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…)

I haven’t had the best luck with six-day races in the last few years. In 2022 Covid messed up my training for Kauhajoki, but to my surprise I still managed a more than decent distance (393 miles). In 2023 I went into Six days in the Dome fit and uninjured, with lofty goals. However 3 and a bit days and 200ish miles in I had to stop due to a badly swollen lower right leg that wouldn’t bend at the ankle, plus a hacking cough that was stopping me sleeping and making me puke. In 2024 a flight cancellation stopped me getting to the start of the Viadal 6 day, but saved me from digging deeper into the chronic fatigue hole I’d not yet realised I was in.

I spent the Autumn and Winter walking and then cycling, as anything that made my heart rate go above 160 bpm wiped me out for days. By Spring 2025 multi-vitamins and HRT (plus being more careful about not overdoing things at work) had sorted out my energy issues. I entered the Viadal 6 day in August again, and got back to running. The first short run was slow, but otherwise no cause for concern, until the next day when my right lower leg was very sore. The pain faded over a couple of days, and I was able to go ahead with a short backpacking trip on the 2nd half of the Dales High Way that weekend.

Sunset and sunrise on the Dale High Way (separated by a chilly night in an ice encrusted tent)

The pattern of ‘fine when running, sore for a few days afterwards’ continued for the next few months, but overall things seemed to be going in the right direction. The short runs got a bit less slow, slower than they used to be, but at a level I could live with (and attribute to aging). I built up the weekend long walks and run-walk-jogs to the level I’ve been managing for the last few years. Somewhere along the way the niggle evolved into being a constant ache which eased off after a mile or so of moving.

In late May I did the Long Distance Walkers Association 100, as part of a long-term goal to finish 10 of their 100s before I turn 60. Given the goal was just to finish, I decided to copy my 2022 post-covid LDWA100 strategy: walk the first ~30 miles and then shuffle the flat-ish bits after that. My legs were initially achy, but they eased off by the end of the day. I finished comfortably in under 32 hours, which I was fairly happy with. I was behind some walkers, but ahead of some people who’d run from the start.

I recovered fairly quickly, and eased back into training. However things went badly wrong in late June, a few minutes into a short treadmill run. The initial aches eased off as usual, but after a minute of running normally my gait became awkward, and then my right leg suddenly ‘went’ and I came to an abrupt stop. My right leg wouldn’t weight bare while bent at all. I had to drag myself (literally) up the stairs to bed. In the midst of a sleepless night where I mentally cancelled all my running and hiking plans for the foreseeable future, I booked the next available appointment with a physio I’d been recommended for foot and leg issues.

The next day I could only walk with trekking poles, and had to take stairs ‘two feet per step’. Things initially improved quite rapidly. After a couple of days I ditched the poles and within a week I was doing day-to-day stuff fairly normally, but walking was somewhat slow and uncomfortable. The physio diagnosed me with a weak ankle (one of the joys of hypermobility…) placing strain on my tibialis anterior, and dispatched me with some exercises.

Over the next few weeks I got back to walking long-ish distances at a reasonable pace (about 20 seconds per mile slower than my usual sustainable long distance walk). The original injury didn’t ache too much, but I developed various other aches (most significantly my lower back), presumably from compensating for the injury. I tried jogging on a couple of occasions, but it felt awkward and my leg was sore the next day, so I gave up on getting back to running.

My plan is to go to Viadal, walk the first day and see how things go. The best case scenario is that my multi-day shuffle still works and I can rack up a not-too-embarassing distance while trying out some potential fixes to issues: baggy shorts to avoid chafing, new sources of calories for when I’m feeling sick on days 2-3, and a coil to stop heavy bleeding (more about this in ‘the period bit at the end’). Anything over 100 miles will be an ‘over 50 distance PB’, so that’s a very low initial target to aim for. Unfortunately my brain can only get my body to do my multiday shuffle after 24+ hours of runing or walking, so I don’t know how much it will be affected by the injury. In 2019 I managed to shuffle my way through the EMU 6 day without running more than 3 miles in one go beforehand, so it’s not impossible that it’ll be OK. However it’s very possible that the compensation niggles, in particular the lower back, will grind me to a halt. All I can do is play the cards I’m dealt (and pack lots of books in case my ‘race’ comes to an early end).

I’m not as miserable about my ‘400 miles in six day’ plans getting derailed yet again as I would usually be, as I’ve already got one eye on 2026 and a very different adventure. Various things (including a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship) have aligned so that I can fulfill a long-term dream and enter a multi-day Arctic race (the 500k Lapland Arctic Ultra). I did the Rovaniemi 150 in 2020, but a multi-day race is a very different challenge, and something I’m really looking forward to.

The period bit at the end

With heavy, painful periods having become a significant issue in everyday life as well as during multiday races, I decided to get a coil fitted. When a menopause specialist initially suggested this I was reluctant as I’d had a painful, failed attempt at getting one fitted by my GP in my 20s (apparently my womb/cervix points in a funny direction). However I was sufficiently desperate to give it another go, and hopeful that getting it fitted by a specialist at a sexual health clinic would go better. It was still painful and not straight-foward (the nurse said she ‘could see your GP meant') but eventually it went in and stayed in. Since then my periods have been extremely light, and less painful, so fingers crossed the coil will also resolve the ‘heavy period arrives early during multiday race’ issue.

quote: L7, Electric Ballroom Camden, 16/06/24 (they actually said 21 rather than 18, but I've modified it to make it fit better).

2024 ended as it started, with a Zwift route completion habit, but in the middle things went somewhat wrong…

I started Zwifting in Summer 2023, while recovering from the injury which wrecked Six days in the Dome. 'Getting a Tron bike and completing every single Zwift route' was then the crutch which got me through the aftermath of my Dad's death in Autumn 2023. Thanks to slightly more cycling than was probably sensible, I got the Tron bike by the end of January, and by mid-February I'd done every route apart from the longest one, the PRL Full in London. It was a while before London was available at a weekend when I had sufficient time and energy. I gave up 5 hours into my first attempt, when I realised I was going to be finishing late and knackered before a busy week. I finally managed it (taking 8 hours and 13 episodes of Killing Eve) 10 days before my first race of the year, the Pennine Bridleway Trail Challenge. I'd entered the Pennine Bridleway as a fun multi-day warm-up for the Viadal six-day in August. Overall it was fun. However, my middle-aged (female) body threw me some fairly big curveballs: the heaviest period I've ever had, long-sightedness making navigating at night in a storm hard, and difficulty staying warm (when moving slowly due to the navigation issues…).