Running 100KM Ultra Marathon Through Devon on the Two Moors Way by Climb South West
Plan the run, run the plan, and this plan started many months ago, if not years ago.
After a horrible December and weeks of illness, i had to build again.
I had got in to UTMB CCC which is in September, a 100k mountain ultra marathon race, this meant I had 9 months to prepare.
I needed to hit a number of targets for this and it started with base building in January and February. March onwards I got a coach and had a monthly plan for March and April and booked in a step up race to test out where i'm at and to test my gear and equipment.
The race was the Climb South West Devon 100km Two Moors Way ultra marathon.
It's a 102km race with 2600m of elevation that runs through two national parks, from Dartmoor, through mid Devon and through Exmoor to the coast in Lynmouth.
It has a cut-off of 26 hours, three aid stations with a drop bag at around 60km at the second aid station and hot food and drink at each of the three checkpoints.
The Race
I had signed up to the race by the end of January, its the innaugural event distance after them running the 112miler from the south coast to the north they have added the 100km distance from Chagford in Dartmoor through to the finish beyond Exmoor in the north.
It seemed like the perfect step up race for UTMB CCC, it started in the evening so meant I had to run through the night and sits just 4 months before UTMB CCC and 4 months in to my training plan.
It was 100km+ in distance and slightly less than half the elevation of UTMB CCC and I would run through the night as it starts at 9pm.
It ticked the boxes I was looking for and then some. It was a self-navigated ultra marathon, it was waymarked with Two Moors Way route markings throughout but nothing set up by the race itself, so added a slight bit of difficulty to the event and I was happy with that.
It runs through two national parks, Dartmoor and Exmoor of which I had not visited before, or don't believe I have and I was excited to see what they had to offer.
Leading Up To The Race
I had planned in January and February to hit 50km average per week by the end of February. I had managed that and you can see that update here on my Road to UTMB video playlist on Youtube.
From March onwards I was aiming for time on feet and the plan was simple, two workouts a week, being hill intervals and two long runs and an easy short run with two days off.
I was doing 1-2 hours a week of strength and flexibility, purely for core workout and to improve my flexibility through some yoga.
April expanded on the plan somewhat, the longer runs got longer and the hill intervals were swapped for tempo sessions at 10k threshold pace. Which meant 2 workouts which were roughly 8minutes x 5 at 10k pace, with 3 mins recovery.
This was the plan, but nearby in Pembrokeshire there is a 650m trail circular track on the Wales Coast Path which I used, it had elevation of about 30m, was on trail and took me about 7+ minutes to do two loops of it at that pace so I did those 5 times and recovered on a bench in one corner of this route.
A month out from the race i ran over 100 miles in one week filming the Wild Horse 200 ultra marathon race which I think really helped, it wasn't a part of the plan but with all the filming I had to do and how i'm specialising in running and filming to be a part of a race, there was no way to stick to the plan some times.
At least I had a good amount of time on feet, plenty of elevation, after this I was sort of back on to the plan for the final month before the race in early May.
I had got up to almost 90k a week running, i had a couple of hikes a week with Rachel and 1-2 hours of strengh/flexibilty and could not have been better prepared.
The Plan and How The Race Unfolded
The plan was to not get lost, was to stay on top of my nutrition and take the night very easily, which would help with navigation and also make sure I had something left at the end to finish the race strong.
So what was ahead for me? What was the lay of the land?
It was 100km distance and 2600m elevation, i believe I had done everything in my power to get ready for that, but what else?
Weather, nutrition, sleep, feet care, time running, navigation, there are many things beyond just being fit enough to complete a distance that could make or break a race.
I had checked the weather numerous times and it was looking calm with little wind but over cast and cool for the entirety of the race with rain coming on the Sunday evening a few hours before cut-off at 11pm.
So the first aim was to get in before this rain, preferably before 7 or 8pm.
Even with this forecast, I packed for complete downpours and hot weather and took my heavier waterproof jacket instead of my thinner ultra/trail running waterproof jacket. I kept the waterproof trousers in my running vest and took spare socks for each CP as well as trenchfoot cream.
In my drop bag I had put in hot weather clothing as I knew I would get to the CP sometime in the morning and would have a better indication of what the day was going to be like. So some things I didn't carry as I knew I would get my drop bag before I needed them, these were not mandatory kit, but extras that would come in vital and most importantly, i knew roughly when i'd have access to these and at what time of day.
A good friend who I know from North Wales who was also running in the same race had mentioned before sunrise it might be hot on the Sunday and clear up. With that in mind, i left the capri leggins on to keep my legs covered, put on high ankle socks and swapped my semi-thick Odlo long sleeve running top I had worn all night and put on a very thin long sleeve running top to keep me covered and my desert running cap which covers my back and face.
I only had my calves and hands open to the sun.
The plan was to have all bases covered, at least to some extent, either with kit in my running hydration vest or something I could swap out in my drop bag and that worked perfectly.
Beyond this my main concern was through the night and getting lost, we would be going through hundreds of farmers fields and it meant random angles through the long grass. I had a map with GPS on my phone using maps.me which worked well and a paper map that I got out a handful of times to follow in some sections when i was a little in front of or behind a group.
My phones battery went from 100% down to 78% over the 17 hours and was never charged at a checkpoint. I would highly recommend maps.me which I use for other navigation and trail running when in new places. It is not a turn by turn navigation device, but the GPX route is loaded on to a topographic map which shows my current location so I could use it to still navigate, but with little battery use.
I was fortunate to end up in a group that had a decent pace which had two locals in it, this meant the fields that we would navigate would be very easy work and would get us through the night without a hitch and keep us on the two moors way and mean not losing any time or having bonus miles to run.
About 2am I had my first negative experience which lasted approximately 30 minutes, i felt nauseus and tired. I was yawning constantly throughout this time and felt a little sick. I believe this was due to the time and that I hadn't slept since 9am the previous morning.
Approx 30 minutes before getting in to checkpoint 1 this passed, I ate some vegan split pea and lentil soup in the checkpoint, topped up the water, got rid of my rubbish and felt incredible and ready for the next 70km+ remaining.
Approximately 40km+ onwards I started to feel the aches of the run in my legs, i've had this in my training runs of over 30km when i've pushed the pace and was happy with this and knew it was nothing to write home about.
The pace held and I didn't have any other issues until much later in the race, about 75km in to be exact.
On a climb after travelling along a river for an hour or so, my left achilles popped and i had a painful few moments. I knew I could continue and immediately got my poles out to help support myself moving along.
I was just about able to run but hiked this section for about 10km up to CP3 in Simonsbath. Here I took an ibuprofen, had some fantastic food and within minutes was feeling great again. The remaining 15km after a hill climb a group of three of us were able to run at a decent pace towards the finish in Lynmouth.
Other than the 30 minutes of tiredness early in the morning and this ankle issue, there weren't any other issues.
My training had worked well and helped me finish strong. I had no nutrition issues, no navigation issues which i was very fortunate with and gone in to the race with a plan and backups. Everything fell in to place and I could not be happier with the result of 102km and 2600m of elevation in just over 17 hours.
Nutrition
I have a whole food and three food plan for ultra marathons, slow release energy, fast release and something in the middle.
This is so that if I do have nutrition issues, i have options, i always have at least one or two different textures or types of whole food to have which will get me through any energy dips or long sections between checkpoints.
My slow energy food was flapjacks and oat biscuits.
My middle release was dried fruit and fresh fruit.
My fast release energy was date syrup, it basically works like gel but is a single ingredient whole food.
I carried enough food to get me between two checkpoints just in case, so weighed a bit more than most who were on gels and powders but i love food. I feel like this is how I planned most of my race, don't just have one thing that will help but have two options at hand. The rule of thumb is one is none, two is one and so on.
This works for navigation, I had three options, paper map, gpx route on phone and others i ran with who had maps on their watches.
It works for everything and is a great way to approach things in terms of safety. My three bottles of water could be just two if one decided to pop or break.
As well as my own food, the aid stations were fantastic, plant milks for tea and coffee, water and coke.
I had split pea and lentil soup at the first aid station around 2am. The second aid station I had my drop bag so replenished flapjacks and fruit and they made me beans on toast at around 6.30am. Final checkpoint had vegan cakes, flapjacks, crisps, fruit, coke, tea/coffee, sweets and I had the banana bread which was soft, moist, glorious, topped up fruit and had a coke.
Felt great throughout in terms of food/nutrition, always nibbling on something and always had great options at the checkpoints.
The nutrition side of things could not have gone better and most importantly, it cost me very little.
Flapjacks are cheaper than energy bars, date syrup is a a couple of pound for a large bottle and approx equivalent to 10 gels and fruit such as bananas and satsumas are cheap too. The most costly food items were dried fruit but the different textures they give you are worth it and it's always good to carry things with you that taste great and give you exactly what you need.
The Race Stats
Here are my race times and splits below and my strava embed of how it went.
| Chagford (100k start) | TIME | SPLIT | TOTAL |
| Morchard Bishop | Sun 01:33:22 | 04:33:22 | 04:33:22 |
| West Anstey (Exmoor start) | Sun 06:43:25 | 05:10:03 | 09:43:25 |
| Simonsbath | Sun 11:18:36 | 04:35:11 | 14:18:36 |
| Finish | Sun 14:17:22 | 02:58:46 | 17:17:22 |
Post Race
I arrived back at the campsite in mid Devon around 16:30 after being dropped off by the minibus. Had a long hot shower and was already feeling pretty good, physically.
Back in the campervan by 17:00 I sorted out some of my gear from the race and then went straight to bed. Here I was lucky to have Rach looking after me and I had some rice, vegetables and hummus with a vegan yogurt and a lot of water.
I then had a 15 hour sleep of which I woke up with a spring in my step. I could feel a small ache in my shoulders after relying on my poles to get me through the ankle pain I had and my achilles also ached, albeit only slightly.
I was walking almost normally and we went back past Lynmouth to Valley of the Rocks for a small walk. I managed to walk up and down the highest hills here without much issue and could not be happier.
The following couple of days I continued to eat whole food plant based meals, my favourite being a sweet potato and chickpea curry and grains. The sleep I had and what I put in me to aid recovery has definitely helped with my overall recovery post-race.
And here I am three days later, walking perfectly normal, I could manage a small run with no issues and feel no aches or pains.
Thanks for reading and make sure to subscribe at www.youtube.com/@kelpandfern where I will be uploading two videos about this race.