As expected, the Viadal 6 day didn’t go well. I walked the first 60-ish miles, and my speed dropped from 14.5 min miles to 17ish min miles more quickly than usual. On the first afternoon various aches and pains flared up, including my lower back. However, as I’d hoped, they eased off. Two weeks later my back is still much better than it’s been for months (I’d like to credit this to ultra-running, but I suspect that actually it’s due to less driving and sitting at a desk…)

As planned, towards the end of the first day I deployed my multi-day shuffle. I started by just shuffle-running the steady gentle downhill section of the loop. That didn’t cause any problems, so I gradually increased the shuffling until I was only walking the ‘steep’ (in relative terms…) sections of the loop and back averaging 15ish min miles. For a little while I thought that maybe I could keep this up for 6 days and rack up a decent distance.

After 24 hour I’d only done 72 miles. On day one of previous 6 days I’ve managed between 79 and 87 miles (the 79 was at EMU 2019 where I walked most of the first day). Beforehand I’d thought that anything in the 70s would be OK, since I knew I’d be walking more slowly, however 72 felt a bit disappointing. It could still project to a decent distance though, if I executed the remaining days better (i.e. wasted less time) than at EMU where I finished with 361 miles. I didn’t have a fixed number in mind for ‘decent distance’, but I think I’d have been happy in the ‘not being able to walk without trekking poles 6 weeks ago’ circumstances with anything above 350.

a rare outbreak of running (credit: Viadal Ultra)

Not long into day 2 it became apparent that my shuffle wasn’t functioning as well as usual. Doing it continuously was hard work, and I switched to alternating 2 shuffling laps with 1 walking. More significantly both my legs, and in particular the injured right one, started aching. Not the injury itself, but the other side and back of my leg, presumably from compensating for the injury. The first couple of hours of the post-lunch and dinner blocks both went OK, but mostly it was a struggle, both mentally and physically. Six day races inevitably have low patches, but this was too much too soon, and I decided that it just wasn’t worth it for the sort of distance I’d be able to manage. There was also the risk of making the injury significantly worse, or causing other issues. So I decided to get to 100 miles and stop.

After doing my celebratory lap with the black 100 mile hat I told the timing people I was stopping. ‘For the night?’. ‘No, forever’. However I decided to hang onto my timing chip just in case. I slept extremely badly that night. Even after painkillers both my legs were very painful and any movement woke me up. The next day, walking was awkward and I didn’t question stopping being the right decision. After 2 largely sleepless nights (I never sleep well during the first night of a multi-day event) I was really tired and spent most of the day dozing, eating and surfing the web.

The location, in the Swedish countryside, was pleasant, and the weather was hot and sunny (far hotter and sunnier than ideal for six day running), so I settled into reading my big pile of books. People were sympathetic and, unlike Six days in the dome (where I was in a far worse state), no one tried to tell me I should have kept going. I do regret inadvertently being dismissive of distances that I later realised other people would be happy with (“My PBs 393 miles, so there’s no point suffering 4 days of pain to end up in the low 300s.”).

I’m not very good at doing nothing. Therefore having four days with nothing to do but eat at fixed times, read books, and hang out with other runners’ support crews was probably good for me. However there was a lot of time for navel gazing. I pondered if I’d given up and stopped too soon, but eventually convinced myself that stopping was sensible. The most sensible option would, of course, have been not to even start the race. However if I’d applied similar logic to the Kauhajoki 6-day then I wouldn’t have a 393 mile 6 day PB. My big mistake was not seeing a physio in the Spring when the initial niggle didn’t clear up.

Inevitably my mind turned to aging and future plans. There are people (including several at Viadal) doing impressive things well into their 60s, and beyond. While I know that I’m lucky to be (in the grander scheme of things) very healthy (and alive), my body is clearly declining and my window for ‘doing big things’ may be closing. Do I really want to spend the next few years obsessing about an arbitrary milage goal (400 miles), that in fact I’ve already got close to? It’s easy to think in black and white terms, but 393 miles is actually a fairly light shade of grey, especially since my initial target was 350-400 miles. I made a decision I’d been pondering for a few weeks: I wouldn’t give up on 400 miles per se, but would ‘park’ 6 day running for the next few years and do other things. Lately there haven’t been other races (apart from a multiday arctic ultra) that have really appealed to me. However during the 6 days I discovered that in 2025 the Oslo Bergen trail allowed solo runners and also heard about the Gotland Run 511k (a Swedish Last Annual Vol State-esque journey run).

In an attempt to focus positively on the future, I booked a Strength and Conditioning appointment with a physio. Partly for specific strength training for the Lapland Arctic Ultra next year, but also to hopefully help prevent injuries in future. For the past year I’ve benefitted from being much more careful about my energy levels. I need to do the same thing for my ‘chassis’. I also spent a lot of time (and a large fraction of my mobile phone data allowance…) researching potential trekking holidays to the more remote parts of Nepal or Bhutan for Sping 2027 (to make the most of being able to take annual leave during term time then).

Over the four days my legs recovered to ‘not much worse than they were are the start’, so I decided to put my running gear back on and walk the last few hours. I’d wondered whether joining back in for the fun bit at the end was a bit cheeky, but everyone I mentioned it to seemed to think it was a good idea, so I did. It was sufficiently slow and uncomfortable to confirm that stopping had been a good decision.

When I left Viadal I thought I’d come to terms with not just the outcome of this race, but also taking a break from 6 day running, after 3 years of unsuccessfully chasing 400 miles. However once home I felt deeply discontent. I eventually realised this was because taking a multi-year break from 6 days, would mean effectively giving up on breaking 400 miles. So in the end I settled on a ‘middle road’ plan: I focus on other races, but with the idea of entering a six day at short notice if I find myself in good shape. The Oslo-Bergen and Gotland races are both in July, so the Czech 6 day in early May could work well. Viadal was really well organised though, and if I ever want to do another 6 day in mid-Summer, it would be my first choice.

The period bit at the end
The race did have one positive outcome: the coil did its job! I just had one day of light spotting and no cramping (it wasn't noticeable above the leg pain at least…)