Lessons from the spine race
by Doug Stewart
At 431 km with 12,000 metres of ascent across Northern England’s Pennine Way, the Montane Spine Race is billed as (maybe) Britain’s Most Brutal trail event. In January 2022, I took the start of what would become an epic 5-day adventure over hills, bogs, ice and beautiful scenery. Here are some lessons I took away from it.
The Spine Race is 431 km long (268 miles), heading North on the Pennine Way Trail – although this should be more accurately named the Pennine Way Bog as I believe there was more bog than trail on the route in January ‘22!
The race follows the route nearly exactly, with just the odd detour in places to avoid particular farms where a local land owner doesn’t want a load of ultrarunners passing through, or to get to a check point. This year there were a couple of additional diversions (including a short car journey) to avoid fallen trees in the forests of Northumberland.
Having never competed in such an event (my longest event being ‘only’ 171 km and having taken c. 36 hours), it was very much stepping into the unknown in a few areas:
How to manage the sleep deprivation
How to manage the multiple days on my feet (and manage them throughout)
Nutritional approach for multi-day races
I came up with a very simple mantra for managing the race:
Sleep, Feet and Eat
These were the 3 elements I was not willing to take risks on. I felt if I managed these well the rest would be easy….
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managing sleep & sleep deprivation
From experience I know I can do 2 full nights in a race setting without any sleep. Given that I was hoping to finish in 5 days at the Spine, I decided that it would be unwise to dig myself into a hole without sleep. Furthermore, my experience of 2 full sleepless nights took place in August, when sunset was around 8:30 pm and sunrise c. 6 am. At the Spine, I was facing around 18 hours of darkness per night.
Therefore, I had planned to focus on sleeping less frequently than other runners, but that these stops would be of higher quality and longer duration. The plan was set out as:
Night 1 – no sleep
Night 2 – sleep at the checkpoint for 1 hour
Night 3 – sleep at the checkpoint for 3 hours
Night 4 – sleep at the checkpoint for 5 hours
Night 5 – if under goal time sleep at the checkpoint for 1 hour
So, I had planned to sleep on 4 occasions, knowing that at 3 of the locations there was a bunk bed – and all were indoors and warm. I did not plan to sleep outdoors, even though on the kit list I had to carry a sleeping mat, bivvy bag, and also my sleeping bag.
I had also calculated that at my A goal and B goal paces, I would be arriving at the checkpoints in the early evening (or later in the night for B Goal), so it would mean I was maximising daylight hours on the trail.
The plan went well on night 1, as I ran through the night without any sleep issues and felt good all the way to checkpoint 2. At this point, I set my alarm for 1 hour on my phone, but due to it being set to “Do not disturb” I ended up sleeping for 4 hours! Although this messed with my timings, I decided to carry on with my original sleeping plan of 3 and then 5 hours for the next 2 nights.
This ended up working well. By night 4, I was back on schedule pace for my A goal of 120 hours (5 days).
I also found that, although I would lose places in the checkpoints, I was then gaining them back on the trail when passing people who were trying to sleep in a public toilet, in a bus shelter, or in a hut/bothy.
Additionally, although these people had also slept in the checkpoint (but not for long), they then had the additional hassle of setting up their bed for a second sleep in that 24-hour period.
When I arrived in checkpoint 5, I was feeling good and knew there was “only” a marathon to go, however, I still slept for 1 hour as I didn’t want to take a risk in the final part of the race. This was also the only time I used my camping mat, since this last checkpoint had no beds.
Overall, I did not experience any sleep deprivation issues. I was fine throughout and certainly seemed to be the most awake of the other runners I passed during the final 36 hours.
feet: proper foot care
Having done the UTMB twice without any foot issues (I used the same socks and shoes for the whole race both times, so never changed in the aid stations), I was confident that my feet were reasonably robust.
However, knowing the Pennine Way bog would be harder on my feet, I did adopt a slightly different approach this time
I used some tanning cream for 3 weeks prior to toughen them, and then a softening cream in the final week. I then ran in my preferred socks (Drymax) on day 1 and felt good, but due to the water constantly entering my shoes (essentially snow melt), I decided to switch to waterproof socks at the first checkpoint, as on a few occasions my feet were getting cold.
This actually led to a couple of small blisters, so at checkpoint 2 I had my feet taped and switched to my Drymax again.
At each subsequent checkpoint I then had my feet retaped (although in reality they were fine at checkpoints 4 and 5 – the blisters had dried out and I felt no more chaffing).
Luckily, the weather had warmed up, so although I was constantly getting water in my shoes from the bogs, it was warm enough not to be unpleasant. However, similar to the sleep strategy, although my feet felt fine in checkpoint 5, I still had them taped to reduce any risk of something going wrong in the final leg.
Although I had a spare pair of shoes in my drop bag, I only wore one pair for the whole race.
EAT: how to nail multi day nutrition
This involved 2 parts:
Whilst between checkpoints (the majority of the race) I ate a mix of food, and a lot less ‘sports’ products than I would have at a 100-mile or shorter race.
Food included a sandwich from a café, a free pie from a butcher, and then a mix of Mountain Fuel flapjacks, mini cheddars, Soreen, crisps, cereal bars, fruit and a few Mountain Fuel gels (one per day before the biggest climb of each day).
In my bottles, I had a Mountain Fuel Extreme energy drink to start (I had three flavours and mixed in a different one at each checkpoint) and then water. So a total of 6 across the race.
Additionally, I took advantage of the volunteers offering food outside of the main checkpoints at Greg’s Hut (noodles) and Horneystead Farm (homemade soup and a packet of crisps).
I ate every hour to 1.5 hours, but ate more per sitting (my usual approach is every 30 minutes and c. 50g – 60g of carbohydrate per hour). With this race being lower intensity, I was happy to eat more per serving but less frequently.
In the checkpoints (other than checkpoint 1 which did not involve breakfast) I ate a hot meal on arrival:
CP1 – Vegetarian bolognaise
CP2 – Sausage, egg, beans and bacon
CP3 – Bolognaise and a naan bread (interesting combo!)
CP4 – Lasagne, and then a second one (one person had 8 portions!)
CP5 – Sausage casserole with mashed potato
When I woke up, I then ate again (apart from CP1 as mentioned) and had ‘breakfast food’ to trick my brain into believing it was morning (although it was usually around 10pm!). This involved a cup of coffee and then some toast and jam, or more cooked food.
Overall, I did not experience any low energy points, but I think a part of this was due to the intensity of the race itself as much as to the fuelling.
Being chatty at the finish line
I believe that ensuring these three areas were well managed throughout helped me to avoid any physical or mental low points. Throughout the race, I had only one point where I got frustrated, however, this was over relatively quickly, and compared to other races it was only a minor dip. Moreover, whilst over the 117 hours that it took me to finish, the vast majority of time was spent alone (especially after the first 24 hours) and in the dark, I did not feel like stopping or dropping out at any point. Ultimately, I used the motivation of people tracking me, working through reasons why I wanted to finish, and some other mental approaches, such as self-talk and visualisation, to help me stay focussed on the race. I also ensured that I did not race another runner’s race. By this I mean that I did not try to keep up with anyone moving faster than me, or let their decisions impact what I did.
Finally, I have to acknowledge that we got lucky with the weather, as I did not use my waterproof jacket after day 2 and, although at times the mist came in and made navigation hard (with the glare of the headtorch giving limited visibility) and there was a strong wind at times, the temperature was mild after the second day.
Overall, I think I took a very safe approach to this race (with 13 hours’ sleep over the week and careful management of my feet), which I felt was appropriate for a first attempt at this type of event. If doing it again, I would be aiming for a faster time and may take a few more risks (e.g. less sleep and pushing a little harder in the earlier days, as I was not too fatigued by the end). But I am happy with how it went, finishing under my A goal by c. 3 hours, and placing in the top 20 overall.
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