Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
50 Mile Challenge
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
hey guys. sorry its taken me so long to find this thread. yep i'm in the taper zone for this.... my first 50!! and thoroughly looking forward to what promises to be a hurt fest!
my dad is also running. only thing I can't decide on is the camelbak or handheld water bottle. obviously I don't need the carrying capacity of the camalbak with the 6.55m loop to refil, which is why the handheld might be better. what is everyone else taking???
I'm number 111! one infront of Mr UF, although this I think will be the only time I will be infront... ;-D
can't wait... oh btw does anybody have any idea of the number of entrants?? judging from 2008 video on utube it was only about 30-40 starters. Mike chooses not to display the race on RW...perhaps to purposely keep the numbers down??...
oh bollox
I am SO not ready
I feel like I'm struggling to run 10 miles at the moment, serves me right for being so cocky thinking i could run 50.
Still, i cut my hair earlier, so that will have shaved about 0.05g off my weight, i'm desperate, alright!
I've driving down on the morning of the race which means a 2:30am wake-up call. But it's a price worth paying for a night in my own bed. I doubt I'll sleep much that night anyway.
I was down in the Canterbury/Herne Bay area this week and the weather was fabulous. A little hot for running 50 miles but hey, what can we do about the weather.
Really looking forward to the event now, but getting very apprehensive already. I'm doing the final stages of my preparation but still the though of running for 8 or 9 hours is daunting.
Bear B.Hind- at least you have some idea of how long it will take and the effort needed, i havn't got a clue. When i did my first marathon, i felt confident i could do it, it was only 6 miles further than in training, whilst this is 21miles further, sh#t.
Ultraflynn- You're going to get up at 2.30am drive approx 100miles for maybe 2hrs, then run 50miles in under 9hrs, are you driving home again that night? Are you going to work the next day?
You're a nutter!
My kind of nutter!
Stuart - I will be registering on Saturday as I cannot face UF's appraoch (would take me 2 hours to drive there and I like sleep too much to be getting up that earlyt!)... Dont worry too much about the time it takes to do the event as the weather will have a huge effect - nice and cool will make it a h3ll of a lot easier than if its hot.....and if it's hot then you can probably kiss goodbye to predicting your time based on your training (or is that just me).
Like BBH, this year I will be just looking to plod round and finish some time before the cut off.
And don't forget that the Kent County show is on at the same time so anyone looking to head back to the M20 via the A249 will probably encounter significant traffic on the way home on Sunday as the A249 passes right by the entrance (last time I left the race about 17:00 and hit all sorts of traffic).
See you all Sunday.
UF - that's crazy man!! must be one hell of a bed!
I'm staying at a local Travellodge which while not the hilton or even a nice comfy b+b will do the job and is only 15mins away from the start.
hhmmm a pint the night before hey!!
thats a dangerous game to play....
prep this week - carbo depleting on Wednesday, followed by mega carbo loading Thurs,Fri,Sat!!
Indeed I am, up at 2:30am, 2 hour drive, 50 mile race, 2 hour drive home. However as pointed out the traffic is going to be mental so I plan to stop 3 or 4 times on the way back. I'd do that anyway because it's good to get out and stretch quite often.
I never sleep much the day before a race so it's no hardship getting up early. It's only 2.5 hours earlier than I'd normally be up for work anyway. For me part of the fun of these events is the journey there so it's all part of the experience.
This is my first attempt at 50 miles, the furthest before this was the Moonlight Challenge in February. Mike Inkster told me at the time that the 50 Mile Challenge was easier because you could see where you are going but I'm not so sure I believe him.
I'm having moment of calmness about the events and moments of blind panic. I'm in the best shape I've ever been in and I'm prepared. I just need to really get my head around it the fact that it's now THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!!!
As for strategy. I can't decide what to do. In my last race, which was 30 miles, I took the view that I would run at a stready pace throughout. Conserve energy and hopefully feel strong all the way to the end. What I found was that the slower pace just drained me and I doubt I felt much different at the end than if I had gone out quicker.
I'm tempted to pick the pace up a little from last time and see how many laps I can do before the wheels totally fall off.
haha i like your style UF!! In comparison my strategy is far more conservative by some considerable margin so it will be v interesting to see how we all fair out there...
I'm employing a run/walk strategy from the very beginning of the race of 9/1. so run for 9 minutes, then walk for 1 and repeat until I reach the end... this worked really well for me in my first ultra in May (33m)so thought would be crazy to do anything different... but then running 50 is crazy!! just haven't quite decided on my pace for the run sections... perhaps looking at about 10minuting.
anyway so if you see some bloke stop and walk after only 9 minutes thats me!!
UltraFlynn- i wondered what your furthest race so far was, as i know you did Halstead and the moonlight one, which were both around 30m (see i'm stalking you!)
, but i hadn't seen you mention 50 odd miles.
That's why you're brave to drive down and back on the day, because surely you can't tell how you are going to feel after 50miles?!?
"I'm having moment of calmness about the events and moments of blind panic." Yeah, i can really relate to that, only trouble is, i'm not in the best shape ever.
As for strategy, i was going to try to run between water stations, and walk through and beyond each as far as i feel necessary into the next 3mile segment.
The slower you run the more it wears you out, yeah thats true too, but there always seems to be a pivot point, where if you go out too fast, you pay for it later. But how do you pace yourself when you've only ever ran 3/5 distance?
I'm going to wear a heart rate monitor and try to keep it below 75% whr, when i can no longer keep it low, i'll ditch it and copy Bear B.hind!
In a previous years thread incarnation for this event, someone (i think it was shades) advised run for 30 paces / walk for 30 paces. Should really have done some more experimenting on my long runs, instead of begining my carbo loading in April!
I will be running and walking from the off and this year I will be going even slower than before - running 5 then walking 5 (mainly due to lack of training)....but this effectively works out at 12 min mile pace = 5 MPH = 10.5 hours....I know it will slow and that 10.5 hrs is unrealistic but am hoping to delay the crawl section as long as poss.....so please dont jeer too loud when you pass me 6 mins into the race!!!!!!!
Hiya all, I did this race a couple of years ago and it is a great race.
My strategy (for what it's worth) was to run a constant pace throughout. Finished in 11:52:53.
A few of us ran it, and drove there and back the same day.
My only tip is to make full use of the water/food stop every lap. We had rain, thunderstorms, and then a heat wave in the afternoon so prepare for every type of weather !
GOOD LUCK to you ALL !
Thanks Karl, just have to see what happens on the day, of course race days always different to training, you seem to find something extra.
Ultraflynn- What's all this about a mountain? I thought it flat, oh boll#x.
Stuart - you asked about whether to take a Camelbak or hand held drink (couple of days ago now) but there does not seem to have been a specific response to this (or I'm blind).
There are effectively 4 x water stops on each lap - one after about 1.5 - 2 miles, one at about 3 miles, one about 5 miles (ie the same one as at 1.5 - 2m as this is a figure 8 course) and a final one at the end of the lap (ie the pub). I have carried water in the past but only in the latter stages of the race - say after lap 4....up to that point I have just relied on the water stations.
Not sure I needed to cary the water but it gave me something to do when walking.....(or is that "drinking gave me an excuse to walk").
I'm sure i will....
I'm having a calm moment at present....
nice and relaxed...
and breathe....
...hilllll! oh shi#t.