It’s been six weeks since Herdy’s Front Yard Ultra, and I’m back running. It wasn’t as quick a return as I would have liked, but I was happy to have been able to complete the event, rather than injury halting my race before I got started.

I almost enjoyed being ‘an injured runner’. As I eluded to in my last blog, I had a three year break from consistent running between September 2020 and 2023 – but it wasn’t down to injury. I’d been on a challenging fertility journey and was advised by my fertility specialist not to run, enabling all of my body’s energy to go into treatment. It was incredibly difficult to be ‘on the bench’ from the sport that helps me so much mentally, during the stresses brought on by fertility treatment.

So, it made a nice change to know this was an injury induced break that I could do something about to strengthen my weaknesses and get back to running.   

In the last few laps of Herdy’s – 16-22ish – my knee became progressively more painful and I’d begun getting it strapped by a physio. The strapping helped initially but soon I was in constant pain, and ultimately it ended my race, with a hobble that I couldn’t get going again from resulting in me timing out on lap 21.

Immediately following the race – in the first 24 hours or so – I could barely get out of bed. This was partly due to my knee, partly my very swollen ankle that I rolled early on (within metres of the start line on the first lap), and partly due to exhaustion. My partner Guy was lifting me to get to the bathroom and I had fainted three times during that first 24 hours. It took me a while to want to eat and drink but gradually, as I got fuel into me, I was able to function more normally. By the Monday following the event, I was able to hobble a very short distance with the dog.

After a week – when I thought I’d cope with someone touching my knee, I went to see the team at Valetudo, and got a referral for an MRI. The MRI fortunately showed no fractures or meniscus damage, instead indicating ITB Syndrome. I was thrilled with the prognosis. I could strength train and cross train my way through that and hoped to be back running in a matter of weeks. Walking was difficult so I used a knee support in the first few weeks, mainly to give me more confidence and encourage me to walk normally.

Two weeks later I was in the pool, on the elliptical and strength training three times a week. Six weeks on, I am back running and while initially my knee was a little grumbly, it seems to have settled and I am gradually building the distance, so far with no pain.

The downtime has given me the chance to reflect on my build towards Herdy’s and the event itself, so I thought I’d jot down a few of these reflections.

1. Was a six month build to a 24-hour running goal the wisest thing? I doubt it – realistically I was pretty much starting from a standing start.  As a running coach, if someone came to me asking for a plan to get them to such a goal within that timeframe from that base, I think I’d at least have suggested a B and C goal. That said, I’ve no regrets. Yes, I’ve been running for 20 years, but the last three have been very interrupted and I just wasn’t fit – with only the odd short run or two in between fertility cycles. I probably needed a more conservative goal for my first Back Yard Ultra.
2. I realised I’d become hooked on seeing my training volume ticking over the 100k mark in those final weeks – because of course, there’s glory in training 😉. Reflecting on how I felt during the event, it wasn’t my fitness that was the problem, and I think I could have gone the same distance – possibly further – with less running, more cross training and definitely more strength work. That would likely have helped me avoid the overuse injury.
3. I wore the wrong shoes. I had planned to increase the cushioning in my shoes as I went – thinking that psychologically and physically, that would be a nice treat every five or so hours. I started in a completely flat pair of old New Balance 960s which, while ‘comfy’ and nice and roomy, offered me zero support. Of course, it felt great when I changed into a more cushioned pair of New Balance 1080s but I wonder if this minimal support on the hard limestone contributed to my knee injury.   
4. I didn’t prepare for the heat. Well ok, I bought a good hat, had plenty of sunscreen and prepared for it be harder than if it was cooler, but that was about it. I didn’t take any hydration out on course with me for at least the first four laps – when it was 33 degrees and blazing sunshine.
5. I didn’t have enough food choices. I spent hours refining a colour coded spreadsheet of foods, outlining what I’d eat when, and how many carbs that would equate to, but all of my food options seemed dry once I got going. I had wraps, sandwiches, LCM bars and I needed many more ‘wet’ food options like rice pudding, oats, baby food pouches, custard. My limited food options simply meant I didn’t eat, because I couldn’t stomach anything dry.
6. I drank far too many electrolytes during the event and not enough (actually not any!) water which caused me feel fuller than I was and ‘over sweetened’.  
7. I got into this strange mindset which I’ve experienced before in races, which makes me avoid changing anything at all in case the change means things fall apart. For example, I didn’t change my clothes for pretty much the entire 22 hours I was out there. If I’d made the effort to, I think this would have made me feel fresher.
8. I didn’t properly prepare my crew. As I mentioned above, I prepared an elaborate spreadsheet for them to follow but I didn’t brief them on how to handle anything other than the specific plan I had documented, which went out of the window after the first 2 hours. In honesty I’m not sure what I would have ‘briefed them’ on, as I didn’t know what I’d need. They did an amazing job considering none of them had crewed this type of event before and they had no clue what I wanted them to do.
9. I *possibly* completed my laps too fast. I was very consistent time wise, finishing each lap between 47-53 mins, all the way to around lap 18. While I could have slowed down and walked more to give my knee a break, I felt I needed the time back at camp for toilet breaks (I had an upset stomach for part of the race), to ice my ankle, get my knee strapped, etc. It felt as though there were lots of things to fit into that maximum 13-minute window, which I wasn’t willing to compromise on.
10. Perhaps I should also mention that I had a goal – when most experienced Back Yard Ultra runners mark that as the cardinal sin – by setting yourself a goal you are effectively placing a limitation on how far you can go. If I’d hit the 24 hours, this may have been an error.  I may be inclined to be less firm on the goal next time.  

Would any of this have extended my race? Likely yes. Or at least all of the factors that may have contributed to the knee injury would have, and the rest would have made it (even more) enjoyable. Regardless, the first thing I say to anyone who asks me about the event is ‘I loved it’. And it’s true – I did. What really excites me is how much more I might enjoy it if I get some of these things right next time.  

So I’m putting this experience down to vital data collection – as without the rookie mistakes there would be no learnings to apply next time.