Ultra Trail Snowdonia 50K
UTMB World Series
Llanberis, Wales, United Kingdom
May 17, 2025
8:30AM
The Event:
Ultra Trail Snowdonia is 1 of 2 UTMB World Series events in the UK, and the only one in Wales. The ultra events include standard UTMB/ultra distances of 100M, 100K, and 50K and an additional 25K. It takes place in Northwest Wales, in Eryri (formerly Snowdonia) National Park. Like many mountain areas in the UK, Snowdonia has wide open 3,000 foot peaks with few trees. Making for great views, but very exposed and sunny. Similar to other UK mountain ranges, Snowdonia is also quite rocky and technical.
All three ultra events seem pretty competitive, I'd say either the 100K or 50K is probably the most competitive race. The 50K is probably a bit deeper, given its easier to run a 50K, but the 100K seemed more world class/harder to win or podium. The races here maximize their elevation gain, and the 50K would have 11,154 feet of elevation gain over 56K/34.7 miles. This would be the longest and hilliest race of my life by far. My previous ultras had almost half that with Quebec Mega Trail at 6,500' and Golden Gate Spartan Trail 50K at 5,800'. So fair to say this course was going to be an absolute beast. Amazingly, the 100K and 100 mile have nearly as much elevation gain per mile as the 50K - about 21,000' and 31,000', respectively. The 50K already felt like a huge step up for me, I can't imagine the 100K or 100M.
After running Quebec Mega Trail 50K in July 2023, I really enjoyed doing a challenging 50K and looked into potential other 50Ks down the road. Since I want to do UTMB one day, it's great to participate in UTMB World Series event to getting running stones for that, and just generally they seem to be highly competitive, well organized and on excellent courses. With many of the top US and European UTMB series races being at altitude, Snowdonia was really appealing - a beautiful, highly challenging mountain course but at sea level. Almost 2 years seemed like enough to get accustomed to longer trail races, and I convinced Andrew to do it as well. Signed up in July 2024 when registrations opened.
Background:
As stated, this race is super hard - being such a jump in elevation and potentially technicality meant I wasn't looking to "compete" here. I really just wanted a solid finish, but really would happy just to finish. With a 14 hour time limit, I wasn't too concerned about that aspect. Even I was really struggling, I could probably manage to walk quite a bit of it and get under the time limit.
This race has 11,000 feet of elevation gain, 4,500' more than Quebec. And Quebec was the third hilliest run behind the Pemi Loop and Presidential for me, both of which were in 2020 after a long summer of frequent mountain running. I think in recent years 6-7K of elevation gain has probably been about my limit, 11K was so much I definitely had my doubts coming in this. Perhaps the more concerning factor was that I came in very undertrained. After a full road block culminating in the Boston Marathon April 21, I had just a 26 day turnaround to Snowdonia. Which is difficult considering I needed to both recover from Boston and taper for Snowdonia, which only gave me about a week and half to get in challenging trail runs while respecting a minimum window for recovery and taper to make sure at the very least, I would have a fresh body to compete on.
I completed 3 long runs - 21 miles with 3,300', 20 miles with 4,500', and 17 miles with 2,900' plus two 10 milers with about 2,000', all of which were on fairly technical terrain. Definitely not adequate prep, but tried to maximize both my preparedness and freshness heading into this race with the window I gave myself, and I think I did a decent job. I was definitely expecting the second half of the race to be really tough for me, but thought based on past 50Ks, the 2020 runs, and the little bit of prep I did that I had a good chance of finishing. I was much more worried about Andrew, who had never done a 50K before and didn't have the experience of those runs, plus only did about half the preparation I got in.
In addition to my undertraining concerns, I was also concerned about a tight hamstring and a weak right ankle that I sprained in November 2024 and resprained at Breakneck (tune-up race) two weeks prior to Snowdonia. Over 35 miles and a lot of technical terrain, I was really hoping it would hold up.
Time to address the elephant in the room. The required gear list. A list of 22 items that we'd be required to purchase, bring, show for inspection and race with. I've done a few races with a required gear list, but this has never been more than 3 items before, even in the other 50Ks. This was an entirely new level of planning and stress I've never dealt with before. In the weeks leading up to the race, I went through each item multiple times, ensured I had that item and ordered one if not. Many of these items were not simply "jacket" but had a lot of technical specifications to them. For example the waterproof jacket must withstand bad weather in the mountains, have an integrated hood, fully sealed or taped seams, and membrane of 10,000 Schmerber and 13 RET. This was a significant source of stress for me, and I fretted many times about whether my items would pass inspection, given many items were highly expensive and I opted for cheap alternatives off amazon. There were also additional cold or hot weather items, and I had no choice but to get those as well given they could potentially be added to the list. Here's a breakdown of the items, in order of how stressed I was about failing inspection:
Low-risk/total confidence: Running pack, 1.0L water capacity, headlamp, survival bivvy bag, 800 calories of food/gels, bandage, whistle, compass, ID, running shoes, long pants, waterproof gloves, hat
Slight concern items: reusable cup (must be suitable for hot drink/not lidded (mine had a removable lid), waterproof jacket (no idea whether it hit those technical specs/numbers)
Medium concern: waterproof overtrousers (very difficult to verify the sealed seams, and not brand name running pants), saharan cap (went for the buff-hat alternative, which did not fit me very well/almost certainly would loosen up running)
High concern: cell phone with UK roaming. I originally tried to add roaming with current phone, which it wasn't supported. Then I got a new phone which I knew it was supported with, but realized that's just data not calling/texting which is clearly required. Then I had to get another new phone, unlocked, and buy a physical SIM card while in the UK.
This packing list was almost more of a concern than the race itself to me. Andrew was nowhere near as worried about it, but given some of my items were questionable to meet the strict requirements, and it's clearly stated that you won't get your bib if any of your items fail the kit check. Not much to do, but hope for the best.
Pre-Race:
The race was on Saturday, and Andrew and I flew Boston to London to Manchester on British airways Thursday, which pretty much took up the whole day. 7:30AM flight from Boston meant waking up at 3am, driving to Quincy Adams, ubering to Logan, then getting on the flight. The Boston flight left an hour late (just sitting there in the heat while A/C - brutal), so we missed the Manchester flight. Fortunately there was one more flight that night as we were originally told we'd have to stay in London and come back the next morning. We got to the hotel in Manchester at 12:30am, so a long day, and no time to run.
Friday was still a lot of traveling. After sleeping in, getting in a 3 mile pre race run in Manchester, I first had to get a SIM card, then we took the train from Manchester to Chester, before switching from Chester (England) to Bangor (Wales). The train to Chester was really pleasant and nearly empty, but I noticed my SIM card was not working for texts/calls. The train to Bangor was ridiculously overcrowded. We stepped in, began to walk down the car because clearly the first one was full, came to stop with other people coming the other way and that was that - guess we're standing for this ride, with an aisle packed with people. Never seen that before in the US. Fortunately after a few stops, it cleared out enough that Andrew and I could sit. We talked to a guy from Bristol, Rhode Island who was nice enough to give up his opportunity to sit because I was racing tomorrow. We also talked a little with some older women from Liverpool, who also did not care for Donald Trump.
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| Canal Path in Manchester |
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| Packed train to Bangor |
After getting to Bangor, we then took a taxi to Lllanberis, but the day wasn't done - we'd still have to walk over to the race village and go through kit check. We spent an hour at the airbnb getting organized, and I could not resolve the phone issue. Plus I had a new issue - I had my primary phone number listed as my contact, not my new unlocked phone I'd have on me during the race. And there was no way to change this online. So even if I got the texting and calling to work, they wouldn't even have my phone number. I figured it was best to keep this to myself at kit check, as I'd be all but guaranteeing I wouldn't pass that requirement.
The kit check. The big moment. Andrew noticed at the last minute on an app we had to download the hot weather kit was mandatory, glad he caught that. We only had to show a handful of items - phone, bivvy bag, sunglasses, saharan cap/alternative, water capacity. Super easy, didn't even ask to turn on phone. Walking out of that area felt like a small victory after so much worrying. The actual race conditions would be dry, warm and sunny - I'm guessing they would have asked to see different items in rainy conditions but unlikely to inspect anything closely. Given they didn't ask to see many items, I decided to leave some items out of my pack to reduce weight. I think I only didn't bring the waterproof pants, but was able to repack everything in a way that didn't feel super heavy/uncomfortable.
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| Race start/finish |
The Race:
Jogged over to the start maybe an hour out, bathroom lines were pretty long so I tried to go right away, then finish my warm-up. First race I've ever seen that half the port-a-potties were exclusively for women. Did some strides and stretching, readjust pack and shoes. They announced you'd have to line up 30 minutes before the start which was pretty annoying. They said the elites could hang out in front of the start until 15 minutes before. I think I was ranked 17th or 18th so I wasn't sure if I made that cutoff. I asked a volunteer if I was "elite" and he said sure. So got to bypass the corral which was pretty nice. But still annoying to wait around standing for 15 minutes doing nothing. Andrew would have to start in the 3rd wave half an hour later since he had no UTMB index, so I was glad that didn't happen to me. We were given a wristband the day before to show we passed gear check, but it was really tight so I took it off. I was looking around before the start and noticed every single person had it except me, which was a little concerning. I was slightly concerned that I would get stopped at aid stations because I didn't have it, gear checked, and then DQ'd since I knew I didn't bring some "mandatory" items. Fortunately, this did not happen.
This race had 3 aid stations which broke up 4 major climbs and descents - the first two about 3,000', and last two around 2,000'. From what I read online, it sounded like the second half gets a lot easier than the first.
Section #1: 9.2 miles, 3,000' ascent, 3,100' descent
The race started with about a flat half mile on paved road through the town before a 2,700' climb over 3.8 miles. At Golden Gate, I wanted to run 6:30 pace on the flat/non-technical sections and adjust accordingly, today I was shooting for 7:30. I had lined up in the 4th row but a handful of people passed me over the first half mile. Despite feeling like I was letting people go, I was in a solid position without crowding and running close to 7 minute pace. The first third of a mile was about 250' of climbing on a paved path which was decently steep and didn't feel amazing to run.
We took a left and the path switched to a wide gravel path and slightly less steep. These next two miles were pretty nice, about 600' gain/mile, nice views and nice temps at this point. I found myself near some of the top women, and recognized a Norwegian elite runner from a Golden Trail World Series video. She had settled into a nice running rhythm while others were hiking or alternating run-hike. I decided to match her pace for a while which felt pretty good. After a steady 10-12%, the trail got a lot steeper for the final mile of the climb with 1,100' gain in the 4th mile (22% grade). I had felt pretty good running, and hiking did not, so I ended up passing the Norwegian girl. Things got steep enough to switch to hiking and I caught another elite women. It was kind of funny at first as I was hiking at the same pace she was running, as typically I experience that the other way around. Once it got steeper though, she continued running still and dropped me. My back felt super tight and uncomfortable towards the end of the climb, but wouldn't be an issue going forward. The last bit of climb leveled out, and I was able to run. We were directed to take a sharp left at the high point and begin the first descent.
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| Llanberis Path early on (Google street view) |
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| Lllanberis path towards top (Google) |
The first part of the descent was immediately quite technical and steep. I was surprised to quickly pass another woman and started to think my downhill technical skills were good. That feeling didn't last long as people were quickly cutting the gap on me and passing me. The trail was decently crowded with hikers, but most people were courteous to get out of the way or cheered. I tried taking a waffle during this descent and that was definitely a mistake because it was super hard to eat while running. There were some more runnable bits of this trail, but there were also frequent really technical or steep sections that were hard for me to go fast on. I got passed by 5 or so people on the descent, including the Norwegian woman. My original plan was to put my used gels and other trash in a ziploc bag, but this was extremely tough to coordinate while running downhill so at some point I just stuffed them elsewhere. 2/3 of the way down the descent, there were some water tanks to refill and port-a-potties, so I decided to fill one of my flasks and go pee. The final bit of downhill had zero hiker traffic and more on grass. There was an additional mile of flat or slight downhill running to the aid station where I was in no man's land. I was starting to get hot spots on my feet and made a note if it got worse it might be smart to reapply bodyglide or change socks. It never really got worse, but was consistently uncomfortable all day on technical sections.
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| Descending Pyg Track (trail on left) |
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| Pyg Track (google photo) |
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| More runnable trail (google) |
Came into the first aid station feeling pretty decent. Decided to have a half waffle, some fruit and refill my flasks. Threw away trash. Overall was in and out of this one pretty quickly.
Uphill Splits (Miles 1-4): 9:21, 11:19, 12:04, 18:42
Downhill Splits (5-9): 13:18, 13:24, 11:21, 11:33, 8:55
Section #2: 10.9 miles (20.1 cumulative), 3,600' ascent, 3,300' descent
There was about 3 miles of either flat or slightly rolling miles before beginning the next climb. Mostly non-technical, and some sections would be sparsely wooded. A few sections where you had to step over a blowdown or it was a little confusing where to go. One guy passed me through this flatter section and another was content to run just behind me.
This next section of the race would be absolutely brutal. I knew this was the biggest climb of the day, but just wasn't expecting it to hit so hard. The guy who had been running just behind me pulled even with and introduced himself, saying he had been trying to catch me for a while. He pulled away slightly, caught the other guy ahead, and they both pulled out poles and stuck together. The first part of the climb was very gradual with some stone steps, and I felt comfortable running so I passed them. It didn't last very long as I started to feel quite nauseous and it felt more comfortable to walk. Up to this point, I was shooting for 2 gels + a waffle or chews every hour. I ran some more and felt more nauseous, leading to me throwing up a few times. That resolved the stomach issues for now but put a dent in fueling plans for sure. After a "warm-up" mile, the trail got a lot steeper, and I got repassed by the two guys. I noticed one guy had gone slightly off trail to get some water at a nearby stream. I still had plenty left, so I continued on.
The remainder of the climb got really tough. I was passed throughout, as my hiking speed was much slower than those around me. The sun beating down felt super hot, and I went through my waters fast. One guy even asked me if I was okay, indicating I was moving so slow it was concerning for him. One woman who passed me that I said good job to replied you'll catch me on the downhill, which I figured almost certainly wouldn't happen. There were several steep scrambling sections, but mostly it was just a long, steep hike up. Things finally levelled out a bit where I could run again, and neared the summit. It got really confusing where to go at the summit, and also extremely packed with hikers. I had to stop a few times to make sure I was going the right way. I was out of water and quite hot, so I thought about stopping at the summit building but didn't know where the water would be and I didn't want people to think I was going the wrong way so I continued and hoped for the best.
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| Towards end of 2nd climb (google image) |
The first quarter mile of descent was so crowded I had to pretty much shuffle and stop a lot, but we switched to a different trail that wasn't nearly as packed. Still really crowded, but now able to run mostly consistently and have to people dodge. It was annoying because the middle of the trail had a lot of small, loose rocks and it would have been far easier to descend on the larger stones on the sides, but people were walking on those. It took me some trial and error to realize that as I would start running on the sides, then come up on someone really quick and have to get off. One time, some guy stepped right in front of me and I nearly fell trying to avoid him. Unlike the first descent, most of these hikers seemed annoyed there was a race going on and were not very courteous (although some were). Fortunately after half a mile or so, it thinned out where I could mostly run evenly without having to awkwardly jut around people. Sure enough, I did pass that one woman from before. While this descent was technical, the rocks were much smaller than the first one, it was quite steep at about 1,000' drop/mile. But overall easier to run and get into a groove. I kept an eye for streams but there hadn't been any since the start of the climb.
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| Descending snowdon ranger path (google image) |
After 2 miles on the main path, we turned off onto another trail more through grass and bog than rocky surfaces. For the remainder of the race, these trails would be much less traveled and hiker traffic was not a problem at all. I walked briefly through a muddy section and also stopped to go pee. Finally got to a stream and filled up. One guy also stopped to fill his bottle. I was getting kind of weak here and had another gel now that I had water to wash it down with. After another 1.5 miles, mostly runnable, I came into the aid station.
Night and day difference between how I felt during the first and second aid station. The first one I refilled and ate to be cautious. I felt totally wiped coming into this one. I probably spent a full 5 minutes just eating and drinking here since I felt really low on fuel. I lost 3-4 positions alone just from spending time in there. I started to sweat into my eyes which was unpleasant. The volunteers at these aid stations were great. I ran out of the first aid station, I walked out of this one. Mentally, my spirits were pretty low - I already felt close to defeat/exhaustion, and there was 15 miles and 4,000'+ of climbing and descending to go. My strategy at this point was just to keep moving forward and hope things wouldn't get dramatically worse.
Uphill Splits (10-17): 11:11 (inc. aid station), 11:47, 9:08, 10:13, 15:18, 24:51, 28:15, 18:19
Downhill Splits (18-21): 11:26, 11:38, 8:42, 17:20 (inc. aid station)
Section #3: 5 miles (25.1 cumulative), 1,800' ascent, 1,900' descent
One good thing I had going for me at this point was it was only 8K between aid stations this time. So hopefully that was a relatively quick trip through this section and I could worry about the final 10 miles when I got to it, and at least at that point I'd be through the final aid station.
The downside was fatigue was super high. The course briefly went on paved road before a thick forest trail. I felt pretty weak and nauseous and running even a slight uphill seemed to take a lot of effort. I got through that section and now began the challenging part of this climb. From reading online race reports, I expected that while I'd be pretty tired at this point that the rest of the course would be a lot easier. And while nothing was truly as hard as that second climb, this third climb felt miserable.
Interesting trail as it was much grassier and very little technicality compared to the climbs so far, and also the most remote/least trafficked trail of the day. But even though it wasn't technical, it was stupidly steep at about 30% in spots. This was a long struggle to the top. My legs just felt so fried and zapped of any power, perhaps the slowest/worst hiking I've ever done in a race. One guy was actually struggling more than me on the hiking and I passed him. I got nauseous and threw up again, clearly had too much at the aid station trying to overcompensate for how weak I felt. After what felt like an endlessly steep slog, I hit a false summit but the last bit was much more runnable on a ridge. One guy with poles went by me at a good pace, and I noticed it was Jonathan Albon, who was first in the 100K and a world class ultra runner. Got to the top of this climb and was looking forward to the descent.
The initial descent was absolutely miserable. Not technical whatsoever again, but stupidly steep (-25 to -30% grade) and my legs felt so bad. Just super wobbly and uncomfortable. It levelled out after a bit then got a little technical then a very muddy section. There were many gates you'd have to open or small ladders/steps to get over a stone wall, and these were pretty frequent in the last 15 miles. Went back through a forest and followed some guy the wrong way. I briefly veered off course with another guy before realizing it was the other direction. Came into the final aid station. I didn't feel quite as wrecked as the second aid station, but I had serious concerns about the final 10 miles given how bad that last climb felt. I took my time here but was careful not to stay for too long.
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| Went through this gate |
Uphill Splits (22-23): 25:30, 19:00
Downhill Splits (24-26): 12:11, 11:58, 15:46 (inc. aid station)
Section #4: 9.6 miles (34.7 cumulative), 2,500' ascent, 2,600 descent
After the aid station, we went through a open fields/grass campground for a bit. I completely stopped for maybe a minute to stretch given how bad my legs felt at this point. After a short bit of running, my GPX indicated a left turn but there was clearly no trail there. The next half mile or so was super confusing. There had consistently been flags down every 100m or so, which was fine as we had been running on established trails throughout. Now my watch showed to cut through a high grass field. I would run a bit on what clearly wasn't a trail, stop, check my GPX to see if I was on track, then look for a marking. I thought I got back on a trail but then ran entirely across a field before realizing I had gone the wrong. The next field was especially confusing - you were supposed to run uphill across the field, take a hard right along a stone wall, then go through a gate before being back on a dirt road. But it took me quite a while to realize this. Others were coming up on me quick, and several of them just cut diagonally across the field. One guy who passed me here just said "f**king hot!". I was also concerned about water management since it was a full 10 miles back. I hit a big stream about 2 miles in and opted to drink a full flask worth (half liter), and hope that'd be enough. After just a brief amount of established trail, I encountered the same issue with the lack of a real trail, but now in a thick pine forest. Fortunately this section was a lot shorter. The next mile or so was a slight uphill, and I felt surprisingly really strong here. I was able to run nearly all of it, and erased a 300m-400m gap the next group had on me. Fun section on a non-technical singletrack path with sheep. There was a sharp turn beginning the next climb.
This climb was pretty runnable at first, but I opted not to pass the guy ahead and alternated walking/running. It got pretty steep again and while my hiking wasn't strong here, it felt like normal hiking and not a miserable slog that was the third climb. I got dropped pretty good here, including getting passed by the 2nd place in the 100K. I was all alone at the top, but before descending there were a series of very steep but short ups and downs. This area was pretty epic with sweeping dramatic views but not much technicality. Just grassy slopes here. It was really difficult to run these downhills, again at like negative 25 to 30% grade. But they came and went, and now there were just 4 miles to go and nothing steep. After a pee break and having a waffle while I walked, I was able to run at a slow steady pace on what was a slightly downhill gravel path. I had been doing some calculations to up now and wanted to break 10 hours, which was definitely happening. 8 hours was gone, but I should be able to break 9.
With 3 miles to go, I was at about 8 hours - could I break 8:30? I'd need to average just under 10 minute miles. It seemed doable. Except after a mile, there was about the final 150' of climbing. I knew I'd have to push through and run this to break 8:30. But I thought about it briefly - I didn't want to suffer much more, and who really cares if I run 8:30 versus 8:32. After this section, it was also super runnable and unfortunately all paved. I also somehow got passed by like 5 more people even though it was only 1.5 to go. Going down the 15% grade paved road we started up was pretty miserable. Some guy who passed me said "awful finish on the pavement". I felt really weak again once it flattened, but at this point was just gutting out the rest running. It was annoying getting back to the start but having to do 3/4 of mile on paved before finishing. Managed a small kick back up to 6:30 pace on the grass finish.
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| Final gate |
Uphill Splits (27-30): 22:55, 13:13, 18:55, 20:03
Downhill Splits (31-35): 17:20, 11:31, 8:47, 11:38, 8:23
Overall- 8:28:00, 48th place.
Place/Time for Each Segment:
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| Mostly steady from aid station 1 to 3, then lost a lot of places towards the end. |
Performance Thoughts:
As stated earlier, this race was considerably harder than any other I had attempted. I had done some training, but nowhere near enough to do well in this kind of race. I would have been content with a finish, and I was really satisfied to finish under 10 hours. I think my goals for this one would have been roughly A) sub-8, B) sub-10, C) finish (sub 14). To just miss A makes feel this was definitely a success and it was great to have completed that one.
From an objective standpoint, this was obviously not a stellar performance - there were a lot of issues and tons of room for improvement. I'm happy with it given it would be a challenge simply to complete and was a big step up, plus I didn't get in a full training block. A solid result here is very different than a competitive one, and while I certainly wasn't ready for that this around, here are some notes on the good and bad of my race:
What I Did Well:
- First Climb, really steady and consistent on this one regardless of the grade. I probably went out too hard, but I think with the right training in the future, I could go out at a similar pace and run the later climbs just as well.
- Mental Fortitude, other than a few extra minutes at aid station and short stretch breaks, I kept moving forward no matter how terrible I felt. I think a serious difference between a race and a regular run for me is not taking substantial breaks. As a regular run, this likely would have been over 10 hours with many breaks to recover. Even if many aspects of my running weren't great, I was determined to finish without adding too much excess time, and I think I accomplished that.
-Uphill running. Anytime I ran uphills, the pace was really solid compared to those around me. Usually those uphill running sections meant I was gaining on people or at least holding even. Problem was my lack of endurance and the steep grades meant much of the uphill time was spent hiking.
-Ankle strength. I was out there for 8.5 hours on a super technical course, and never rolled my ankle. That's a win after a lot of concern going into this one.
What Could be Improved:
-Endurance. While I'll highlight other major weaknesses, endurance was the biggest thing. This was a beast of a course and was going to take a massive engine to run well over the whole thing. I knew I was unprepared and wasn't moving well the second half. While there are many specific things to work on, the most time will be taken off by simply being stronger over a super hard/hilly course.
-Nutrition. Honestly I'm a bit confused on this one, but clearly it was an issue as I had to throw my initial fueling plan out and fuel when I felt weak as I was having stomach issues and throwing up. This hasn't happened to me before. It was mostly manageable on a slow course like this, but something that might need looking into.
-Water Management. Some of this is due to the logistics of the course, minimal aid stations, and a warm/sunny and demanding course. But I ran out of water in the hardest part of the race, and it was almost certainly a contributor to slowing down and overall fatigue. At the very least, I could have filled up at the beginning of the climb like I saw someone else do.
-Heat Management. The high was like 65 but being in the sun all day, it hit me super hard. I think some heat acclimation prep would have been beneficial.
-Hot Spots/Blister formation. Not sure what the solution is for this, I used bodyglide on my feet and anti-blister feetures socks. Maybe need to change shoes.
-Power Hiking. This is a big one. After the first climb, my legs were zapped and I was losing so much time on the steep sections as nearly everyone around was moving so much better. It seems like poles would help quite a bit but also more practice with hiking would too.
-Downhill Running. After endurance, this was the biggest weakness. I compared segment times between myself and the top runners, and I was much further back on downhills compared to the hiking. Being able to run these more efficiently on tired legs would go a long way.
Comparing to past ultras, this was definitely my worst of the three 50Ks. In terms of accomplishment, this one felt the most difficult and epic and was certainly the most satisfying to complete, but as for objective performance, it fell short of the others. While still nowhere near as hard as Snowdonia, Quebec was hot, had challenging climbs, and really technical sections. I had decent prep, but still not as good as I'd need for a competitive race. I think that effort was only a little better than this one. I think really the only difference in that there was considerably more power hiking in Snowdonia, which was a weakness for me. Golden Gate was definitely my best ultra performance, and it's not hard to see why - it was the easiest course, relatively non-technical/runnable and I was also the best prepared out of the three with an actual full block.
I have 4 UTMB index races, and unsurprisingly this was the worst one. The scores mostly make sense, although Kodiak's 689 rating seems a little high given I struggled quite a bit with the altitude in that race. But I guess I approach 25K length races very differently than 50Ks, and both 50Ks were also much harder than most trail races I do. I wish Golden Gate was a utmb index race as I feel that would be around 700.
Post race, my legs felt horrible initially then much better after showering and having some food. Overall, recovery nowhere near as bad as post Boston or Honolulu.
I really enjoyed this event. The biggest deterrent for me doing it again was really the gear list and the logistics and cost of getting to Llanberis, much harder than being near a major city. But the course, while relentlessly brutal, was extremely rewarding to complete and it'd be super fun to do again. Given there's so many other events in that area, I would probably look at some of those other races before doing this one again. But overall, had a pretty good impression of the event other than the extensive gear list. That's a wrap on Snowdonia, and onto Laugavegur.
