Overdone it?

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  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    Skinny, that's a great effort. As Mr V says, a decent turnaround given you were once done! Do you still have serious thoughts of having another decent go at a marathon?

    Mr V- Close your eyes for todays final peaking session then!! 3 x 5k at HMP over lunch off 3 min jog/walk. After this it's all downhill to London. Going out in full race kit (except the alphaflys- i'll save the miles on those) just to refamiliarize myself as I've not raced since July.

    Tommy, as per above, my last race was a 20 miler at end of July. As I was due to be on hols for 2 weeks through mid august we planned it on basis when I got back we'd need to just get the training in. Then by the time it was apparent I couldn't holiday we'd pretty much settled into an 8 week plan. So no, i'll just be going straight through now.

    No point hammering yourself to get under 20, doubt i'd turn up if I had a few drinks the night before. Good luck in the race tomorrow.

  • Nice time Ronin and gives you something to build on.

    Skinny, yes we need a report, is it a one off or do you see yourself continuing with the ultras?

    DT how did the last session go today.

    MR V, any running lately.

    6mls last night after the 50m cycle on Sunday which i enjoyed.
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    Session was tiring but I managed it well thanks and maintained consistency with 18.14, 18.14 and 18.16. All three reps beat my parkrun pb. 

    Might have an early night tonight! 
  • DT19 said:
    All three reps beat my parkrun pb. 
     :smiley:  
  • Mr VMr V ✭✭✭
    Impressive stuff DT - I really think you should get yourself down to a parkrun, I want to know what you can do  :)

    Kevin - I basically did very little over summer due to injury, illness, general laziness and the period of hot weather. I've built up a bit over the last few weeks and today managed my first faster session where I didn't feel completely dreadful. 

    Unfortunately the next few weeks of work will be very busy so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to kick on.

    My vague plan is to try and get back to sub 18 5k shape (or thereabouts) by the end of the year and take it from there .
  • SkinnyPart2SkinnyPart2 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2021
    Okay I'll try and do a report and keep it brief (EDIT: not very brief at all).

    Cumbria Way 30 Ultra

    This is the baby version of the full Cumbria Way Ultra which is 73 miles from Ulverston to Carlisle (I have walked the full route with Mrs Skinny over 6 days :-) - the winner this year took 12:37! The winner of the baby 30 mile race (which was actually 30.9 miles this year because of a path closure near the finish) took 4:19. 

    The most stressful part of doing the ultra (as my first) was ensuring I had all the kit to pass the mandatory kit check. I borrowed a lot of the stuff (bag, waterproofs with sealed seams, foil blanket, soft bottles from a friend) and bought the rest and spent Friday night laying it all out on the floor and ticking it off (twice).

    Bus at 8:15 to get to Keswick for about 9:30 and despite a good weather forecast it was pissing it down. Hopefully it would stop by 12 which was the start time. Spent the next two hours eating a very early two pitta bread ham salad lunch and looking at all the other runners all of whom had the kit and most looked superfit. There were only 85 of us doing 30 mile version.

    One guy stood out as looking superfast and I noticed he was wearing Alpha Flys but had poles too so I presumed he was an experienced fell runner who could just run on the terrain in any shoes he wanted.

    It was still raining at 11:45 so I had to don my borrowed waterproof and we lined up and off we went.

    The route was split into three sections Keswick to Caldbeck 15 miles on stony lumpy paths with about 2,900 feet of climbing in two major chunks - my pre race strategy for this bit was to walk up the steep bits, run walk the slightly uphill bits and run the rest with the odd walk when I felt like it.

    Caldbeck to Dalston 10 miles across fields beside the river - pre race plan was somewhere between 10 and 12 mins running and walk for 3/5 mins and repeat plus walk up a couple of uphill bits but total climbing for this bit only 300 feet.

    Dalston to Carlisle 5 miles (became nearly 6 with diversion) down a tarmac cycle path which was flat/slightly downhill - pre race strategy again was to run walk with 10 to 12 mins, walk for 3 to 5 and repeat.

    Goal was to complete but I thought that between 5:30 and 6 hours was possible, closer to 6 hours being more likely as furthest I'd run in training was 16 miles (plus a run walked 19.5) so I expected to struggle in the last 10 miles. 
  • SkinnyPart2SkinnyPart2 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2021

    Main run highlights.

    After about 2 miles I passed Mr Alpha Flys and had a quick chat about his shoe choice - he was from Birmingham and saw long distance footpath in description and made a bad assumption. He finished about 10 minutes after me and we had a good laugh about how inappropriate his shoe choice was.

    Things were going okay after 5 miles in about 10th place when I looked up to see where I was heading and caught my foot on a stone and fell head first on to the path, my chin being saved from bashing onto a rock by two fingers getting in the way at the last minute. they swelled up massively straight away and I presumed they were probably broken (they're still swollen now but I can bend them and swelling going down so think just badly jarred actually). My borrowed bag and waterproof were covered in muck and my gels were all over the path with blood coming from cuts on both my hands and my knee and my shoulder was bleeding too. Other than my fingers though I seemed okay and I was in the middle of nowhere so on I went. Other than my knee hurting from time to time this accident didn't affect my run.

    At just over 10 miles going up High Pike, the main climb of the race on a filthy path I got cramp in my calves when I stretched my legs so I had to walk for about a mile along the top to walk it off with a couple of salt tablets. Cramp at 10 miles in a 30 mile race not ideal though. I managed to walk that mile in under 13 mins so was quite chuffed with myself. The next 3 miles were all downhill to the checkpoint and I managed to run them in 7/8 min miles with only a couple of cramp twinges to get to Caldbeck in 2:37 which was apparently 10th place.

    The checkpoint - I'd imagined I'd calmly refill my bottles, have the food on offer, grab some more to take with me and then set off again but for some reason I just completely panicked and every second felt important but I managed to do the essentials and probably set off again 2 mins later. 

    Knew I had to be disciplined with the run/walk strategy on the next bit or I wouldn't make Carlisle and I was but at 18 miles I looked over my shoulder and was surprised to see someone catching me (I've no idea why I was surprised I just think I'd been on my own for so long that I'd almost forgotten other people were doing it). He caught me at 20 miles and we had a walk together for a bit - I discovered he'd done the Bob Graham round this year so obviously much better prepared than me and when I suggested we ran again he simply ran away from me. He was probably going at about 10 min mile pace but it was 30 secs too fast for me at that stage. He finished 7th 11mins ahead of me. Also by then running for 10 min stints was beyond me so I was walking about 0.15 miles and then running the rest of the mile.

    The rest of the run was just really hard work - about half a mile short of the second checkpoint I started getting cramp in my quad just above my knee but fortunately that passed because think it would have been horrible if it had cramped up.

    At the checkpoint one of the women said they had been starting to worry where I was which seemed a bit unnecessary as only two people had passed me and I'd run 10 miles. She then asked me if I was okay? My response 'I'm fine I'm just really f...ing tired' wasn't my proudest moment but they still gave me some custard creams and jaffa cakes so they can't have been that upset.

    The last 5 miles were miserable but I did run most of it (albeit with a very shortened stride) and got passed by another couple of people. Less than half a mile from the finish the footpath was closed and so we had to follow a diversion which added a very unwelcome 0.7 miles to the route and took my time to 5:34 - I would have been sub 5:30 without the diversion. 

    13th place. It wasn't really about the position or the time though and it was great to complete and despite the miserable last 10 miles I enjoyed it.  

    The race finished inside Carlisle Castle and we got meat pie and beans and a bottle of Wainwrights and I got to talk to the guy who won and a few of the other competitors.

    The strange thing was that during the race I was hardly ever running with anyone - I passed a few people and a few people passed me - but I could have talked to someone the whole 30 miles except for a few of the really steep bits - it was my waist downwards that was the problem so I could imagine doing an ultra with a similar standard friend and it being a really good experience. 
  • Finally have a photo.

  • Good luck in your fell race Tommy - having tried it massive respect to anyone who runs up fells!
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    I can't believe someone ran that in alpha flys. They'd have spent so much energy controlling being bounced all over the place on those surfaces up until that last stretch on footpath.

    Sounds like one of those pretty miserable experiences whilst in the event, but as soon a sit was over that was largely forgotten.

    Definitely is not something that sounds attractive to me, but I can see it being fun if that's your thing. Well done on grinding it out, particularly after that fall.

    Mr V, I am not sure i'd bash out anything overly impressive in a 5k race, i'd be happy with 17.45 ish, though think I could push 17.30s.

    Legs tired today. Just an easy 9m trot over lunch.

  • Hello everyone. You don't log in for ages and then when you do it turns out Skinny has done an ultra! How strange (but well done). I've not done much running recently, but wee Tam is a lovely baby - lots of smiles and a ridiculous 80s-style mullet (apparently very fashionable again now).
  • Hi Lit

    Congratulations and lovely of you to pop in - I think DT let us know everything had gone well from FB (which I'm not on).

    How old is Tam now? It's a very Scottish name  :)
  • DT19 said:

    I can't believe someone ran that in alpha flys. They'd have spent so much energy controlling being bounced all over the place on those surfaces up until that last stretch on footpath.

    Yeah he said his legs were totally trashed by then so he didn't get any benefit from them then either.  :D

    I think you would surprise yourself in a flat parkrun - you did 3 * 5k in 18:15 so must have a fair bit in hand for a once only effort.
  • DT quality session and I'm sure you would smash your 5km pb with the right course. Taper now?

    Skinny good to see a report on here, terrain looks hard going, how's the fingers now. 

    Mr V hopefully you can get a block of training going soon.

    Hi Lit, hope everyone is doing great and enjoying the new baby

    Hopefully out for some miles tonight and contemplating going to the club session tomorrow, i haven't been since before lockdown :s
  • Hi Lit

    Congratulations and lovely of you to pop in - I think DT let us know everything had gone well from FB (which I'm not on).

    How old is Tam now? It's a very Scottish name  :)
    He's four months and not really called Tam.
  • Good luck in your fell race Tommy - having tried it massive respect to anyone who runs up fells!
    It was a bit of a sod. I nearly didn't bother going as I'd finished work late and it was a bit of a trek but my mate needed to do the race in order to do the requisite number to get a placing in the overall series. We cut it pretty fine getting to registration with a couple of minutes to spare and then had a quick march to the start line a few hundred metres up a lne to the edge of Dartmoor. No time for a pee which made the entire race quite uncomfortable. 

    Still wasn't feeling particularly up for racing as we set off just decided just to try and stick with my mate for as long as possible and if that felt too much like hard work then just enjoy the views. although this was complicated somewhat by the fact that the race started at 6:30 and sunset was due at 7:!5, the race was ~5 miles with 1200ft of elevation gain so couldn't hang around too much as otherwise would have had to switch on the compulsory head torch I was carrying. 

    Up a fairly big hill before dropping back down to a river crossing and then a very long climb up to one of the highest points on Dartmoor, which was an absolute grueller. Then a traverse and slight up to another tor before a quad mangling descent off the side of Dartmoor before a flatish section alongside a river. Finally a short sharp climb over a ridge before a long descent down a track to the finish. 

    More comedy splits of 9:11, 13:27, 10:29, 7:20, 7:23 and an overall finish time of 46:50 and 25th place (out of 70). Waiting to find out where I finished overall in the series. Have enjoyed doing the full series, probably won't do as many of the series next year. 

    XC season starts in 2 weeks  :|
  • Well done for toughing it out Tommy - those mile times are just meaningless in those kind of races because it's not just the gradient it's what the underfoot conditions are like too.

    My worst mile last week was mile 11 in 20 minutes up a boggy path along by a stream up the fell (even the winner took 14 mins and said was unrunnable), my fastest was mile 13 in 7 minutes down the other side.

    Feels like we've definitely left summer behind now.
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    Hi Lit, good to hear from you. Sounds like you are loving the parenting!

    Well done, Tommy, that mile 3 sounds and looks horrific from the split!

    Skinny, yes the morning and evening temps have dropped quite a lot now.

    Steady few days here. 8m low tempo Thursday so 6.33mm, then 5m recovery Friday, rest Saturday and then 12m yesterday.

    Today is 4m over lunch then spin tonight.

  • Hey guys, my final race is a 10k - 4 weeks on Sunday.

    <div>What’s the best way to prep? Can I give 100% each weekend in a park run? I suppose doing a longer run like a timed 10k would be more debilitating on balance?  Or should I do a couple of timed 10ks per week to get an idea of what my race pace should be? 

    My thoughts were to just run 3 days a week. A fast timed 5k, a pacy 10k and a slow medium run of 7-9 miles. Dropping the miles and continuing to lose another 3 or 4 pounds might be the best option unless you think I could realistically improve in such a short window.</div>
  • Ronin - You should be able to get a reasonable estimate of your 10k race pace from your parkrun time by using a pace calculator such as this one:

    https://runsmartproject.com/calculator/

    I'm not sure that a 'pacy' 10k each week on top of an flat out 5K will benefit you much and could lead to injury. The slower longer run of 7-9 miles sounds reasonable. 

    DT - how's the taper going? Spending your time looking at several different weather forecasts?

    My new XC spikes have arrived, trying to summon the determination to and try them out round the local playing field in the pouring rain. 
  • Good luck for Sunday DT - your training has been outstanding - hope that results in a great race day performance to match.
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭

    Ronin, that just sounds like cramming quality there and risking injury or illness.

    Thanks, Skinny. Yes, I am well prepared but I am always conscious that any number of things can derail a marathon that go beyond our fitness and prep and I am probably overdue a tough day out!

    Tommy, I just stick to the BBC app. If the wind would just drop my a few mph the conditions would be perfect in terms of temp and being dry and cloudy.

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  • Tommy2DTommy2D ✭✭✭
    Good luck, DT. Sure you'll nail the time your training deserves. 
  • Mr VMr V ✭✭✭
    DT - Have a good one, I'm sure you will with all that training banked!
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    Thanks guys. Little shake out this morning felt OK physically, but hr was high (for the pace that is) , just like it was the day before Dorney mind so no panicking! 
  • Best of luck DT ! I never wanted that marathon gold cell anyway  ...

    I'm no closer to running but involved in parkrun volunteering to keep my spirits up. Nice to see Tommy the other week. I'm now off to buy some of Tom Cruise's herbs to relieve my pain; I hope they're better than his movies.
  • Hi Muddy - where is the pain? Been a while :-(
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