Ridgeway Challenge 2014

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Comments

  • I have spent more time trying to pick the right jacket based on millions of reviews than anything. Now I have another in the list  Haglofs LIM II Q Jacket can be had for £100

  • Hagloffs are one of the best makes going, and a couple of people who post on this forum use them for ultras.  Would be nice to try it on if you can though.  Obviously £100 is a good price. 

  • Yeah if not sold think I might be able to dash and try one on tomorrow after work image see what i think of it, will stuff a t-shirt and a thin fleece in the car and put them on so I can emulate the sort of stuff to what I would be wearing with it image ohh also take my salomon slab 12 and try coat on and that on top. If it's to bulky then back to omm or minimus 

  • Fido.... long time no see image

    I entered this deciding that I couldn't afford the CCC trip. Completely forgetting I'm already in the SVP100 a week before. What a cretin, although my excuse is that the SVP was a volunteer place so the pain of paying for something was not seared in to my brain.

    Doing both doesn't sound very sensible, but I have a potential work problem one weekend in August so will keep both options open until I know when that is. And I suppose I might finally be so well trained that I feel like I can do both anyway....  Not very likely !

     

  • booktrunkbooktrunk ✭✭✭

    It's creeping closer image

  • booktrunkbooktrunk ✭✭✭

    Oh for some reason I somehow got carried away and ended up being on the later start.  But, I got sensible again and am back on the 10 AM start, no excuses for a DNF, so what if it's slow I need to woman up there and get to the darn finish line image

  • about the jacket choice BT, i got a smock and although im sure they will be fine for colder weather i wish i had bought the jacket, having a windproof top makes you sweat in this weather and it wasnt even that hot when i wore it - it was at night and raining too so only about 13°C tops. if you was are carrying a pack its a major consideration. to me the only benefit of a smock was the slightly lower weight, the zips on jackets are so good now as far as water resistance goes its not worth saving the weight 

     

  • booktrunkbooktrunk ✭✭✭
    Thanks for that Donner image



    So far happy with my haglofs jacket, sure I could get smaller, but this seems to fit the bill image guess I'll find out over this winter image need to make sure I pack some warm clothing in drop bag, I found the change of day to night temperature hard to cope

    with.
  • Hi all. Just entered this and v excited! I do have a question though. Do you train by yourselves in the night? I think I'd be too scared to do that...
  • booktrunkbooktrunk ✭✭✭

    Yes, but I guess it depends on where you live, I don't, but could use Livetrack so I could be tracked if I wanted. 

     

  • Only 45 minutes left if you are going to enter!! image 

  • T RexT Rex ✭✭✭

    After running this the last five years not entering this year.  After two bouts of rhabdomyolysis in 18 months I'm giving ultras greater than 60 miles a miss from now on.  The third time I get it could be very serious.  So not doing the Ring O'Fire or Cotswold Way which I had planned to do.

    All the best to all entrants.  i could try to answer any questions from my experience.

    This is an ideal race for your first overnighter.  Unless you know you are definitely going to buddy up with someone for the night section I would go out on your own at night.  Make sure you're on a route you're familiar with in the daytime.  You will be surprised how different it is at night!  And don't forget your headtorch like I did once and had to resort to crawling through some woods because I literally couldn't see a thing.

  • Thanks T Rex.  

    A good idea to quit while you're ahead - rhabdo is potentially life threatening, so you're making the right choice and 60 miles is enough!  Hope you are fully recovered now from TP.

    Not sure if I've trained right or anything else, but it'll certainly be a learning experience, I certainly know the Ridgeway pretty well from Streatley onwards, but as you pointed out, things look different in the dark.  And when you're cream crackered!

  • Say hello when you catch and overtake me image 

  • Kev you mad bugger, let us know if you're doing it then.

    If people have particular requests for grub/drinkies @ Sparsholt Firs (mile 63) speak up. We've got in some stuff for vegan runners before and actually it's good to have some idea of what at least some people want.

    TRex, kidneys very useful, you hang on to them.

    It does seem that the 50 milers and so on just make people feel (obv) a bit crap (tired, sick, everything hurts) but the longer stuff is where it can tip over to actual serious things and get people taken into hospital. There's a thesis in there somewhere if someone wants to calculate a formula for the tipping point into "not to be undertaken lightly". Certainly seeing someone pass out cold at this year's TP100 and hearing that someone else got taken into hospital after they finished really gave me pause for thought.

     

     

  • humm sausage and chips.... maybe a nice steak n kidney pukka pie........ image

    Seriously If I see you at 63m i'd have got over 100km for the first time, which will mean I've at least got my furthest ever image

    pretending I didn't read the scary bits... image

  • shawkshawk ✭✭✭

    A couple of years ago there were cold baked potatoes and an array of incredible looking homemade cakes at Sparsholt firs. It made me sad that I couldn't contemplate eating the cakes but the potato was awesome! If you can get potatos on the menu and smother them in salt then I'll be a happy/grateful camper. Coke always goes down well too.

    Are you local to Sparsholt then Fido? Have probably seen you out and about if you are.

  • Not as such - Abingdon - the "Amblers" do the SF aid station each year. We tried wrapping the baked pots in a space blanket but I think it only keeps them warm up to a point! Salt is a good point, will try to remember some.

    MMm chips. Rather suspect they would go cold too :/

  • I saw a Fish and chip shop on the wall and though yes brilliant!! But they were closed I was totally gutted!
  • Flapjacks and coke (fizzy pop, not the powdered variety - although I did listen to someone saying they'd done the Inca Ultra(?) and they had handed out coca leaves, she said they were brilliant!!).

    I run up there (Sparsholt Firs) all the time shawk - loads of poxy flies up there at the moment!  Every time I see someone running up there I wonder what they're training for.  I ran from my home near Uffington, to Avebury on Sunday - my family met me there for a picnic and a wander round the stones - very impressive end to a race.  Then waddled a 20 miler in on Monday - that was my longest back to back, which I was pleased about, but still no overly happy with my training due to all sorts of reasons.  I'll be there race day in the right frame mind you.

    Fido, once again, many thanks, it's massively appreciated.

  • Another one just wanting to say thanks Fido.

    Looking forward to the 63m party!! image

  • T RexT Rex ✭✭✭

    In 2012 it was at about the 63m point that the first serious pains in my legs began and I soldiered on getting slower and slower until at mile 83 with a mile to go on the ridge and just at the beginning of the dreadful rutted section and with the finish line visible way down below I came to a standstill with my right leg completely rigid. Couldn't move at all.  My first experience of rhabdo.

    It won't happen to any of you I'm sure.  Be sure you are sufficiently conditioned, take plenty of water on if it's hot and most importantly keep your electrolytes balanced. Plenty of salt. Pass up the cake - eat peanuts and crisps.

  • As has been said it's when you get over 50 that things seem to start going hinky with quite a few bodies, compared to shorter races.

  • And keep off paracetamol and ibuprofen.

    It's horrible that rutty bit isn't it?

  • ohhhh ohhh Fido2Dogs I have an actual request if humanly possible, hot chocolate image

     

  • Thought I'd say "Hi" as I'm also running in this one.

    I've done a couple of marathons and the Marlborough Downs 33, so this feels like quite a jump in distance. Despite this l am still really looking forward to it.

    My main long training runs have been out and backs on the Ridgeway from Foxhill to Hackpen Hill and Foxhill to the A338 (but always making the mistake of running them too quickly!)

    Looking forward to seeing you all in about 2 weeks and stepping into the unknown!image 

  • Hi Leebe, good to hear from another Ridgewayer.  You've clearly run the important part of the Ridgeway, namely the end!  Although I must say I really hate that two mile slog up to the farm before Barbury Castle.  And Bury Downs.  Other than that, it's all good!

    See you in a couple of weeks.

  • Ohhh.. I had a really nice call from Tim, I was expecting it to be a spam sales call and not an interesting call so sounded a bit grumpy when i answered it, but he asked if I wanted to move to 12.

    I'm the youngest of the 10 o'clock starters... hehe we chatted but I decided to say no thank you, and stick with the 10 starters, after my DNF in my last race this isn't about being fast, the overnight cut off might have put me slightly under pressure if things go slightly wrong, so i'd rather just plod it out image

    I have a plan that involves going slowwwwwwwwwwwwww image I just hope I can stick to it early on. It's purely about seeing if I can keep going for 86m within the cut offs image I'd love 24-25 hours as that would give me 5 hours to do the last 14m when I do my first 100, half of which is over the 25m of this course in out and back loops.

  • T RexT Rex ✭✭✭

    Richyla - the whole of the Wessex Downs section of the Ridgeway used to be rutted like that last mile.  Caused by greenlaners, now forbidden.  Mostly all filled in now with chalky, cindery stuff - which incidentally is very slippery in the wet.

     

    Sorry to hear you had a DNF in your last race, booktrunk.  Nothing serious I hope.

  • Thanks T Rex, no it was a mental error, I just didn't prepare properly, and I was just not right, I achieved something I wanted and then I just mentally folded, but it was a good lesson that I learnt, so it had positive things as well image 

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