runners in the second half of the race, the last thing I had expected!

Out of the darkness


The final 3 hours of the race, for me, were in the dark. A large expanse of shingle beach looks very similar by headtorch wherever you are! Only able to see the shingle immediately in front, the prospect of missing the beach exit (a slight gap in the shingle) was high and very intimidating. In the end it turned out that the superb event organisers, for whom I have great praise, had snuck out to the end of the race and left a trail of glowsticks for us, so the trek back in to the camp was one of euphoric relief rather than fatigued navigational panic.
Crossing the line after 13hr43 is not going to put me in any record books, but I can’t tell you how glad I was to have kept it going for all that time. As I put a sprint on up the last 500m to the line, the reception given by the Adventurehub team and the assembled supporters was one of the most warming and life affirming couple of minutes I can remember. I would have hung around to thank them all, but the option of noodles and hot showers was just a bit too much temptation!
With adrenaline and goodness knows what else polluting my bloodstream, sleep was hard to come by, not helped by the driving rain on the tent of course. Sunday, up at 7:30, struck the tent, 3 hours drive home, decorated a cake and a hall at a local farm and welcomed 20 kids and many parents for Imogen’s birthday party! It is good to have a challenge.

And finally...

Other than a sleep and calorie deficit I seem quite unscathed. I appeared to have some kind of hideous trench foot, with my feet being largely unrecognisable after so many hours of being pounded while wrapped in soggy wet cloth bags, but the recovery is happening fast so I will not worry for now! Oh, and climbing the stairs is not very elegant to watch, though a potential source of amusement for others I guess.
In summary, I met my objectives and got my UTMB points while enjoying myself(!). I learnt a lot on the way too, about running, Norfolk, wet feet, shingle and sand, and indeed the power of a warm cup of tea at pretty much any stage of the day or night. I would recommend it if you are into this kind of thing, for me it was certainly another great milestone on the quest for challenging and engaging adventures. What next...?