Brecon To Cardiff Ultra On A Vegan Diet

My route into ultra-running started after reading Adharanand Finn's "Rise of the Ultrarunners." I was sceptical of my own ability, until I noticed how ordinary successful ultrarunners seemed — so I entered the Brecon to Cardiff ultramarathon.

My training from September 2019 to race day focused on long, steady trail runs while managing a persistent hip and SI joint issue, including back-to-back weekend long runs (my biggest weekend was 24 miles followed by 17), plus two confidence-building races: the Portsmouth Harbour 50k and the Gloucester marathon.

As a vegan athlete, a plant-based diet naturally gives you abundant complex carbohydrates from vegetables, whole grains and legumes — ideal for endurance running. I supplement B12 and get healthy fats from nuts, seeds and avocados, and made my own energy balls from dried fruit and nuts for race fuel, avoiding plastic-wrapped gels where I could.

Race day landed in the middle of Storm Ciara — a broken bus, then hypothermia concerns — but I focused on what I could control. I finished the 70km course in 7 hours 21 minutes: 31st overall and 5th woman, well beyond my expectations, and it's given me the bug for more ultras.