Be it cycling, running or adventure racing, one of the most important things to consider is how to pace the event early on. Especially if the first couple of days are relatively short there is a huge temptation to “race” these days as if they are standalone events. A better approach would be to really hold back on these days and let the competition gradually blow themselves apart. Like this it more comes down to a last man standing scenario and although you might have finished only mid table in the first few days that conservative approach will see you move up the leader board later on due to this strategy starting to pay off.
Why would you move up the leaderboard? The conservative approach will mean that although you have spent more time on your feet or in the saddle you will have put less pressure on the legs at the same time. This approach also allows you to take on more food and therefore help your body with recovery.
Last week I ran 20km on Tues, 32 km on Wed and 47 km on Wed. All runs were done at a pace that I would hope to run the upcoming Ring of Fire Ultra marathon which is a 3 day event. When I woke up on the Friday morning after having covered 100 km in the previous 3 days my calves were a bit tight but the quads felt absolutely fine. I could have gone for another long run. This filled me with a huge amount of confidence.