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Lakeland Trails Marathon
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Is anyone camping the night before?
Less than two weeks to go, it's going to be fun.
Lol GTC - if its anything like Glasgow at the moment, all we will have to do is look up and open our mouths to get a decent drink
. Lashing it down...........
Not camping for this.....booked hotel a while ago.
Definitely time to start looking forward to it - there's been plenty of 'weather' over the past couple of weeks so, yes, there could well be plenty of spare water about on the top.
Happy to be able to report that the ankle I damaged at Steveley appears to have healed with rest - unfortunately, my hill climbing legs seem to have gone AWOL in the interim.
Probably camping at Coniston Hall on the Saturday and expect to spend most of the evening either in The Sun or The Black Bull - or maybe The Crown or The Ship - unless it's pi55ing down, in which case I'll stay at home and suffer the early start on Sunday. Not after a time, just out to enjoy the day.
Spending most of the evening in the pub??
Is that a high risk carbo loading strategy? I have to admit I'm usually happy to have a couple of pints the night before as I realised long ago I was never going to win.
It's a medium risk Carb loading plan - I'll have the kids with me (Fun Trails registration team and general event support staff) and most of the folks we'll be with are in the Challenge so need to be ready for a 7am start. I get a lie in
The two weeks to go newsletter is now available.
Somewhat frustrating to read the opening paragraph about last minute landowner concerns meaning that further route changes are likely to be required. Evidence, if any more were needed, of the considerable hoops that have to be jumped through to get an event on up here. To be honest, it seems so difficult at times that I wonder why some people bother at all - I guess we should just be grateful that they do.
We should be grateful, even if it is a commercial company. Im doing a 10k tonight and the established route has been changed because of hassles with insurance etc and so I think the new route is going to be far less of a challenge.
But it is only through perseverance and a love of running that we get to experience what should be a great marathon - so to all taking part, if you find the route has changed on the day - do not worry about it! It isnt self navigating, you wont have stashed supplies behind trees and as long as it is not any longer in distance it wont matter. Honestly.
And so lets smile at all the marshalls, pick up our litter and admire the scenery. If we are not too knackered.
My frustration is directed at the dithering landowners rather than the organising team to whom I am grateful - the landowners are probably being 'got at' by one of the vociferous local pressure groups with their opposition to any activity that doesn't involve heavy boots, flasks of tea and looking miserable. Unfortunately, the race organisers have to work in this environment or nothing ever happens.
As far as the route itself goes, it won't matter if its a bit long either - it wouldn't be a true Lakeland Trails experience if the route was the advertised distance - this is never going to be a route over which to set a marathon PB, unless its your first, so let's just get out there and have fun. And, yes, acknowledge the marshalls and take our rubbish home.
If it's a bit long I'm just going to claim it as my first ultra.
Coniston Bluebird has excellent carb-loading properties I believe.
Not visited this thread for a while so just been catching up over the last 2 pages and my mood has gone from confident to scared to cest la vie in 10 minutes!
It's only my 2nd marathon and I was hoping to do it in under 4 hours but the main challenge is to do an off road marathon not set some PB. So what ever will be, will be.
I'm not too worried about the water situation. Having carried far less than 2 litres on all my 18-22 mile training runs. No way am I starting to run with a camel back so late in the day!!
See you all there - lets enjoy it
i am very unimpressed with this event so far and not expecting much (if i even attend)
why advertise it as a marathon if its not accurate? using a GPS watch to measure the course is not accurate at all and anyone could do it
i know its only a minor detail to some but imo its just a long trail race under the circumstances
i still believe 4 water stations is a complete joke. paying £40 to enter an event than being asked to carry your own supplies!!!
I dont buy the 'its inaccessible' excuse. 26miles and theres only 4 points where they can transport water to?
ran the north downs 30k on sunday. water station every 5k with SIS gels and jelly babies at them all. chip timing, technical shirt, home made cakes and medal at finish. (numbers were posted at clubs expense so no need to register on the day either)
£20 with half the proceeds going to charity!
Failing that cheer up as no one needs that kind of talk so close to the race.
Treadmill Hater - there's evidently nothing I can say that will change your opinion so I won't try.
But I will challenge you on two of the points you make:
Firstly - please look at the proposed route map and suggest locations where additional water stations could reasonably be placed. Bear in mind that supplies of water, two varieties of High 5 drink and Kendal mint cake have to be available for up to 1000 at every location.
Secondly, the comparison with the North Downs Run looks flawed with respect to the need for pre-registration. So far as I can see from a very quick look at the North Downs route map, at no point does it stray more than about a mile from a road and it doesn't take in any particularly rough or open terrain - which means that the organisers don't need to know, for runners' safety, how many people are out on the course. The reason for pre-registration at all Lakeland Trails events is so that all runners can be counted in, counted back and accounted for - minimising the potential both for people getting lost out on the fell and for spurious Mountain Rescue Team callouts.
Finally, why is it unreasonable for a professional event management company - with staff to pay - to charge more than a local running club utilising its unpaid volunteers?
For what it's worth, I'll add my tuppenceworth. I have run about half a dozen or so Lakeland Trial events, and they are well organised and professionally run. They are a great day out for the runners and their supporters. You are up on the fells tops at times, and on reasonably inaccessible terrain, but that's part of the fun.
I suspect that CumbiAndy is correct, and that Treadmill Hater has made his/her mind up, which is fair enough, but I just felt that I would wave the flag a little for Lakeland Trial Events
Unfortunately I will be a DNS. I haven't run at all for three weeks, and physio has said absolutely no way. I am gutted!
Bloody knee!
But good Luck to everybody taking part. Enjoy!
I'll add my tuppence. How accurate is the measuring of the North Downs 30K really? For road race an accurately calibrated bicycle is used to ride around the course. I've reccied some of the trail marathon route. A mountain bike would be OK to get round but with wheels bouncing in the air wouldn't be accurate
. It's rougher than the North Downs
Maybe the organisers should have said "as accurately as practical" but in the circumstances taking the mean of presumably a number of GPS readings is a good as anyone could reasonably expect.
the race is licensed under a uka/tra permit, therefore the course should be accurately measured if official times are to be recognised. if the course is to be long, as some are suggesting here, that suggests that the license is questionable. however, i am prepared to give the organisers the benefit of the doubt that they will fulfill this essential criteria.
i have no doubt that lakeland trails manage other, shorter events very well, but they've messed up with this one.
all i would ask is that the more experienced lakeland runners consider that many are running off road and in the lakes for the first time, and many are travelling long distances. runners have every right to expect that the organisers have everything in place; that is what they are paying for.
i have to say that i am not impressed that the course has not yet been finalised. this should have been sorted out weeks ago. furthermore, the organisers should stop blaming landowners, especially when said landowners have no right of reply.
I knackered my ankle in a fell race a few weeks back and originally thought I may be out of the race. Thankfully not. Since then though, all my training runs have been done on the roads because the ankle's still sore and I daren't risk an uneven surface so near to race day.
Looking at the website the course looks more trail than fell, so I'm thinking I should be ok but any thoughts from those who know the area/course? CumriAndy - are you still recommending trail shoes for this?
im taking some salomon trail shoes and innov 8 roclite and will decide on the day what to wear. It probably depends on how much rain we get leading up to the race. Im guessing there will be some parts of the course which never dry out.
Did the man v horse 2 weeks ago which was a mud bath and a lot of people were wearing road shoes! I had trouble getting good grip in my roclites!
I agree that most of the course in the slide show looks like hard trail but the course has changed and is in the process of changing again.
I'm dithering on the shoe issue too, particularly as you say Rodlegs, with the continual course changes.
Gonna bring Inov 8 Flyrocs (which I usually pad out with a thick insole and a heel lift if there is any sniff of a road or hard trail) and my Brooks road shoes. I reckon I'll be okay in the roadies if its dry, I wore them over a peat bog a few weeks ago and they were fine! But if it buckets down all weekend I want the option of trail shoes. The course in the photos looks really 'hard' well made pathway....but who knows where we'll end up at this rate
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To answer the specific question - yes, I believe trail shoes will be the way to go. A well broken in pair of Roclite 320s for me.
And I agree that the route 'should' have been sorted weeks ago - so does the Race Director - or at least that's what he told me at the Hawkshead event at the beginning of May just after the provisional route was published on the website. It was provisional at that time because formal agreement from some of the landowners over whose property the route passes had not been confirmed at that time. Since then there have evidently been further discussions which I have not been aware of - the route does pass close to at least one SSSI, it does cross privately owned land (albeit on public footpaths) and it is necessary for any event organiser to satisfy all affected stakeholders (including landowners and the National Park Authority) that their concerns have been addressed. Some of those are evidently being more demanding than others. The key thing is that a route of marathon distance is ready for us to run on a week on Sunday - before then, the precise detail doesn't actually matter. I have every confidence that it will be ready and would note that neither the bulk of the proposed route nor the overall character has changed - its merely a case, so far as I can see, of points of detail near Beacon Tarn (south end of the route) and possible knock on effects for the overall race distance meaning that the length of laps on the start/finish field may have to be tweaked.
Finally - a plea - can we please lay off the race organisation until after the event. This event has never happened before so its not a surprise that some unique challenges have come up. There are people working very hard to get this event on for our benefit. They are communicating with us and telling us about some of the issues they are having to deal with - in my book this is evidence of GOOD organisation. It is frustrating to see things still being finalised but this is the real world and we'd have far more to be concerned about if we weren't being told things. In many respects it seems thatthey are damned if they do tell us stuff and damned even further if they don't - hardly a fair approach. Let's judge the organisation based on the quality of the event which is delivered next weekend shall we.
Any other foodstuffs? I might take some obligatory kendle mint cake as a palate cleanser.
YUM Kendle Mint Cake
I'll have a couple of gels with me, and a bottle of coke for the caffeine hit.
Last marathon I did the rain was torrential and we had 60knot winds forecast, although in reality it was about 30mph with 45mph gusts, I didnt want to lift my jacket to get at the gels in my waist band, so consequently took none at all. It was only at the end I realised all I had taken was 250ml cola and a couple of sips of water from cups en route.....case of head down, get on with it
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Dry weather for this one please, oh weather Gods?
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Costanza,
Last training run today, sounds a bit lazy (are you spending this week in Moe's Tavern)
lol! I m running 27 mile Monday, 10 mile tuesday, thursday 10 mile saturday 4 mile but training for a 70 mile ultra in August so got to do it .( i will still be at the back of the field)!
Really looking forward to this one now getting excited, the little one is also looking forward to getting his face painted and the wife eating loads at the catering stands whilst I do all the work as normal.
Hope everyone has a great day and everything goes to plan for the organisers including the weather!
Good Luck!
Ps Anyone ran the great langdale marathon? I m doing it this year but cant seen to find a route profile?
Costanza - probably just taper niggles kicking in, I'm sure you'll be good to go next weekend
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I'll be off out tommorrow for my last long 'un. Cooler here in Scotland, although it is quite muggy
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Hear you guys 'down South' are getting a heatwave
.....hope its cooled down for next weekend.....when I said 'dry' above I didnt mean 'hot' ........LOL 
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Final map and newsletter are up on the race site for those interested
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Good luck everyone for next week, really looking forward to it now
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phil - 27 miles, 6 days before a marathon
- I'm in awe mate!! A V60 guy at my club who's been running marathons for donkeys years, reckons the Great Langdale is far and away the hardest marathon he's ever done. Definitely not my idea of fun!
Have a good un tomorrow Tp - I prefer to look at my last big run like the last lesson before your driving test i.e. get all the mistakes out of the way so it all goes right on the day
No pain no gain that’s my motto lol,
Yeah apparently it is the hardest marathon in the UK, Snowdon is still my favourite marathon hard but nice, who knows Lakeland trails might become my favourite after the weekend??