UKH

With tough conditions and a high rate of attrition among the favourites, this year's Montane Spine race along the 429km Pennine Way had its share of drama. What's it like to run for several days on a few hours' sleep? And what's the secret to blister-free feet? We catch up with winning woman Debbie Martin-Consani for answers to these questions, and much more.  

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I'm interested to know what sort of time these guys run over shorter distances, i guess they are also insanely fast over half and marathon distance? or is it a really specialist thing and their real talent is being able to navigate and endure tough conditions? What would happen if you tried to train one of those elite sub 2:15 marathon runners to have a go at this, where would they struggle, the distance, the terrain?

I wouldnt have thought the two really correlate. 1/2 marathon is distance running, marathon is long distance, this is long long long distance attrition races.

It's probably the same as Usain bolt being good over half marathon... he may be because he is fit but it's chance rather than related.... 

...maybe

DMC does marathons in 3.15-3.33ish, and halfs in 1.35ish, so decent, but not spectacular. I've beaten her in a 10-mile road race, but I couldn't imagine taking on the ultras she does. I think a bit part of her running must be her ability to accept long periods of pain and exhaustion - that takes a special kind of person.

Check this out: https://www.runbritainrankings.com/runners/profile.aspx?athleteid=195525

Goes without saying that her times are a bit meaningless without the context behind them (type of race, her own objective or reasons for running them, whether she was trying hard or not) but you might find it interesting.

It's interesting to read about the lean she was experiencing at the end of the race.  To me, it looked very similar to Damian Hall at the end of his Coast to Coast.

https://www.inov-8.com/damian-hall-coast-to-coast-record-breaker-q-and-a

Damian was suffering from (near fatal?) hyponatremia (drinking too much fluid).  Debbie in this article doesn't seem to consider that.  I watched her finish and was very concerned that she too may be suffering from the same condition.  

It would be interesting to know if lack of coordination and a lean is a normal symptom of hyponatremia, or if Damian's case was unusual??

There's some relatively well known footage of a runner finishing (just about!) the Western States with similar symptoms. Not sure what caused it, I just assumed extreme exhaustion, but perhaps there may have been some hyponatremia.

Debbie has already explained how excruciatingly painful her back was so I'm not sure it's the same issue.