Categories: uncategorized
Date: 19 July 2004 22:04:16
well it's been a while since i last checked in so let me update you (not that you all missed me i'm sure!).
well satisfied with my marathon time at stoke i had a couple of weeks break from the high mileage before setting my mind toward a training schedule for london to brighton (54miles) in october.
no sooner had i laid out my first training week came the inevitable overseas trip for work to disrupt things before i even got going. not to mention that the call to action came less than an hour after i'd booked a haircut in order to get some smart photos to sort out my expired passport.
to cut a long story short the haircut was cancelled as i had to drive to newport to get a passport on the friday and leave for germany sunday lunchtime. i've stored up lots of witty observations on airports and flying again but it's been too long so i'll save them for next time. i managed 2.5hrs early sunday morning before i flew and had nothing better to do on sunday night than explore a small peice of northern germany for an hour.
so after a not entirely stress free couple of days and a few too many rides in a seriously quick car i was back in the uk.
last weekend i managed to make up a little of the damage to my running schedule clocking up over 40miles between saturday morning and tuesday evening before forcing myself to take it easy before this weekends challenge.
now this seemed like a really good warm up event for london to brighton (L2B) and a chance to practice hydration, pacing and fuelling. in reality of course i was barely 2weeks into my planned build up so it would be take it as it comes at best.
travelling down to kent on saturday evening was remarkably quick and despite the vagueness of the little white roads on my map the little village where the event was being held was easily found.
being based from a village pub is a great idea and the event really had taken over the place with a start/finish gantry and one of the sponsoring company's truck trailer squeezed into what would usually be the car park (i assume).
i was camping in the beer garden along with caspar from the runnersworld forums and andy the stuntman who's eyes were about to be opened to this ultra-distance silliness!
three pints of shepherds neame later (one of each available) and staying at a pub suddenly seemed like a bad idea. we sloped off to bed where i slept the usual nervous, unknown, pre-race sleep until a local peacock decided to announce the morning at about 3:15am. i managed to ignore it until about 4:20 when i could hear the landlord and race organiser pottering about.
after a pre-race breakfast of muller-rice, hydration sachet (aka diahorea cure (apparently i can spell this 3 ways... and that's none of the 3)), energy bar and energy drink i packed the tent away and got ready for the off.
LAP 1
at 6am we were off round a kind of egg-timer shaped course (i.e. 2 loops with a 2way section in the middle) made up of mostly hard-pack and concrete farm tracks with some slightly more rutted grassy sections and a small bit of road (past the pub!).
this being my first time beyond marathon distance since february and even then 15miles beyond that i was determined to take it cautiously which i mostly succeeded in. 10minute miles all the way round meant that i made it to 6miles alomost spot on the hour mark. for some reason i managed to be all alone by this point, at 6.25miles per lap i was expecting the pub to appear shortly but 3minutes later there was no sign of it.. rather worrying.
eventually however it came and i pushed to the back of my mind what a supiciously long 1/4mile that was!
split - 1:05
time - 1:05
LAP2
grabbing a couple of jaffa cakes and a cup of my energy drink i set off for lap 2. keeping my pace under control at least i got to see a few more people this lap if only on the two way sections. the long concrete stretches were trance-like for me and with fresh legs i almost slide along, not needing to think, almost wholey focussed on my breathing and the motion of my legs. back to the road section and the pub.
split - 1:04
time - 2:09
LAP3
with everything going to plan i swigged some drink and set off again with another muller-rice. my first time trying this but it was surprisingly easy to eat on the go and i didn't get it all over myself. eating and taking it easy for a bit afterwards did slow me slightly but i still felt good. just beyond 4miles i caught caspar who was struggling with a knee problem again, he pulled out at the end of the lap but fair play for wearing a fully loaded pack! (in preparation for this! (and you thought i was silly)).
split - 1:07
time - 3:16
LAP4
more drink, more jaffa cakes and off again. with the suspicious length of the lap i knew anything near 8hours was out of the question, even 9 would be doing well, i'd also worked out that the end of lap4 would be pretty much marathon distance. whilst not scorchingly hot yet the humidity was taking it's toll on me with the swet dripping off me! i had to force myself to compensate by taking on plenty of water. the end of the lap was tough as i started to feel a bit sick. it's a feeling i've come to associate with the end of marathons and a certain stage on long races. even if i've hydrated and fuelled up properly there comes a time where my body has to change from burning short term stores in the muscles to processing the food i've taken on and fat-burning.
split - 1:09
time - 4:26 (well i've done two marathons slower than that this year!)
LAP5
knowing full well the importance of fuelling through these long races i had planned to have another rice-pud now (one every 2hours ish) but i was still feeling dodgy. i forced down a jaffa cake and took some flat coke in the hope it would settle my stomach.
no matter though as after a few miles the sugar and caffeine had hit home and i felt ok. this lasted up to about 4miles in the lap when i started to struggle again.. time to hit the mind games!
split - 1:18
time - 5:44
LAP6
more coke, more jaffa cakes, i really should have had that rice-pudding now but my brain was beyond that kind of logical thought! what this morning was flat smooth concrete suddenly seemed to be very rough underfoot and hills were appearing where i'm sure they never were! the climb up to the bridge over the main road (and back to the furthest water station) forced me into walking at this stage.
shades caught me! and as she said at the time i must really have been struggling if she had caught me, even if i was now a lap ahead. i was happy not so much for the company (i couldn't tell you what we talked about) but for her disciplined run-walk to the end of the lap. whilst i felt i could have run a little further or a little faster than her each time i was only too pleased to feel i wasn't pushing myself too hard.
split - 1:25
time - 7:10
LAP7
having left shades nibbling pasta at the pub i set my watch to bleep every 5minutes and set off. each time it went off i stopped for a walking break of 30seconds to a minute before running again for the rest of the 5minutes. this worked fairly well for most of that lap but 5minutes was really too long and my walking pace was slow (last lap i had been struggling to keep up with shades!). i could see shades closing in on me again so clearly my run-walk wasn't working, i abandoned the watch and just tried to run as much as i could to keep my average speed up.
split - 1:26
time - 8:37
LAP8
boy was i pleased to me on my last lap, little did i know what a slow and mentally tough one it was going to be. to make things worse the humidity was still quite high and now the sun had come out, if i'd have sussed this at the start of the lap i might have taken my hat with me as much of the lap is quite exposed. shades was stalking me again, i ran/walked between the joints in the concrete track but by 3 miles i was exhausted by the heat and even fast walking had my heart rate too high for comfort.
at the far water station shades caught me again, i was resigned to walking it in the rest of the way so set off while she had a break. a few hundred yards down the track i just had to sit at the edge of the field trying to get some shade from the crop growing there (rapeseed?), i looked up at the sky and waited for some clouds to cover the sun.
again shades caught me with her persistent run-walk and tried to gee me on with another faster guy who'd caught us but i couldn't even keep up with her pace by now.
finally out of the 2way section i knew what i had to do and looking at my watch settle for a sub 10:30 finish. ready to cry from the exertion and the usual mental distress i could only run for short distances and the effort to run the tiny distance from the final corner to the finish in full view was immense! feeling quite emotional now just thinking about it, and the applause and support from all the spectators and helpers.
split - 1:50
time - 10:28
realistic actual distance 52miles!
and to be honest i'm not sure i have laps 6 and 7 in the right order.. wasnt very with it and no amount of positive chat from shades was helping!
i think i worried our wonderful race organiser by looking distinctly pale. but i know by now not to stop too suddenly, or neck down lots of water, so i potterd about back and forth to the car to wash and get changed before settling down with some pasta, a pack of crisps and a coke.
i'm not surprised that the course record was smashed (time!) as it seemed a little slow to me, it was a well organised event with infinitely patient marshalls and great support!
well done to all who managed even half the distance running, walking, hobbling! on what i found quite a tough course (toward the end anyway!).
those last couple of laps called into question all my motivation and goals for the future (even L2B this year) and although i'm still ambivolent about the experience and my time i have to be realistic given the amount of training i've done so far. and at least i know the task i hand! (L2B is all road which is better, but hillier, 54miles, 9:50cut-off time).
i considered the pool or the jacuzzi tonight but it seemed like alot of effort so here i am writing this, and rather lengthy it seems to be too.
i really hate myself sometimes as i seem to have scheduled a 10mile run tomorrow.