Leeds Liverpool Canal Race

booktrunk

Lowrez.

*gulp* yes.

lowrez

Ha ha! Well done! I'm running with my own support. Team of one so far but I think I will need a couple more people at least, its all very well us folk running non stop for 42 hours but drivers will need proper sleep etc. I'm thinking of getting a decent GPS locator so they will definitely know where I am all the time. What about you?

booktrunk

Going supported by them as I only have the one support my oh and he would be a bit fed up / grumpy doing it all  

he'll drop me off at start line and pick me up at the end. 

Tracking, I have my Garmin fenix 3. Might Bluetooth it to my phone for tracking. For fun almost tempted to pay a few quid to the people that do the tracking for the spine as they will let you rent a tracker for an event, that's a great way of tracking as I think it has a sim for each of the main mobile companies so it can get a signal in most places.

Jamie Russell

booktrunk- Which company is that?  I'd like to do that for my attempt at GUCR next year

booktrunk

There are other companies but this is the one:-

http://opentracking.co.uk/

If they can cope with working on the Spine, then they should cope with anything. I think it's only around £30 and then everyone you want can track you. Sorry £30 for a weekend or £60 for a week. So talk to them about GUCR as it's inbetween.

Personally the Fenix 3 watch does it all built in via a bluetooth connection to iphone but if you don't want the hassle of messing around these trackers seem the solution, and also give your family peace of mind.

Jamie Russell

Thank you

lowrez

Oops - http://opentracking.co.uk/ - are booked out of trackers for our dates already . I don't fancy splashing out on a Fenix 3. Anybody know of an other automatic options or am I down to phoning home every once in a while to let them know where I am?

cougie

Will you have your phone on you ? Find my iphone or something similar should work werll enough.



You may need to take a cheap battery charger with you mind.

booktrunk

Also Garmin app is 69p thst does live tracking  

cougie

I can't believe you nutters are gonna run all that way. I doff my cap.

booktrunk

Ohh email from the organisers today.... Starting to feel real now  

lowrez

Yep, we need to cough up that entry fee now!

Did you read the image and film rights clauses? I got back to them because I had just made this (note I'm not touting for donations its relevant to the story), none of the imagery is from their event but I am obviously referencing them. They said it was all OK, they are just a small running club and are trying to protect from anyone cashing in re publicity on their endeavours.

cougie - that is pure kudos - thanks  - completely unknown territory for me - I'm just back from Comrades so know I can do 56 miles non-stop; furthest I have ever run. 

I recently purchased a couple of cheap Nokia 215s. Battery life is immense and I don't care if they are ruined during the event, possibly not sophisticated enough to run a Garmin app. I will research tracking further. One option is to have my support team tracked and not me, it'll be close enough for casual observers and they can have more sophisticated kit in the car not at the danger of the elements... did I see some phone ad the other day with the phone being treated rather badly and surviving? I think it definitely got wet? 

booktrunk

I've got a spare iphone5s so will stick my sim in that in a charger case that can keep it going for days just to have something in case I need it. 

Will stick the route on my Garmin and have a very small charger that will charge it. might need to charge it a 3rd time just before the end.  

my challenge is the first couple of cut offs. I just want to go out really slow and steady, I'm planning 5min run / 1min walk. 

Then just repeat it 280 - 320 times and hey presto I'll be at the end... So I'm just taking it 6 minutes at a time it's not nearly 130 miles. It's just 6 minute block and repeat  

EwanGibb87

When's the race, folks? I'll try to pop to Saltaire (13mi short of Leeds) for some support at a rough time when two or three of you may pass!

booktrunk

August bank holiday. I think it starts early Saturday morning



EDIT: checked 6 am Saturday

lowrez

If anyone is interested I made this: http://gb.mapometer.com/running/route_4348881 O&OE! I think its pretty solid though. The towpath switches sides a few times and there are a couple of places where we go "overland" because of towpathless tunnels etc. My support team are looking to pin way markers on it, which I think you can do if you subscribe to premium, but, I've just exported it off here to gpx and then into Google maps to make a private version which we are currently looking at adding the markers to.

My training is awful! I'm not injured but have not put enough miles in to feel, hmm, what are the words; satisfied with progress? In my mind I'm ready, which is a massive part of the prep I think, just need to get some long weekend runs in.

Booktrunk, you sound like you are going to be running laden down with batteries? Charging your garmin 3 times? How? Does it still run whilst on charge? 

booktrunk

Yes it does

The charger is abut 70g not really an issue (might have a different watch, pre ordered a sunnto Spartan don't know when it will actually come out).



Training... Yuck! Just keep on plodding

lowrez

What Garmin do you have bt?

booktrunk

Fenix 3.  It's nice but i'm a gadget tart... saddest thing if I move to suunto will be the lack of visibility in their environment of my previous stuff but it's not the end of the world.  (Can always do things like look on strava)

I like my Fenix 3 but just fancy a change

Actually it's probably 2 full charges that is recording every second... If I change it to the biggest extreme of 1 minute then I guess it might do it If I was quicker it would need charging once... But i think i'm going to be using nearly all of the time.

lowrez

I have been meaning to look at the f3, so will the sunny last all the way on a single charge?

booktrunk

again only if set to only beep every minute.

It can do 18 hours high quality capture, 26 hours good quality capture, and 60 hours just once a minute which depending on the vagaries of GPS could end up being so far out to be pointless, but then again could be pretty accurate i guess along canals as there aren't many changes of direction.

lowrez

So, we have 2 hours less than expected to complete? 40 hours not 42.

For tracking I did a heap of phone research and bought a Motorola Moto E 2nd Generation - not massively expensive Android phone with a pretty good battery. I have installed FollowMee on it, and on a 20 miler today it only burnt 10% battery, so I guess it is good for 200 miles? A couple of mates tracked me OK with an update interval of 10 minutes; around every three quarters of a mile at my intended pace.

I have mapped the route on Google Maps, if I get time I will see if I can get the FollowMee to project onto it, although I am not overly fussed about that, followers should be able to zoom in to the FollowMee map and see plain enough that I am on the canal.

So this isn't really logging my pace or anything, its just a position finder, still thinking about the F3, suppose I should take the plunge really! 

lowrez

Into taper now; weird only doing 12 miles on Sunday. Got the Fenix 3 and a battery pack. Forecast says the warm weather will deteriorate going into the weekend and stay changeable. I am hoping for cooler temperatures for sure.

How are you doing booktrunk?

lowrez

I'm about to descend into the focus of event preparation so probably won't post until after the event after this.

If anyone is interested I have the route unofficially mapped here: http://gb.mapometer.com/running/route_4348881

And you can track me (now if you want to but it will be pretty boring) over the course of Saturday and Sunday here (I never did figure out how to get that map pin onto the route above) : https://www.followmee.com/mapx.aspx?token=8d5181f9-3981-4f82-af5e-8e23bdecb804

I'm well excited about this one, 130 is way beyond my current max of 56 . If I ace my personal plan I will cross the finish at 11:00am on Sunday - watch that one unravel   

Good luck everyone! 

lowrez

lowrez wrote (see)

LLCR130 was a war of attrition I really didn't expect. Thunder and lightning in the dead of night directly overhead and the thought of headlines like "Stupid Ultra Runner Struck Down Dead". I even took my head torch off and held it below knee level thinking the metal and 4 AAA batteries were a prime target seeing as I was the tallest thing for miles around. Boy was the sheltering arch of the next bridge a welcome sight. Consequently those already terrible, stony, rutted, grassy canal paths became sodden, slippery bepuddled torture depriving me of the speed I craved, they sapped the running out of me for endless miles reducing my feet to waterlogged painful pads and when I finally reached good solid ground again it was terribly difficult to rekindle the engines. It is wonderful to be sat here with the major medal I received but I won't be rushing back to do it again. I love the rain, and running those canal paths in it where they'd concreted them properly was an absolute joy as was finishing prior to the shortened time limit of 40 hours in 38:34 a long, long, way off my target of 27!

Must say a big hello to Sharon for the superb high five earlier on outside Liverpool; to be asked out of the blue "are you lowrez?" was absolutely astounding; I christen thee "Psylocke"; come out of the lurky shadows and join in the fun! 

My support crew were phenomenal; would not have made it without them, thanks Team Ultra!

booktrunk - did you make it?

Jindalee

Well done lowrez! Sounds like it was anything but easy, so you must be very chuffed finishing.

seren nos

Well done..

How was it book trunk 

leedsliverpool130

I've just signed up for the llc130! Looking forward to it. 

Doing race to the sea in 3 weeks - 50k. I live on the canal so run it all the time. 

Any tips much appreciated. 

Cheers James

1owrez

Hi ll130 I won't harp on at all - see rtts is pushed back to Oct and they are also tempting entries for 2021 - I'm assuming LLCR is postponed too? Did you have some specific questions? How much ultra running have you done?

leedsliverpool130

Hi I'm hopefully  running this race this year after it was postponed from last year. 

Just need to start upping my mileages again from marathon level training to more endurance runs and practice running slowly and eating more! 

Cheers James