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Snowdonia marathon 2013
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Hello all! Haven't popped in to this thread in a while. Sorry to hear people are suffering with colds
I've managed to avoid them well this year... I hope I haven't spoken too soon.
In terms of Snowdonia... I'm getting cold feet. My running hasn't been up to scratch this year and I'm finding it hard to pick it up. I did half marathon 2 weeks ago and found it really hard. Also I am facing a lot of time restrictions.
I can't stop thinking I just want to do 5 and 10 k's and maybe halves. Just about manageable. Just dreading the long mileage over summer. And I'm absolutely terrified of the hills. I used to love hills. They were my strongest point even back end of last year.
I really want to be able to run Snowdonia but I am just scared.
I have a little while yet to decide if I should throw the towel in.
Could maybe check up on this thread more often and see how people are keeping their motivation up.
Elli - don't give up yet! I know my training this year has been nothing that I planned for one reason and another, and not sure how fit i will be come october, but it's a long way away yet! For me SNOD is as much about the camaraderie as anything else. Definitely a race to be enjoyed
Maybe try and think of it like... However if, when the time comes (and it is definitely too early yet!), you decide it's not want you want then don't beat yourself up about it, no point putting yourself through a marathon that you really don't want to do 
If you are in search of motivation though, this is the place to be
Brer -hope you get better soon, yes I clocked some of the results/feedback from excalibur, sounded like they had a good day.
SD enjoy you're week away! We'll be over there somepoint towards the end of the week - got a football tournament and Eisteddfod Yr Urdd to get through first!
Trex - hope Archie is keeping you on your toes
TR41 - glad things are going ok
JD - good stuff as usual
Great news SD-wonderful days ahead then
Elli-come join the party on here on a regular basis. we'll get you round.Tis a day you will never forget
Panad-hi, have a good holiday buddy
Elli- grow a pair!!!
and run some miles and some hills! Plenty of time yet!
Hilly 5k race as a tempo run tonight and my legs protested a bit after Wednesday's beasting on the track.
Ok though....
Off to S Devon later this morning for the Endurancelife Flete coastal ultra (without dog), 35.9 miles and epic estuary crossing at about mile 25. 7200' ascent and going to be warm. I shall be carrying my sponge.
Elli of the North - do not be very afraid. There will be a large field and the conditions and scenery will be utterly memorable. You'll be fine. No other marathon quite compares with this one.
Good look TRex, sounds fantastic-full race report please on your return!
The sun has finally arrived
T Rex- Good luck, crazy man!
Hope you don't get lost or lose your tent! But I do look forward to the report
Brer- you feeling better?
Well, busy couple of days here- no run yesterday morning, but did the hilly Talley 5k yesterday evening, in which my legs reminded me that they had run 5m at 5k pace 2 days earlier, so it was agreed between us that it would be run at 80% effort
Lovely evening though and a lovely picturesque setting- it's run around 2 lakes next to a ruined abbey. This morning saw me do 9.5ish miles with a Parkjog in the middle, followed by gardening
, shopping
and a 5.6m recovery run. Longish run planned for tomorrow
Not even Loch Ness? I did that last year and it was spectacular!
Thank you all for positive comments, I'll come and hang here then and see what happens
Elli
Good on ya! 
It is a special race, which is why so many of us keep coming back, year after year! 
Good one Elli!
JD..erm..yes a bit better..may be doing a local very hilly Half ( Buxton) tomorrow depending on state of lungs! May think again in the morning though
brer- hope you thought again, if you're not well....
16.14m in 2.00.01 for me this morning- easy pace, but legs still heavy after the speedwork/ race. All good though
Short recovery run planned for later
I didn't think again!! Just returned! Was under no illusion it was going to be easy: no running for a week following marathon, lurgy and the terrain. So went with a walk/run strategy just to enjoy the scenery-very, very tough Half though-toughest I've ever done I think. Anyway, rolled over the line in 2hrs on the nose. Took me 2 hrs to get home on a normal 40 min journey due to vast amount of daytrippers descending on the Peak District
Look at you JD, 16 miles in the time it took me to do 13
Hey, I cannot get back to running regularly though as legs felt like cement for first 5 miles (or could that be due to the 3 mile hill rising over Buxton?)
Brer- partly the hill, partly the lurgy and partly the number of events crammed in!
Well done, crazy one....
talking of which, wonder how T Rex is getting on....
I nearly pulled out 10 mins before, I could almost hear you saying..don't do it. But I had resolved at that point that it was just going to be a slow bimble..and if it took 3 hrs, so be it.
However, my voice has disappeared since Thursday and I have an interview on Tuesday..anyone have any tips?
Rest up!!!!!!!
94.75m this week- base building going nicely. Start Chester campaign week after next
Hi all
Glad to see everyone as mad as normal!!
Well on job front came to end Thursday so now me and my business partner are concentrating 100% on getting our new business up and running, Eden Restored Garden Maintenance and outside Electrics ( as I am a spark). Feel quite liberated actually and very positive
Steady 10 miler this morning could still feel Saturdays bike ride in my legs, did a hilly 27 miles.
Oh wow TR41, good on you kiddo, all the very best with your new venture!
TR41 - good luck with new business
Brer - you is totally mad but totally inspiring - hope your voice is coming back
10 lovely miles around CyB on Saturday it's amazing how a good run makes such a difference - i've gone from giving up entering races once this years are over to having 3 marathons penciled in for next year
if things go to plan - Mr C is refusing to comment he just gave me that look when i announced it all yesterday
Hey Chrissi-very jealous of your jaunt around CyB especially if you have had some sun over there
Mr BR-has given up on 'the look' a long time ago, he's well-trained now ooopppsss I mean tolerant
Voice is intermittently getting better but nowhere near right yet though
Is MrRex back in town yet??
Garmin problems saw my planned intervals become 5x300 @ 5k pace with 100 jogs followed by a 5min jog. Period
So much for the 5 sets!!....By the time I had been home and sorted things out, the track was full of little people, so Plan B came into operation: run tomorrow's 8m this evening and do intervals in the morning. Simples! Still, 16.96m for today
Jason..I had similar problems with my Garmin 305, took the battery out, gave it all a damned good shake and then it became alive again..I call it Jesus now..oops very wrong. However, in the mean time cos I didnt trust Jesus, I bought a Garmin 910..wished I'd not bothered. Crashes when going on Fetch data stuff due to ANT stick, Garmin site is crap so if you value your split times etc proceed with caution if you are buying another. It may just be me or my old PC that's a problem but it is very irritating
Hi folks. I'm back after long w/e away. How did you know I was in my tent?
Flete Coastal Ultra 35.9 miles, S Devon, 26 May 2013
Vile journey on M5 Saturday morning. Arrived at campsite nearest to race venue (about 6 miles away). Car grounded badly on the enormous chicane-style speed bumps at the entrance. Put the tent up and on leaving site, trying to negotiate the chicane, scraped a wheel arch badly on a brick wall. Visited mother and took her out to Port Isaac for the day (nowhere near S Devon).
Returned to tent and up at 0615 ready for 0845 race start at a very remote location near the Erme estuary, the one we had to cross later. Start/finish area an idyllic site. Didn't really allow enough time for everything, but just about ready by race start.
The most alarming thing was that there were only 23 starters. A minute field comprising mostly very elite-looking specimens with their legwarmers/compression tights/socks (? which) and tops that were a hybrid between a shirt and a rucksack with fancy bottle-carrying arrangements. To say nothing of the various Marathon des Sables, etc, logos on their attire.
The kit you can get now. I was just in my normal shorts and vest which I have run mostly in during my 14 years of racing.
I felt a little bit out of place to be honest.
Anyway, 20 of this intimidating-looking lot disappeared over the horizon within the first mile leaving three of us wondering what it was all about, of the other two one experienced, and one a novice - hadn't even done a marathon before - with whom I stayed for a while but eventually, I'm afraid, dumped. I remained ahead of the other chap from about mile 13 onwards.
I didn't see another ultra entrant until within a mile of the finish.
There were a lot of marathon runners to run with though, who were doing the first 27 miles of our route and started about 5 minutes after our start. It was all carefully planned so that we could all make the 600m crossing of the Erme estuary at low tide.
As long as we all kept to the plan.
Off to do yesterday's intervals in a bit....
......this seems to have a Cross Bay Challenge feel to it..crossing an estuary, quicksand...let's hear it
brer- Are you suggesting that Mr Rex didn't keep to the plan and that things went awry?
Busy morning here! 2 bananas for breakfast followed by 14.29m of running: 4.35m warm up, 8.67m of intervals (5 sets of 5x300@5k pace with 100 jogs and 5 mins between sets) and 1.27m warm down. Sports massage later, so had to squeeze it all in this morning. Good session! Got home to find that I had got a Lucozade Sport Elite Top Ten % tech t, gel and voucher for free drink through the post for finishing in top 10% of VLM
My top will still be in the post then
jason - lol
All Endurancelife coastal ultra courses have the same format - a '10K' loop (actually about 8-9 miles) taking you back or nearly back to the start, then about an 18-19-mile loop - the whole course shared with the marathon so far - then finally out around the '10K' loop a second time.
The '10K' is often quite a handful in itself, and was here. Some arduous running down cliffs via lots of steps or zig-zag paths, across a footbridge at the bottom, or across the beach, before toiling up the other side. There were a few miles of this before a nice shady inland stretch through woods.
Then up the Erme river through the private Flete estate (paths not normally open to the public so a unique route), called the most attractive estuary in England and it might well be, although I am not an expert on them, across a footbridge, and down the other side. The paths were very attractive at any rate, and the woodland carpeted with late bluebells, other wild flowers, and the rather pongy wild garlic.
About mile 15 it was finally out of the trees and several miles across open fields under the full glare and heat of the sun. Quite a tortuous route before hitting the coast again and a mile of beach running, carefully avoiding sandcastles and flying tennis balls, etc to arrive at Bigbury (mile 21). This was a major pitstop and my first and only reorganisation of kit and drinks before setting off onto the most technical part of the course, certainly the hardest, with very severe ascents and descents along the cliffs. It was now about 1300 and very hot with no shade at all. But with my trusty sponge I was able to dowse myself down upon reaching suitable clean-looking streams or horse troughs, much to the amusement or perhaps envy of the marathon runners I was still with at this point.
The cliff scenery was utterly stunning and the sea turquoise. On the highest of the clifftops there was a bench which I sat on for 4 or 5 minutes, just drinking it all in.
Emerged onto the east bank of the river Erme and was finally able to see with my own eyes what the tide situation was. The race organiser's banners could be seen fluttering about 600m away on the other side. The only way to them was through the river.
Looking forward to the next instalment
anyone out there loking for GFA entry to next year's VLM? You need to enter via a link on their website on June 24, with scannedvproof of ID and link to proof of results
Cheers for that JD.
C'mon -let's have the next section