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Ridgeway 85
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Hello Mr F. What's the Thunder Run? Looks like I'm going to be doing the "Oner" on 1 Aug, assuming I can afford the £110 entry fee.
I've done 53 in 12 hrs and 97 in 30. Haven't really worked it out yet, but I think I'm looking at about 22 hours for this one. I've found from experience it's quite easy to get lost in woods at night. What's the night section like on this?
Last year the night section was bloody wet! you have to take it easy of course, thats exactly how I went over on my ankle. Wasnt paying attention!
Stick thunder into the evnets search and take a look..... IM liking the idea! off road 6m course, get around it as many times as you can as a relay pair in 24hrs!
the oner if far too expensive. Shame
T-rex,
The tricky part of this event is the first half. More hills and a little map reading if you need it but generally follow the group! I have a brilliant ridgeway map. I'll let you know who to contact to get one. They have a waterproof coating too! Small cost price for such a good map!
The second half after Goring cross (half way) is mainly flat and chalk white ground. I recommend a XP Headtorch from 'Blacks' and also some 'Glowsticks' for the back of your camelbak for others to see. The second half is more walking as it is Dark!! Ground is uneven. Save the running for daylight. This year I will take a walkie-talkie radio for comms with my dad who will have his Vauxhall van. any kit then let me know as we don't mind storing it. He will have a gas cooker this year too for a brew.
Last time some of the stops had brews and one had hot dogs!! I did not want to leave but I think the secret is don't spend too long at the checkpoints. 20 min max or you will seize up! Saying that Goring I spent 1 hr.
I completed in 24 hrs at a run/walk pace. I'll catch up with you at Caerphilly 32 if you want and discuss it there.
Does anyone have 10 figure grids of the route check poings for a Garmin GPS?
T-Rex - The entire route can be found on a HARVEY map.
www.harveymaps.co.uk titled RIDGEWAY.
It is a waterproof map, with waterpoints, carparks etc.
ISBN 1-85137-314-4
And no I don't work for harvey maps!!!!! It is the best easy to read map of the route that I know of and broken down into 6 sections.
This is my first event beyond 50 miles. I've done a couple of different Thames path thingies (50ml - 10h) and the LDWA surrey tops (50ml - hills, wet, muddy and dark, lost, sit down dinner - 14 hours). On these I've typically aimed for 25/5mins run walk and certainly on the Thames Trot managed to keep that going pretty well although I daresay it gradually evolved to 10/5 or somewhat in the last few hours.
Any suggestions wrt pacing for this one - should I start slower/do more walking earlier? My current plan is to make it to Goring at 12 minute mile pace then hope I can manage the last half one way or the other. Unscientific I realise but I fear that if I start out even slower then by the time the second half comes around then even the trees and rocks will be leaving me standing.
Does anyone with around a 10 hour Thames Path time have a Ridgeway time for comparison? I've estimated 22 hours for the Ridgeway and entered the late start.
BTW WhichWayNow - thanks for the map reference ordered it from Amazon and received it yesterday. loos very useful.
Muddling about - that looks abit like my plan - get to Goring by around 8.30 - 9 , before its really dark, which equates to around 5 mph - then if you allow for slower in second haf, say 4 mph, then that still 20 hours - and 4 mph shouldnt be that hard - well, I know I'm going to regret saying these things when I'm doing 1 mph on my hands and knees but you need to start with confidence ! Yup, all sounds very easy and slow sitting here at home doing nothing harder than enjoying the sun - infact its probably best to start with misplaced confidence
Hmm - yes Copwood it does indeed all seem very straightforward
first half nice easy pace ... done it before ... not too bad (although usually glad to see the finish at 50 .. hmmm) . Then 35 ... not that far - got to be able to walk it in 12 hours ... must be able to do better than that .... must be easy really ... isn't it? I just have this strange suspicion that the last 35 is twice as far as the first 50.... oh dear oh dear.
I don't usually have blisters but have just invested in supplies of duct tape (to enable advanced testing of various kinds, stick, etc) and a bottle of tincture of benzoin - caused the chemist some head scratching but now on order. The latter unfortunatly only comes in 500ml bottles and I suspect I needed about 25ml .. a lifetime's supply.
Lucie B
Did your survey, sorry but it looks like a con to get my e mail adress to bombard me with offers of race packages, Why else would those questions be about NY and Berlin marathons, and packages ? When you close the survey, puts you directly into a sales organisation web site.
Hi Muddling, Cop etc,
Did this one last year with the intention of of breaking 24 hrs (longest done before was Marlborough Downs 33) . Started with the runners at 12 and managed just over 21 hours but actually ran just under 90 miles as another chap and I (girly) managed to go very wrong round Groing! Night conditions were very bad for August i.e. gale force cross winds at points and torrential rain and lots of rutted puddles to fall in! Never the less enjoyed every second of it and was sub 7:30 minute miling it back into Avebury much to the distress of the runner with me! I can only imagine what the front runners went through coming into Avebury at night as that bit can be confusing... I was confused quite a few hours later as it was a very misty morning! Apparently one of the lead runners approached the check point at Barbury Castle from the wrong direction!...something I have done subsequently in a couple of 100's!
Attempted the Thame Ring 250 this year but had to pull out at about 155 miles...was really ill..turns out have to have a small op...nothing to do with "The Ring" and I will back for that in 2011! The Ridgeway is to my mind far better being undulating (a change is a s good as a rest re: muscle groups) eating cake round fire and being offered beer in tents is as good as it gets for me!!...and it really was the run which got me addicted to ultra running!!..haven't look back since accept to see which runners is about to overtake me!
See you In AUG ...hopefully and ps. lengthy ultra runs have contrary to my X - running club made me faster at shorter races!!! actually now have trophies on my piano for 10K, half marathons and marathons... suddenly they all seem like sprints!!!!
ZIPS
Thanks Zippy thats very useful - what had been your Marlborough time out of interest. I managed 6:06 last year.
Not sure I like the sound of Groing - some sort of parallel universe perhaps
Well looks like I'm out of this one, tore a calf muscle 4 weeks ago, and even with complete rest its still not good - oh well, thats the way it goes sometimes. So, unless there is a miracle cure in the next week, I'll just have to wish you all the best
Copwood
I doubt I'll see you lovely Lucy as you will be way heh ahead...save me some cake babe!..and you can drop a trail of jelly babies
Hi Muddling my time at this years MDC was 5:25 ish think (last year was 5:29 but ran much better as got lost and did just over 35 miles...opps!).
Am running Okish at short distances at the moment hoping to make the Salsibury 5-4-3-2-1 marathon this W/E (depending on the outcome of scan on Friday) which was 28 miles last time I did it! (without getting lost)
Look forward, fingers Xed to seeing you all (sorry to hear about calf copwood
)at end of August have a slight dilemma as it is my daughters 7th birthday on the Sat! I know she will want to spend the night meeting mum at dodgy locations, probably in the rain...not!
Zips..it's the yap not the speed that counts1!
Zippy - you are fantastic at both yap and speed! GOod luck with Salisbury (and the scan)
All the best Copwood. Rest is the best form of training for these long ones (for me anyway), so you never know!
Copwood - sorry to hear about your injury. I don't think 85 miles is a suitable distance to nurse yourself round! Better missing it and booking something else in the autumn. Something unusual you haven't done before.
I did the Votwo "Oner" last w/e. 78.6 miles along the South West Coast Path in Dorset. I seem to develop dreadful, huge blisters after about 50 miles in an event, and still, 5 days later, I can hardly walk. Race medic said it was because my feet were continuously wet for the 23:49 it took to do the distance (including about 13000' ascent). But how do you avoid that? I'm wondering if I should take a small towel and several changes of socks. Anyone else got any tips?
I should be OK for this one but won't get chance to do much running between now and then.
Sorry to hear about the injury Copwood
. My training has been a bit intermittant this last few weeks (holidays and all that) and now I'm struggling to get the distance up and at least get some sort of rhythm to it. Ho hum - if i over egg my efforts now I'll end up pranging myself too.
Over shorter distances in mountain marathons (very wet, very bumpy) I've found that squelshy quantities of vasaline have helped a lot with blisters but seem to not get them at the moment (although a recent shoe change may sort that out).
Zippy - thanks for your times - I guess I'm going to be challenged to hit 22 hours given you are much zippier than I am.
Am going to plod along the Princess Risborough to Goring section this Saturday to avoid any unplanned diversions on the great day.
Has anyone noticed how severe the cut-offs for CPs 1-4 are for people who are doing about a 22-23 hour completion and therefore starting at 1200? I've worked out that to get to CP 4 by 1930 you need to do about a 20-hr finish time pace, and that for Leg 4 (1745-1930) you've got to belt along at about 18-hr pace.
I queried this with RO and he said that last runner at CP4 in 2008 arrioved there at 1902 which seems hard to believe - that represents an 18:50 finish. Anyway, RO has agreed to at least extend CP 4 to 2000.
The question is - are entrants in this event all elite-types?? Which is worrying.
Interesting.
I hadn't noticed the cut off times , but it does sort of encourage you to start off fast which is pretty much the last thing you want to be doing on a long ultra.
You really want to be conserving as much energy as you can the entire way therefore the aim would be to run at as close to even effort for the duration as possible.
I am really unsure on how I will be for this, but I think it will be see how the day goes and if it isn't working out stop at Goring.
I'm definitly not an "elite type"! I too have a target time of 22 hours - although feeling a bit pessamistic at the moment (ankle problem). I'd not paid much attention to the cutoffs, just noted that Goring at 23:15 should be doable. Now a bit concerned like you. I did the Princess Risborough to Goring section yesterday and the steeper hills certainly take a toll on pace.
Its always feasible to drop down to the 10:00 start however I find it hard to believe that I could take 24 hours for 85 miles its barely more than 3.5mph LDWA "walkers" (who I always suspect sneak in a fair bit of running) achieve that. Unlike you T Rex I have the probably unwise strategy of "running" the first 45 as I would an event of that distance (although I think I'll aim to conserve more on the hills). Hopefully can drift through the hours of darkness at a slower pace (although Goring to Uffington is my local section and very runable even in the dark).
On balance, personally I'll welcome a bit of presure from the cutoffs and will hope for the best, if I get timed out I'll learn from the experience and do things different (for which read - train more) next time.
Actually - one last comment is that from CP4 to the end of Grimm's ditch would'nt be much fun in the dark and it would be better to be aiming to get a bit futher along before the last of the light - 19:00 at CP4 would be much better than 20:00.
Last year's results are also interesting to study although the only conclusion I could come to was that times at CP5 were not very strong predictions of time to finish - although 9.5-10.5 hours at CP5 seemed to be necessary to get under 25:00
Thanks for that analysis, MA. I wasn't meaning to worry anyone!! Except myself
. I'll toe the line on these cut-offs, although I didn't particularly want to go off that fast. Getting as far as I sensibly can during daylight seems a good idea from what you're saying.
This year I've completed WHW (95 miles) at 3.1 mph (last 42 miles walking
), and Jurassic Coast 78-mile challenge at 3.3 mph (more or less shuffling throughout). I can see I'm going to have to up my game here.
Grimm's Ditch looks kind of straight. Is there a problem??
T-rex.
First half is the most hilly. Second half (night section) is flat. I walked most of that part and finished in 24hrs.
It is possible. Just get the first half over with as comfortable as possible!
Hi WWN - I was hoping you'd post. Thanks for that.
I've also heard the second half is best in road shoes. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
T-rex. I'd keep off the road shoes but take two sets of off road shoes instead.
I'd opt for a set of comfy off road shoes for the second half like saucony Grizzly. Remember that your feet will be battered by the second half! Yes it is flatter but still on small tracks and the tiny pebbles would annoy you in road shoes. Trust me. I had a job walking after I got to the end!!!