That’s where I was in 2013. I’d done a 300 in August 2012 to decide if I liked the longer distances and whether I’d enter LEL when entries opened. Then 2013 I also did my first 400 and 600.
Try and get a 400 and / or 600 in before LEL. Just so you get a feel for ones that go through the night, when your dozy times hit, and just how cold it gets, and what lighting and spare layers you’ll need.
It’s rarely fitness that produces DNF on events such as LEL. It’s usually the accumulation of a number of strategic or tactical errors that add up, via poor decisions made when mentally fatigued.
Bit of a hijack. Feel free to start a thread on LEL if you want to go into any detail. I was also a member of the central organising team in 2017. Thus have quite a bit of knowledge of it from both sides. I’m riding this year’s edition.