Snowdonia Marathon 2010

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  • hello from langdale!

    great lakes weather as usual..perfect for some good runs image and refreshments later in day imageimage

  • Dungeon Ghyll per chance CD ?

    Marathon with 250 limit in April - Tresco in Scillies ?

  • Sorry....had to tell you this CD...was talking to Mr FF about my forumite 'mate' who rescued a Collie...regularly shaves all his hair off and makes him run Ultras.....

    ............ lol! he said ... and he 'rescued' this dog? image (his face looked just like that!!!)

    lol!

  • 250 limit - I bet that is Dorset Village marathon? I have entered that one!
  • lol ff. very funny. you can tell mr ff hes just had his autumnal clip!

    sp - no lording it up in the langdale estateimage. just did a 9.5 fell run that ended up on the road for the last two miles as the light suddenly went. what a bad lad i was too..ran it only with a bit of water and nowt else..took my life into my hands running the road bit in pitch black..ought to know better image

  • ff - failed to say..its 'him' who makes me run ultras
  • Hi all, well after my first marathon i cant wait to take this on again, i shall no doubt bring up the rear again but someone has to! wish i'd have taken up running years ago, but better late than never! booked in for the Conwy half next Sunday, see how i fair up. Waiting to see if i get holiday form from work before i book for this. Good luck all  
  • I'm also doing conwy half Sap Sips. Looking forward to it.
  • jason djason d ✭✭✭
    Luna Man - it's the Llanelli  marathon Or the "Great Welsh Marathon" - don't get me started on the name!! First year and brand new race, but I'm still trying to get info about course, registration, official measurement etc etc, so holding fire at the mo. Got to say that it's being run by the same team who've done the 10k and half around the coastal path in past for many years, so probably fine.
  • First post on the 2010.

    SP- I'm also doing the Conwy half Marathon. Should be a good un. Fast (hopefully!) not sure how well the legs have recovered though. Will find out on Sunday!

    DE- I'll also be doing the Pen Fell race. (smashed my knee into some rocks on this one last year! straight from the finish line to the Hospital!)

    JB- Are you doing the above races?

  • Drunken Euphoria on tour wrote (see)
    Easy weekend for me, LDWA challenge event near Blackburn - just the 13m short race - and then Green Day in Manc image

    Hi Drunken E,

    That wouldn't be Bottoms Up from Hoghton, by any chance? I was there! I ran the 23mi long route. Our paths keep crossing yet still we have never knowingly met. One day, perhaps at The Hebden in January?

    It was another gorgeous day (last weekend was an exception). Unlike last weekend I was pleased to have legs that co-operated again, having not overindulged with the running on the previous weekend.

  • Hi there as. Nope not doing either of them - had hoped to do Pen Fell, but the hypoglycaemic attack at the end of our village race put an end to any thoughts of doing it (next year perhaps). The Conwy 1/2m sounds as if it will be a cracking race, although I doubt it would be a PB course. Only 5 races for me this year - that's about all I can really get away with!!
  • Hello everyone. Got back from Waunfawr yesterday having fully recovered from the adventure. We have had major internet dongle issues so have not been able to keep up on here.

    Paid my entry, it is official-sub 4 hours next year! Jason, I reckon we are hooked!

    Gutted about not making it to Padarn pub on Saturday, family surprise event post race was sprung on me but book me a seat in the corner for next yearimage.

    Brer

  • Did a 17 miler this morning - prep for Luton in a month's time. Felt remarkably speedy - but then again, I haven't run the flats for a while!

    Weather: wet & very windy. Despite doing a circular route, somehow I never did get that tail wind.

    Sound familiar anyone? 

  • Rou - Those bl***y tail winds mess with your head!! Interested by your last post... obviously you're a far speedier/ more experienced runner than me - which is why i want to pick your brains!! Received wisdom I've had seems to be based around just doing short 4-6m runs at the moment to recover from mara- and here you are doing 17m runs!!!!!! Did go for an 8m run yesterday and felt great - though surprised at how achy i was this morning! Basically, question is if you just do short runs after mara aren't you in danger of losing the fitness you built up while training??? OR - will doing longer runs actually lengthen recovery time????

    Interested in everyone's opinion/ experience on this point btw...... just felt bit jealous of Rou for doing 17m runimage

    Brer - welcome backimage - already looking forward to Snod 2010 - I've entered a flat and local mara in April, going to pile in the miles and speedwork for this one, recovery for a month,  then it's going to be all long runs, speedwork and Kenyan hills for me for 5 monthsimageimageimage 

  • Evening all,

    Can I join in??  Said last year that I wanted to do the 2009 but didn't get the training in. So I will see if I can get motivated for the 2010, better than spectating I suppose!! T Rex, if you're doing a list put me in the "not bothered about time, just want to get round" column.

    SS

    image
  • Hi BN, it would have been the Halloween Bottoms Up, but..... car had a kind of a catastrophic failure as I pulled in to Birch services for a "comfort" stop. Most probably cam belt, will find out tomorrow image Clairster was at HBU and enjoyed it I believe. May well do Hebden if it fits in plans. If not bound to see you somewhere.... eventually.

    Didn't anybody get a tail wind at Snowdon on bits and felt the headwinds less? I felt like I "beat the house" last weekend, a rare pleasure. I think this perception is based on how you feel, I think if I'd tried to nail the first half I'd have had less left in second and suffered into headwinds and probably slowed to the same time anyway.

    jd - Certainly a good idea not to go mad after a marathon, but as Rou and JD show, if your well trained and do that kind of distance often you can get away with it. In my experiance recovery gets delayed, or I get injured, by fast short races within 10 days of an event. If a choice of long or fast, long is better. I was quite happy in plan to do 13 easy miles - at one time I wouldn't have considered - this weekend and offroad surfaces are far less damaging to me.

    I've only ran twice last week, 4m easy, 7m med pace. I've decided I'm probably going to start running to work and back as part of a savings drive (in case car repair expensive OR need new one). Get me some good base mileage in and then concentrate on fast at club nights and long at weekends. Big targets now are Brass Monkey half in Jan - well off PB pace at the mo - and then a fast Rombalds Stride (early feb). A change from the last few years mini-blizzards (2008) and knee deep moorland snow (2009) would be nice.

  • Cheers, DE - did feel tailwind at top of Pen y pass last week - just like being shoved violently down the road!! Got a 6m fell run lined up for next weekend, so won't be long or fast - just tough - beginning to doubt the wisdom of this choice now.....image
  • DE, sorry about the car. Hope it's not expensive. I had a good chat with Clairster before the start of 'Bottoms Up'. (Sorry Clairster for not mentioning. I hope you had a good day.) I'll be making my annual pilgrimage to Rombald's Stride. How could you not like the crisp, virgin snow of last year? It was so dry and runnable as we ran across the moors, kicking through the powder and lanching ice dust into the clear, sunny air such that you could feel the delicate icy tingles on your face as the ice crystals landed. The conditions were amazing and so rare nowadays to the point of uniqueness. Here's a reminder.

    The tailwind at SNOD was just like last year. It was fun running the first downhill so fast with so little effort with the assistance of wind and gravity.

  • Hello folks..did SNOD 09 and entered 10 and looking forward to it image

    Good to see you on sat BN, lovely day and a lovely little course...we missed your navigational skills Euph,, but hooked up with some other back markers and had a nice jog round image
  • A S very jealous of you doing Conwy Half, should be glorious. SD, may see you at Clowne-I will have my blue sheep buff as headwear again unless it gets blown off as it did at Bwlch Y groes!

    Jason, I was interested in your post re recovery. I did a 14 miler on Friday along Menai Straits and couldnt believe how good legs felt but I wonderded if I was doing any harm. I'm also maybe considering a spring marathon-maybe White Peak, but it'll have to be an easier training regime this time around or else I will collapse in a heap image

    Ta ta for now, work beckons

  • Jason,

    Received wisdom is indeed to take it easy for a few weeks after a marathon. Particularly if it's your first marathon. So, a 17 miler is not normally recommended, neither is speedwork in the week after a marathon. But, not having done the months of recommended hard effort before a marathon this year, I'm anxious not to lose what fitness I did get in the run up to SNOD 09. Luton at the start of Dec is a target for me - did 3:15:45 at London in 2008 and am still sore at missing an elite time by 45 secs.

    Somehow your body seems to recover better after a marathon the more used it is to running the distance - I certainly don't have to walk downstairs backwards for a week the way I used to!

  • Good luck with Luton Rou - I would have thought with your SNOD times in 08 and 09 you're well set for at least 3:05, based on my comparative 3:13 flat to 3:29 SNOD in 08. That's science that is! image
    Luton, however, doesn't have quite the scenery of SNOD I feel.

  • Cheers Luna, we'll see.... If all goes well (with an emphasis on the if),  I may be joining you for a sub 3 attempt at Shakespeare!

    Ah, pipedreams...

  • Hurrah for the Greenway! I'm not going to be too ambitious though, I haven't run a marathon since ... well, since SNOD 08!  Now why's it always lovely weather on my rest day?
  • "Don't put your hand in the fire" my mum used to say when I was little, but I never understood why until one day temptation overcame me - "ouch!" that's why! JD, for me I have to find out the hard way and learn from it. After my previous Marathons i've rested too long, usually because of contracting stubborn colds soon after. After Snowdon I did a 5mile easy run on the Wednesday, then couldn't resist a club/track session on Thursday where 4x1000ms was on the menu. I managed 3 of those and noticed the lack of zip in the legs straight away, so I bombed out of the last set. 2 days rest? unlikely (Saturday was spent running up and down a ladder renovating a chimney stack) Then Sunday morning it was the Clwydian Range fell race, usually over 10 miles but on arrival found that a new 'Foul weather' route was in play - bummer. 10 miles had been cut to 5 and a half. Judging by the flooded roads on the approach to Cilcain Village, It was plain that there had been a fair bit of rain during the night.

    I'd been up on the same ground on my own training in similar weather and worse many times, but this event is run by The local Mountain Rescue guys so I guess they applied their judgement and a shorter race was it. Met a guy on the start who had travelled from Cheltenham (and he'd been up the weekend before on a recce) A long way to come for a 5 and a half mile race. He informed me he was a 400m sprinter by trade, Yikes I thought - I knew this was going to be a fast field, and even faster over the shorter distance. 

    Right! "off you go" the starter bloke said and off we went, the fast pack shot up the lane and were on the climb within a couple of minutes. I found myself a slot and tried to not let the pack disappear to quickly. The first two miles was climbing, frankly, I found it too hard, and had to slow my pace down and watch the pack go. It wasn't long before I had to take a breather and walk a few meters. I tried to will the legs to run as much as i could, but found these first two miles really hard work. A girl passed me and I decided that she was going to be my target over the next mile. The ground now followed a very narrow and slippy mud and stone track over undulating ground and generally climbing. It was also blowing a bit up high.  As we approached a Cairn checkpoint I made a move to pass her, and once past the Cairn a tricky downhill section through rotting ferns where no visible trail could be seen (even though near 70 runners had been that way).  Next it was a horrible ascent up a running stream on boggy ground. Only 'slodgeable' for me. Once over that I picked my next targets - 2 runners who'd managed to stay ahead of me over some rough, greasey ground. I new that the climbing was over now, and with just over a mile to go I put my foot down to the finish passing another competitor on the way in. Running over the line I encouraging a girl I was about to catch not to let me pass her on the line, she responded and kicked over the line a sec ahead of me.

    A race of two halves for me - Pathetic climbing over the first two miles and an ok 3 and half to the finish. 62mins. The race winners were around 45 mins. I came in well down the field. So what have I learned? More steep off road hill 'running' not 'walking' is required. and definitely a bit of rest after a Marathon pb. I like to think I'd have done better over the original 10 mile event, but this was still fun, If any of you guys are into this kind of fell racing, I'd recommend this one, a small competitive field, and a well organised event run from Cilcain Village Hall where a tele-printer style projection of the results were being displayed while tea, soup fruit cake etc were being enjoyed before the prize giving.

    AS - it's me that's doing the Pen race  - DE are you doing it?

  • steve-zodiac,

     Excellent report. But did you know that the lady that "finished" 1 second ahead of you has a DSQ by the side of her name on the result sheet.

    ss

    image

  • Nice report s-z.
  • SS - Just this minute picked the results up - The girl in question had been announced as the F40 winner on the day. She did have a heads together with one of the officials when this was announced, I thought nothing of it. The other guy who was DSQ'd went awol I believe.
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