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 working 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 of runners look very nervous. I know my fitness is the best it's been and my coach has prepared me well.

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 starts 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 brings us out 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 - for 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 path which is essentially steps all the way up so running isn't really an option. I get the poles out and grind it up there about as fast or slow as everyone else around me. Whilst quite tough as part of a race route, we summit, take a photo 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 too.

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 my already good mood as the volunteers, park-runners and spectators all seem well aware of the Lap and offer loads of encouragement. I'm still feeling strong so don't especially need it, but it's a really nice touch and great to see so many enthusiastic faces supporting events like this. The next aid station soon follows.

My aid station strategy for today is to get in 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 top up and off I go. I keep this up all day as it happens, which is a big plus for me and change from the norm and proves I was listening 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 and it still felt like it took me an age This is where the legs will start to feel it, the steps just don't let up and there's no joy for me to be had going up.

Again the stunning views at the top offer some sort of compensation!

the summit of Wansfell Pike - 482m

The descent of Wansfell isn't one I particularly enjoy either. There's some ridge running first which is also a bit of 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 not wise to do so. I'm now pretty much walking all the climbs to save my legs which feels sensible but still moving well overall and I know I'm at the sharp end of my 10-12 hours target finish window so it's not a problem. To say the next section passes without memory probably serves an injustice. The route is stunning and never stops being so, but I honestly don't have much memory of this bit. My pace remains 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" I think, so I won't be taking any more of those today. My throat has given up accepting the large pills. I don't give it much though but I'm also convinced it impacted me at the end quite a bit on reflection.

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 feel 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 to make chase.

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 to be, although it's followed by a fairly short but quad busting descent that I really didn't enjoy. My IT bands are holding up just about and cramp hasn't really bothered me all day but the cumulative descending has 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 close in 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 in all honesty and have no desire to sprint finish like I normally would. It's been awesome but I've already achieved what I wanted to and have no desire to hammer down the final straight - plus i can sense nausea is not far off.

As has happened before, no sooner do I finish the nausea wave 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 for whatever reason) but this time my legs also 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 and no injuries collected.

Final verdict: This was a good one. A well organised race with good aid stations and excellent signage. I didn't need my watch to navigate once. Hard to fault actually so I'd highly recommend it. It does sell out in a few minutes each year 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 and all mixed with 533grams 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 and feeling sick. You can add electrolytes too but I prefer to keep those separate. Enjoy, if you try it.