Wadi Rum Ultra — Running Ranger

The Wadi Rum desert is a protected wilderness in the south of Jordan. It’s dramatic landscape spans over 720 sq km and features deep red valleys of sandstone jebels, natural arches and pre-historic carvings that date back to 7700 BC. It is no surprise that this incredible scenery has been the backdrop to a number of films including; The Martian and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Last Days on Mars.

The Wadi Rum Ultra is the only race in this part of the world and that is one of many things that makes this race so special. The race covers 260km, over 5 days. Runners are required to bring all their nutrition to the race but transport is provided for overnight bags from camp to camp so you only need to run with your daily provisions.

Photo credit: Tufnell Photography - Sam, me and Ollie — Photo credit: Tufnell Photography - Sam, me and Ollie

This is the second year the race has been running so the field was small with just 20 participants, the majority of which were from the UK. It was nice to experience a more intimate race where you have the opportunity to build relationships with all the runners and organisers. I feel lucky to have done it this year and think that over the next few years it has the potential to substantially grow.

I booked on to the race in August after meeting up with my friends from the Marathon des Sables, Ollie and Sam who had already signed up and were looking a third team member. I didn't take much convincing. The opportunity to run in a new part of the world with like minded people is always something that excites me.

I had just 8 weeks to train but knew I was working off a solid base of fitness having just completed my first Ironman in July. My weekly mileage only peaked at 100km but I also swam twice a week, had one strength and conditioning session and sometimes also a spin on my turbo. I've also found much more benefit in quality over quantity in terms of mileage as I’ve gained more experience in endurance sports. All my runs have some sort of focus; whether it be a tempo session or long run to test out my nutrition strategy.

Preparing for a race like this requires much more than just physical training. There are many other elements to consider such as the sand, the heat, your hydration, nutrition and kit. Preparing for these factors requires hours of research, analysis and documenting in mega spreadsheets. As with any race, I try to replicate the conditions of the race in my training. This meant bikram yoga classes in the two weeks leading up to the race to acclimatise to hotter temperatures, long trail runs on the weekends and testing kit and nutrition in training sessions.

Day 1 of the race started on Monday so everyone flew out on Saturday to arrive at the crack of dawn on Sunday for the kit check and race briefing day. On entering the desert, we were driven on the back of trucks to our first camp where we stayed for the first three nights. Sleeping arrangements were tents of 3 - 8 people, each with mattresses, which felt like luxury and made the world of difference to getting a decent nights sleep. Between the tents was a fire and lounge area which became the communal spot for eating, stretching and chatting to the rest of the group after each days running.

My goals for the race were to run close to the whole race, enjoy myself, push hard, keep consistent throughout the week and use Day 1 to judge where I should aim to finish in the field.

The distances for the 5 days were split out as follows:

Day 1 - 47km
Day 2 - 53km
Day 3 - 70km
Day 4 - 55km
Day 5 - 35km

On the morning of Day 1, I was feeling excited and nervous. My race strategy is always to run to how I feel and I wanted this to be at a comfortable pace that I could maintain throughout the day.

Day 1 can be a game changer in a multi stage race. If you go out too hard, you will pay the price for the rest of the week. I knew I shouldn't get carried away with the initial rush and ended up finishing Day 1 in 3rd position after starting out in 7th. My tactic soon became known to most of the other runners that I enjoyed hunting people down, all the way to the finish, so I got given the nickname ‘The Black Widow’ or ’The Terminator.’ This of course, did not apply to Salameh Al Aqra or Sam Hayward who led the race from the front of the pack all week. Salameh Al Aqra, a local Jordanese professional runner is a truly humble and inspirational guy and Sam Heward, equally as humble and inspirational has the potential to wow us all in his running future.

I was pleased to feel strong from Day 1 and finishing in 3rd overall gave me confidence in my ability and the drive to perform well for the rest of the week. Feeling strong meant I could enjoy myself for the most part and push hard when times got tough. And boy did they… The heat was relentless, particularly on Day 4 that was spent predominantly on salt flats. In times like this, I’d dig deep and focus on not letting it get the better of me, taking one checkpoint at a time and thinking of how good crossing the finish line feels.

Most of the course was runnable and even where it wasn’t, I’d shuffle through the sand or up the hills, keeping a decent pace so I could get to the finish line each day as early as possible, usually by lunch time. This meant I'd have the afternoon to rest and recover in the form of re-fuelling, putting the legs up and getting massages from Kieran (JustOneBody), our race osteopath and Lucy, the physiotherapist, both of whom did a formidable job in taking care of all of us.

I managed to maintain my position of 3rd overall and 1st lady till the end of the race, which surpassed my performance expectations and I couldn’t be happier with.

My final times for each stage were as below:

Day 1 - 47km, 5hrs 15mins (6’58min/km), 340m of ascent
Day 2 - 53km, 5hrs 57mins (7’05min/km), 480m of ascent
Day 3 - 70km, 8hrs 17mins (7’23min/km), 503m of ascent
Day 4 - 55km, 6hrs 01mins (6’44min/km), 114m of ascent
Day 5 - 35km, 3hrs 54mins (6’36min/km), 206m of ascent

Photo credit: Tufnell Photography - The glorious finish line!!! — Photo credit: Tufnell Photography - The glorious finish line!!!

I was pleased with the majority of my nutrition for the week. I ate just short of 3000 calories per day; 500 for breakfast, 500 for supper, 800 - 1000 during running and another 800 - 1000 for a recovery shake and snacks while recovering in camp. My nutrition strategy whilst running was structured around taking on fuel every 45 minutes. This varied between solids, gels and powdered sachets to reduce the chances of my stomach being overwhelmed by just one type of fuel. Each provided me with roughly 30g of carbs, which might be too little or too much for others but worked well for me as I never felt low on energy or sluggish in comparison.

I tried LYO dehydrated meals for the first time and won’t be looking back for any future desert races. All their ingredients are natural and you get much better macros in comparison to other brands. The beef stroganoff and coconut porridge were a personal favourite! I also tried Tent Meals for extra variety and both their breakfasts and main meals were delicious. The only thing I would have changed for my nutrition would be replacing some of my afternoon snacks with another 500 calorie meal as I often had a long time to wait till dinner by the time I had finished running.

Hydration wise, I drank close to 1.5l every 10km - 750ml of which had Elete in and the other 750ml was plain water. Hydration strategy is so person dependant but I know how much I sweat so ensured I drank frequently in small quantities.

My kit also worked perfectly so I don’t think I would change anything there. Here is a list of my main items:

X-Bionic Trick top - my desert go-to that I cannot fault
X-Bionic Marathon shorts - again, so comfy and simply cannot fault
HokaOneOne Challenge ATRs (1 size up with elastic laces) - comfy, spacious and breathable with a good sole surface area for the sand
Desert AR gaiters - didn’t get one sand granule in my shoes!
Injinji socks - prevented all but one blister between my toes!
X-Bionic Metal socks - kept my feet cool and added an extra layer of cushioning
Ultimate Direction Scott Jurek Trail pack - amazing bag with perfect storage and hydration facilities. Fit perfectly, looked good and once again cannot fault!
SunGod PaceBreakers - love love love!

Photo credit: Tufnell Photography - Last night BBQ and fire — Photo credit: Tufnell Photography - Last night BBQ and fire

We were treated to a hotel room on the Friday night with beers, a buffet dinner and celebrations through the night. Before heading home, we had the opportunity to spend a day in Petra seeing one of the seven wonders of the world! A recovery day soon turned into a 15km trek but it was well worth the experience... even if it did give me an infected blister. We were later taken to the caves for a BBQ dinner around a fire before being shipped back to the airport for a sad flight home.

Photo credit: Tufnell Photography - Sleeping under these stars! — Photo credit: Tufnell Photography - Sleeping under these stars!

There is so much I have taken away from this race. One highlight being sleeping under the stars in camp on Day 3 and another being watching Flora, who suffered from knee issues from Day 1, finish on the last day after 10 hours. It ran shivers through me thinking what she went through and just to be standing there with everyone else cheering her in. Aside from my position or performance in the race, the most valuable thing I will take away from the week are the memories that will be forever ingrained in me and the friendships made that I know will last a life time. The foundation of friendships made in the desert are like no other and I consider myself lucky to have shared such a special experience with all of them.

Photo credit: Tufnell Photography - Beautiful views on Day 5 — Photo credit: Tufnell Photography - Beautiful views on Day 5

Photo credit: Tufnell Photography - Wadi Rum Ultra Class of 2017 — Photo credit: Tufnell Photography - Wadi Rum Ultra Class of 2017