Race Review: The Lap May 2026

The Lap 2026

May 2026, the official start of my racing season. I took a few months rest after the last ultra in 2025 to reset mentally and also started workign with a new coach in Feb 2026 to get me ready for some new challenges.

Fast forward a few months and here we are. On the start line for the May edition of the Lap (clockwise loop). A challenging but stunning 75km Ultra around lake Windermere in the Lake District and feeling in really good shape.

My goals for the day;

1: enjoy myself

2: put in decent effort but to not absolutely bury myself as I have a longer race in 5 weeks

3: run strong from start to finish

After a struggle to get up at 3am, the journey to race HQ was pretty straight forward and the event village is vibrant and full of enthusiasm. I'm excited, though lots look very nervous. I know my fitness is the best it's been and my coach has prepared me very well indeed.

t minus 60 seconds to race start!!

There's c1300 runners today all setting off together so it's busy, and once we're off the inevitable bottle necks are there. Not a problem though as it all serves to stop me going off too fast. Not that I was going to let that happen today, I'm calm in good spirits and have a solid strategy for the entire day. Soon enough the bottle necks disperse and we're moving mostly on country roads for a bit without issue. Skirting the lake clockwise with some magical morning views is just the ticket and you can't help but feel energised. Especially as the forecast rain is nowhere to be seen (and would stay away all day as it happens.

lake windermere. very early on

The route start quite modest and after a way we start the first decent climb of the day. Latterbarrow. Though nothing to worry about, it is steep and bring us out in to a great view of the lake from above. I take a quick photo and start making my way down. I'm determined not to waste time in aid stations or sightseeing today!!!

at the top of Latterbarrow

After a sharp-ish descent, we back on rolling terrain for a bit. It's easy enough running and enjoyable with a few little inclines but mostly just enjoyable trail running. My legs feel good and strong and i'm loving life right now!!

Next up we come to the second biggest climb of the day, Loughrigg Fell. Again, in pure climbing terms it's not a huge one standing around 350m high but it is a steep one which is essentially steps all the way up so running isn't an option. I get the poles out and grind it up there about as fast or slow as everyone around me. Whilst quite tough as part of the race, we summit, take a phot and head on down the steep but nicely runnable decent. It doesn't take much for the legs to recover and I'm moving solidly without much fatigue to speak of.

top of Loughrigg fell. view for miles!!!

At the bottom of Loughrigg fell you drop in to Ambleside and I was treated to joining the local parkrun. It gives an unexpected boost to the already good mood as the volunteers, park-runners and spectators alll seem well aware of the Lap and give loads of encouragement. I'm still feeling strong so don't need it, but it's a really nice touch and great to see so many enthusiastic faces supporting. this takes us to the next aid station.

My aid station strategy for today is to get n and out inside 2 minutes. I have a habit of wasting time in them but as i'm self sufficient all day for nutrition, all i need is a water fill up and off i go. I keep this up all day which is a big plus for me and change from the norm so proves I was listenin to my coach all along!!!

Next up we have the biggest climb of the day. The climbs come thick and fast on this route but Wansfell Pike is the highest at about 480m high. Its a stinger too. Just steep steps from bottom to top and they feel like an absolute slog to be honest. I've no idea how long it took to summit but i moved quite well throughout. that said, this is where your legs will start to feel it, they don't oet up and there's no joy to be had going up.

Again the stunning view at the top makes for some sort of compensation!

the summit of Wansfell Pike - 482m

The descent of Wansfell isn't one I particularly enouy either. there's some ridge runnign firstt which is a slog and the steep descent is where i start to feel it in both my IT bands and quads. Not to the point of being a problem, just noticeable and with a long way to go that's not welcomed!!

Another aid station passes and the route now climbs again. It's semi runnable but probably ot wise to do so. I'm now pretty much walking all the climbs to save my legs which feels sensible but stilll moving well and am at the sharp end of my 10-12 hours loose target finish time. To say the nextt section passes without memory probaly serves an injustice. The route is stunning and never stops being so, but I honeslty don't have much memroy of this bit. My pace is good and my mood is still in the game.

At about 45k is we hit another aid station and my attempts to swallow more electrolyte tablets goes wrong. OK, so I won't be taking any more of those today. My throat has given up enjoying the large pills. i dont give it much though but I'm also convinced it impacts me at the end looking back.

By now a pattern of running with the same athletes has emerged and whilst we all yoyo a fair bit, friendly faces are quite frequent and I spend probably too long but an enjoyable time running with a guy (Andy I think) and another girl whose name escapes me. Both are similar level runners to me todays it seems and we move through to about 60km together, including scaling Orrest Head and Gummmer's How - neither of which are huge but both are significant at this stage in the race and with a lot of quite technical terrain to navigate it's by no means easy under foot . A makeshift aid station where i guzzle some flat coke from friendly residents sees them move away in to the distance but I'm not too bothered.

About 65km in and we hit the last aid station. I'm told there's only 8km left which lifts my spirit (turned out it was a lie, there was still just over 10km!!). Another climb takes us up to High Dam which is a very pretty place too be, although it's followed by a quad busting descent that i really didn't enjoy. My IT bands were holding up and cramp hadn't really bothered me all day but the cumulative descending had taken it's toll. That said, I'm still moving well on fairly technical terrain and start picking off runners in to the final rolling 5km before settling with a female runner about 3km from the end. Both shattered we together closed down on 2 other male runners as we caught sight of the finish and she had the grit (i did not) to push for the finish ahead of them. I'm just happy to be at the end. It's been awesome but I've achieved what I wanted to and have no desire to hammer down the final straight.

As has happened before, no sooner do I finish the nausea hits me and I become largely unable to move from my seat for fear of throwing up (quite common for me once a race ends) but also my legs immediately stop functioning entirely. It's only when I start shivering I force myself back to my car to stick on some layers and warm up. Likewise, only the promise of good coffee motivates me back to the finish line for a bit!!

My finish time is just over 10hours 35min (126th out of c1300 runners i think) and honestly I'm very happy with that. I could definitely have gone faster by maybe 30-40 minutes at a push but with one eye on the next race in 5 weeks I managed my effort to stay sensible all day and came in still running strong right to the end. So all goals achieved.

Final verdict: This was a good one. A well organised race with good aid stations and excellent signage. I didn't need my watch navigation once. Hard to fault actually so I'd highly recommend it. It does sell out in a few minutes so is quite hard to get on but if you can, then I recommend you do.

Note: this was my first race on home made gels. I used them exclusively all day. My target was 100g carbs/400 calories per hour every hour and i maintained this till about 8 hours. After that my discipline left me a bit not through flavour fatigue but through desire fatigue. That said I still consumed 800g carbs over the 10 hours which is a solid amount by any standards.

For anyone interested in the recipe i used for 800 grams carbs: 2 part maltodextrin (533 grams), 1 part fructose (266 grams), a little pectin to thicken to preference, all mixed with boiling water from the kettle and left to cool down. the lack of flavour actually helps me keep ingesting and it's been a nutrition game changer for me. Previously I'd last about 3 hours on branded gels before being fed up with them. You can add electrolytes too but i prefer to keep those separate personally.