On 10th May, as restrictions on movement in the UK became more relaxed, Mark Cockbain of Cockbain Events, announced his latest virtual run challenge, the Cockbain Unlocked.

This was a series of distances to be completed entirely solo and self supported (no crew, carrying own equipment and providing your own checkpoints). No poles were also stipulated.

The distances and cut offs were:

  • 50 Miles in 12hrs (Wood)
  • 100 Miles in 28hrs (Bronze)
  • 150 Miles in 48hrs (Silver)
  • 200 Miles in 60hrs (Gold)
  • 300 Miles in 120hrs (Legend).

Runs were to be continuous and evidenced via GPS device, Strava etc

I decided that the 50 would make a nice replacement to the cancelled Lyke Wake Challenge that I was due to run on 11th July and with minimal changes to my training plan, I would be ready to run 50 miles within 2 months comfortably.

The catch would be that I would have to take an hour out of my previous 50 mile PB of 13 hours exactly to complete this.

I decided a key element would be choice of route. I already had a 10 mile loop I used for training and decided to alter it to avoid the single track sections (to ensure compliance with social distancing) and run it in alternating directions 5 times.

Map of route and elevation profile (elevation from counter-clockwise perspective)

This route was 16.24km in distance, just over the required 10 miles and gained around 250m per lap, considerably less hilly than the course I had set my previous 50 mile PB on.

At the start of my training, I ran the loop in both directions at the fastest comfortable pace I could manage and did it counterclockwise (my preferred direction) in 1h:30m and two days later did it clockwise in 1h:28m.

9 Days later, I did it both directions back to back as a 20 mile run in 03h:35m. I did this run wearing the same kit I planned to use on the day, basically my usual running kit, but wearing a cycling jersey to carry a water bottle and some food in the pockets to negate the need to carry a pack on the day. My checkpoint was to be the boot of my car, on my driveway stocked with water and food.

My training in May was very high volume (300km) as I was trying to push distance on the other virtual event I had entered (The Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee 1,000km). In June, my volume was reduced to 186km due to a bit of a niggly foot injury mid month (I had landed awkwardly on a rabbit hole then kept running for days afterward without resting). However toward the end of June, I was running comfortably and completed a hilly 40km run in 5 hours, which gave me confidence in my fitness and pace.

Ahead of the day, I’d contacted Anthony Corbett, organiser of the Lyke Wake Challenge and queried what start time he would have given me on the day. After looking at my previous Lyke Wake time and my estimated time, he told me it would probably have been around 6am, so I decided that would be my start time for Unlocked.

On the night before, I stocked a box with everything I thought I might possibly need during my attempt, including some spare clothes and spare socks (my feet had become very macerated during my 40km run due to the humidity and I wanted the option to dry my feet and change my socks if needed) and put it in the boot of the car. I prepared 2 half litre water bottles with Vimto cordial and put 2 High 5 tablets in each then stored them in the fridge to keep them cool. This would allow me 2 laps without faffing about with water bottles.

On the morning of the 11th July, I got up at 5am, had some breakfast and a cuppa and got dressed. I got my water bottles out of the fridge and had one last check over the car boot before walking to the start of the loop (about 30m from my front door) to wait the last few minutes before 6am.

My plan was to run 6 minute run intervals and 2 minute walk intervals for the first 2 laps and as much of the 3rd as I could manage. Overall I wanted to run the first 2 laps in under 2 hours each and the final 3 in under 2h:25m which would allow me to spend 5 to 10 minutes at the checkpoint each lap and still finish in under 12 hours.

Lap 1

I started my first lap at exactly 6am, this meant I knew that I had until 6pm to complete my 50 miles. The first 6 minutes passed quickly through the quiet streets and brought me onto the grass verged area along West View Road in Hartlepool. There had been a fairly heavy dew and I was careful to avoid getting my feet wet. As the 6 minutes came to an end and I started walking, I could feel a stone in my shoe, but I decided to start the next running interval to see if it would shift on its own. It didn’t and during my next walk interval, behind the old Steetley site, overlooking the beach, I had my shoe off emptying it out, before walking on again.

Each walk interval, I was also taking a swig out of my water bottle and having something to eat. On the first lap, I had taken an Ella’s Kitchen savoury babyfood pouch and a Asda home brand Snickers bar (Nutty Bar) with me. The idea being to eat some of the babyfood in every walk break and have the chocolate bar on the hour.

I passed over the deserted Hartlepool Golf Course and into Crimdon Dene quickly and started my first climb of the day at 28 minutes, timing the climb nicely at the end of a run interval. Barring the odd dog walker, Crimdon was also deserted as I made my way up the hill to the caravan park and got myself running again. At this point the weather was cool and there was a nice breeze, which made things a little cooler.

Time passed very quickly and I was soon at the 8km point, halfway round the lap at the bottom of the biggest climb on this lap from the Blackhall clifftop to High Hesleden village. I started a run interval at the bottom of the climb, which is more runnable, and managed to keep a steady 5m:54s/km pace while maintaining a nice low heart rate. As I reached the railway bridge, I was forced to walk and I checked time, 53 minutes and over halfway around the lap with most of the second half being a nice steady downhill. I took a nice steady walk up to the Coast Road, was quickly across and starting up Mickle Hill road. Once the first steep section of Mickle Hill was completed, I was quickly back into running, noticing the strong breeze that was now squarely in my face. The sun was feeling warm on my head and I made a mental note to pick up a cap for the next lap as I munched on my chocolate Nutty bar. I reached the highest point of the course, at the top of High Hesleden (10.3km in, 98m above sea level) at 1h:08m and began running on the road descent to the Hart to Haswell cycleway. There was a noticeable drop in temperature under the shade of the trees on the Hart to Haswell and having the breeze at my back made running a lot easier. At 12 km, I passed John Wood heading the opposite direction and he told me that he was on the second lap of his own 50 attempt. I was buoyed by this and looked forward to passing him at various points during the day (hoping he was on a similar loop to me).

I exited the Hart to Haswell (14.3km) at 1h:32m knowing that I was on track for well under 2 hours. I finished my food going up the minor incline on Hartville Road and on the final descent back to the house, I finished off my drink. I finished the first lap in 1h:45m and walked back to the house.

At the car, I swapped my water bottles and picked up my second pre-prepared food package (another Ella’s Kitchen pouch, a Nutty Bar and an SiS Protein Gel). I quickly took off my shoes and examined inside them, no sign of dampness, so I wiped the outsides of my socks with a towel and put them back on, leaving the checkpoint at 1h:50m and heading up King Owsy Drive to reverse the loop I had just completed.

Lap 2

I had barely gone 100m when I realised my first mistake of the day. I had planned to eat a protein gel at 4h and 8h but had picked up a Nutty Bar and protein gel on this lap, which would probably take me through hours 2 and 3. I decided that I would skip eating at 2h and have the Nutty Bar at 3h and then my protein as planned at 4h. I reached the top of King Oswy Drive at 01h:59m and began my drop back down to the Hart to Haswell, which was getting busy with dog walkers, runners and cyclists, including my former rugby coach Dave Rennie out for his morning run. The 4km section between Hart Station and Monk Hesleden (where I would turn off to climb up to High Hesleden) is a steady uphill and gains 40m so it is nicely runnable and it was tempting to skip the walk intervals, but I knew I would pay for it later if I did.

Because there was more traffic on this section, the time seemed to pass quicker and I hit the bottom of the climb into High Hesleden on a run interval so continued my run up the hill and at the top I had a long drink as I walked the first part of the descent. Once I was through the village and onto Mickle Hill Road, I realised I had forgotten to pick up my cap and my head was again feeling the heat so I put my buff over my heat to avoid getting burned, but resisted soaking the buff to avoid water running down my body and into my shoes. I reached the halfway point of the lap at 2h:44m and tried to to some mental calculations. I knew I was ahead of 5mph pace which would see me home in 10 hours and I had some slack to finish this lap in under 2 hours. I was feeling very comfortable with the 6/2 intervals and pushed on through the nature reserve and into the now waking caravan park. As I descending the hill into Crimdon Dene, I spotted a group of Horden rugby players running ahead of me and I picked up pace to catch the back of the group before they turned left to the beach and I had time to say a quick hello before pushing on toward the golf course.

At this point in my 2 lap recce, I had felt quite leggy and tired, but apart from feeling the heat, I felt I was going well right now and could sustain this effort for a lot longer. As I trotted into the sand before the golf course, I spotted my own footprints from earlier and allowed myself to feel a weird satisfaction that I get for some reason when backtracking over a route and finding my own prints. As I crossed the golf course, it was now very busy with golfers enjoying the nice weather and I had to pause at one of the fairways to allow a pair to take their shots before carrying on. I reached the Brus Tunnel at 3h:27m and finished my babyfood supply, dumping the pack into a nearby bin and set off on my final 2 intervals, finishing the lap at 3h:38m, a 1h:48m split.

In the CP, I realised that I should have prepared my next bottle before heading back out as I had to drop 2 High 5 tabs into freshly poured water, which if I put them straight into my collapsible water bottle, would make it expand and maybe burst so instead I put them into a normal bottle and let them fizz while I sorted my food out and gave my feet another quick check. The insides of my shoes had damp patches at the outside edge of the soles but my socks and feet appeared fine. I gave the feet a wipe and let the shoes air a little while the water continued to fizz. I grabbed my hat and had a drink of plain water while I waited, then decanted the fizzing water into my collapsible bottle, put my shoes on and left the CP 7 minutes after arriving.

Lap 3

I felt strong for the first section of this lap and made the most of my first interval noting that I hit my walk break at more or less the same place as I did in lap 1, meaning that the pace must have still been on a par. Running toward the beach, there were a lot more people about and things were definitely warming up, although on the coastal section, the breeze felt more cooling than it did inland.

As I arrived at Crimdon Dene (4h:14m) there was a ladies rugby team running hill repeats from the bridge up the steep section of the bank, so I cut across the dry river bed and ran up the grass at the side of the path to keep out of their way. Crimdon was now very busy with families and I was having to dodge and weave a bit to keep 2m distance away from folks and the burger van at the top of the hill was doing a roaring trade (and making me feel very jealous). I trotted comfortably through the caravan park but as I reached Cross Gill, I decided to take a slightly longer walk break as I clambered over the rocks onto the path beside the railway line at Blackhall, I shortened the next run interval to 5 minutes and it took me to the clifftop that signified halfway round the lap and the climb up to High Hesleden. Unusually for me, I didn’t look at my watch here, but had decided to walk all the way up to the road crossing in Blackhall. From there I continued walking up the first steep section of Mickle Hill and when it flattened out, I resolved to run to the next litter bin hitting the marathon point at 4h:59m:28s.

I walked whole next section to the top of High Hesleden and returned to 6/2 intervals when I headed downhill toward the Hart to Haswell. Once on the Hart to Haswell, I again felt cooler in the trees and had just finished a stint of runing when I passed John Wood again. I looked at my watch to note where we passed (44km) and noticed that for some reason my watch was no longer connected to GPS. This had only ever happened to me once before with this watch, during the Princess Ultra in 2017 and back then i hadn’t noticed until after the race.

I tried to switch the watch to navigation mode to re-connect and nothing happened. I continued walking as I tried selecting different routes to try and re-gain the lock but to no avail. I calculated that the distance travelled was still very much spot on where it should be and the pace being shown on screen was realistic so as with the Princess in 2017, the watch was still recording both, but not GPS points. This was a bit of a sickener as one of the rules was that the run must be evidenced. I had originally planned to carry my phone as a back up to record the race, but had decided against carrying it. I decided that the best I could do was to keep going and pick up my daughters watch at home. I could keep a continuous recording on my watch and evidence everything else on her watch. There would be a small GPS gap somewhere, but that would be out of my control whether Mark would allow it as evidence. I slapped myself mentally then got myself running intervals again.

I reached the bottom of the Hart to Haswell at Hart Station at 5h:35m and trudged up Hartville road before spending the final 2km going through what I needed to do when I got home. I finished the lap at 5h:47m, a 2h:03m split.

Natalie was in the garden when I returned and while I got my daughter’s watch set up, I explained what had happened. I realised at this point, that it was my first actual conversation of the day. I took photos of both watches as further evidence and sorted myself another bottle of Vimto out. I had another check of my shoes and feet and was back out of the CP 12 minutes after arriving.

Lap 4

As I headed up King Oswy Drive for the second time I was determined to remain positive and ran 4 fairly solid 6/2 intervals taking me up to 53.8km by 6h:35m. Although cooler and shaded the Hart to Haswell definitely felt harder this time around and I decided to revert to running and walking off feel. I made it into High Hesleden at 6h:44m and ran as much of the downhill into Blackhall Rocks as I could. The country park was now packed with families enjoying a nice sunny day out and I must have looked a really disheveled, smelly wreck moving among them. I made sure I kept on top of my eating and drinking during a long walk break up to Blackhall Rocks car park then got running again along the railway path. As I clambered down the rocks to re-join the Coastal path at Cross Gill, I surprised a family who had come up the steps from the clifftops and they let me go ahead of them on the path around the edge of the cow field at Cross Gill. Back into the caravan park, there were people sunbathing and enjoying a nice cool beer while the kids played and I tried to ignore them, starting to regret my decision not to bring music and headphones with me for the first time. I pushed on downhill to Crimdon Dene and hit the golf course at 7h:36m. Moving across the golf course and around the back of Steetley, I started doing the maths. This lap was looking like it would take 2h:10m, less than the 2h:25m I had allowed myself so if I got home around the 8 hour mark, didn’t spend a load of time in the CP and managed a 2h:25m final lap, I was in with a chance of finishing in under 11 hours, which I would be over the moon with. These thoughts occupied my mind all the way back to the end of the loop, arriving at 8h:06m. In the CP I quickly swapped water bottles and food, took my shoes off to empty an annoying stone out, gave the feet a wipe and checked that my watch was still tracking accurately against my daughters (it was). I left the CP 12 minutes after I arrived and headed out on my final lap.

Lap 5

I had only gone 100m up the road when I realised that there was stil a stone in my shoe. I stopped and whipped the shoe off and emptied it out, but there was nothing in it. I put my stockinged foot down on the path and felt that the stone was inside my sock. I felt at my sock and found there was no stone there, but it felt like a piece of stitching was sticking into my foot. I told myself there was nothing I could do now, just crack on and finish, so the shoes went on and I tried my best to do more running than walking, I muttered my usual mantra of “you are strong, you are fit, you are running pain free” all along West View Road to the amusement of several passers by an by the time I was back at the dunes above Steetley Beach I was feeling better. I resolved to run all the way to the golf course then rewarded myself with a walk break to the end of the golf course. Then I resolved to run all the way to the bottom of the bank at Crimdon Dene. Ahead of me there was a couple walking and I hoped they would take my usual path along the single track so I could take the alternative, flatter route by the side of Crimdon Beck, but they opted for the easier path. When I got to Crimdon, I had a long slow walk break going up the hill. Crimdon seemed even busier than earlier and the burger van smelled even better. I noticed that my top and arms were entirely coated with salt, I must have sweated out huge amounts and this reminded me to keep drinking.

When I reached the caravan park, I resolved to run the entire paved section until the coastal path became grass again. My foot was now becoming quite sore, so I also started muttering my mantra again hoping that as I passed what felt like hundreds of family BBQ’s, it would take the smell of food away too.

I arrived at the halfway point of the loop at 9h:35m and gave myself a long walk break up from the clifftop up past the steepest section of Mickle Hill and challenged myself to run to the litter bin again and made it. I walked all the way to the top of High Hesleden arriving at 9h:59m. At this point I was certain that I could walk it in and finish in under 12 hours, but I wanted to see if I could manage sub 11. I had another drink and mouthful of food and tried to run all the way to the Hart to Haswell but only managed to get halfway there and walked the rest.

Once on the Hart to Haswell I started running to a count of 30 in my head. After which I walked to a count of 30. After 3 sets of 30/30 running I ran 3 sets of 60/30 intervals to make sure I was running twice as much as I was walking. I then moved up to 120/30 intervals and during one interval passed another local ultra runner Andrew Lilley who was out for a bike ride. I was really finding it hard at this point but kept on with the intervals as they were keeping my mind focused on the task at hand. I reached Hart Station at 10h:35m and knew I was in with a good shout of sub 11h.

I walked up Hartville Road for the last time and got a bit of a trot on down the Coast Road to King Oswy Drive. I jog/walked down the road, keeping an eye on both watches for the point at which I would pass 50 miles so I could confirm what would definitely be a new PB. I hit 80.5km at 10h:45m:39s and decided to walk the last 400m to the end of the loop, reaching the finish at 10h:50m:00s exactly.

I pretty much collapsed on the floor when I got back at the house and sent my result in and within minutes Mark Cockbain confirmed that I had achieved Wood.

I was very pleased with the run, although it was on a much easier course than I would usually run an ultra, running on my own had been tough (surprisingly so considering how much training I do on my own), the weather had been hot and I usually struggle to run well in hot weather, on this occasion I had beaten the weather and I had achieved a 50k PB of 06h:09m:09s and a 50 mile PB of 10h:45m:39s.

The lap splits were:

  • Lap 1: 01h:45m & spent 00:05 in CP
  • Lap 2: 01h:48m & spent 00:07 in CP
  • Lap 3: 02h:03m & spent 00:12 in CP
  • Lap 4: 02h:07m & spent 00:12 in CP
  • Lap 5: 02h:32m

The 10 miles splits (including time at CP) were:

  • 10m – 01h:42m:46s
  • 20m – 01h:51m:43s
  • 30m – 02h:19m:23s
  • 40m – 02h:19m:43s
  • 50m – 02h:32m:04s

GPS Issue

After reviewing the GPS data, it looks like my Suunto stopped recording GPS points at 38km as I passed the ladies rugby team. It is only the second time in 5 years of use that this watch has done this, so I am not worried about it being a major issue. Using my daughter’s watch meant I only missed 10k of GPS data. If I was running an event that was wholly reliant on the GPS, I would probably have had the backup watch with me or or been recording separately on my phone. In most races, I would be wearing a tracker which negates the issue.

To try and identify immediately if it happens again, I have built a Suunto app that gives an audible alarm if the GPS lock drops below 5%. This is something I would probably disable in a race anyway, but if it happens in training, it might allow me to identify a way of fixing it.