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Shades Marathon Training
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Big G - well done, it was tough out there today, 29 degrees when I finally finished in 5:57.
We started at 9:30 and we have a tough hill to start this race, we do a loop and out and back totalling 1.6 miles just to make the distance up and that little loop takes us up on the moor and even at that relative early time the sheep were huddled under what little shade they could find from the small trees and bushes. Back down onto the Plym Trail path and with a fair amount of shade it was a lot cooler and the long tunnel was divinely cold, and I didn't even mind that my Garmin cuts out halfway through the tunnel. I wasn't running brilliantly but OK, I was determined not to have a miserable race like I had at Stur Half so I was making an effort to run within myself and take plenty of fluids. I did spend far too long at the drink stations, taking and drinking 2 drinks plus having a little chat, so 2 or 3 minutes each time.
I realised that the lead runner had changed and not long after that I saw Big G on his final stretch, I was at about 18 miles and he told me that the lead runner was unwell on the viaduct. When I got there he was lying on his side, I wanted him to move to the shade as the sun was very hot on the concrete there but he said he couldn't move, I offered him salt tablets, sweets etc but he said he couldn't keep anything down. Quite worrying not being able to help, I spent 5 minutes with him then he told me to go on, there were lots of cyclists stopping to offer help plus runners and walkers so I went on. I then had to keep stopping to update other runners on the way down to my final turn. I had decided to run to 20 miles and then walk/run the rest of the race, but after seeing the runner unwell I found it hard to focus so started run/walk a bit earlier.
I did my final turn and ran/walked back up towards the finish, at 22 miles the poorly runner was still there and as I reached him the ambulance finally arrived, there was a lady a retired GP taking care of him plus one of the race organisers and some helpers. I didn't hang around but found it impossible to run anymore and just walked briskly to the finish, seeing the ambulance there was quite sobering and made me realise that times didn't matter today. Managed to sneak a sub 6 which was amazing considering I had so many stops along the way. Keith finished a little bit after me. Poorly runner is in Derriford Hospital on a drip as was unable to take any fluids orally, so hopefully he'll make a speedy recovery.
Well done on your Plym trail performances, I gather some of you are doing again tomorrow, best of luck with that. Sorry to hear that someone needed medical attention, hope he is ok soon, well done on offering assistance even if not much either of you could do.
Shades/Keith, well done on getting it done today. Keith, hopefully your knee is fine.
Shades, was it a bike ambulance that went to him? When I got to the middle aid station, LC was there with her car parked nearby, and I think she was hoping he'd be able to walk up to her so she could drive him back. I did say to her that he was in a bad way, and I think in parallel Davey was sorting the ambulance. As you say, let's hope he recovers well.
Keith - well done, tough day for all of us today. Hope you've had a good feed to set you up for tomorrow. Forecast tomorrow is for a little cooler, but not by that much.
Big G - no, it was a Range Rover type vehicle which drove down from Clearbrook direction so I think narrow enough to maybe drive all that section. But it didn't pass me on the way to the hospital so maybe there was an access to get off the path. I think that was the main problem that he couldn't walk as he felt so ill and weak.
Good idea to take some substantial food to eat as quickly as possible post race. Lots doing the double this weekend, I think I seem to be the odd one out but I'm looking forward to a leisurely day on the drink station. Hope there's no drama like today.
Good luck for the ones doing it tomorrow,looks a little cooler.
Just went for a quick run after work and it was showing 27 here at 5pm.
Keith - wouldn't it be difficult if at all possible to negotiate the zig zag part of the path onto the car park, but there's maybe a gate before that point that an 4x4 could negotiate.
Forgot to mention earlier that crossing the final viaduct I saw 2 peregrine falcons, magnificent sight.
I remember at a 24 hour event seeing the paramedics carrying a runner out of his tent on a stretcher and then the winner fainted just after the presentation too, both due to low blood pressure.
See you later Big G and Keith.
I haven’t got official time yet and my Garmin died so I turned on my Strava for last 6 miles. So roughly 9 hours to cross north to south Dartmoor 36 miles. It’s the first time I thought about DNF without being injured, I was really knackered come the end. Definitely the hardest race I’ve ever done, the sense of achievement is a amazing and glad I done it, see parts of Dartmoor and the remoteness. 360 turn and you couldn’t see a house in sight, just runners doing the same as you. The organisation was good and they removed some of the cut off due to the heat which I thought was good so it started as 6 cut off but it became one at Prince town 3pm heard they let runners leave after this but don’t know if that’s true. I got there just after 2pm didn’t stay long just refilled everything. There were plenty of aid station and I only ran out of water once and made sure I had salt tablets and electrolytes. I didn’t have much life in my legs from the start and it was really hard to get going, I was running with a couple most of the way and we kept each other going, they stayed a little longer at aid stations but always caught me up so it was lovely to finish with them. I took a tumble at around 10 miles but I bounced so apart from few scratches on knee all good, my new friends picked me up. I was on the soft moorland grass, it did make me nervous on the rocky paths. First part was lovely second not so it had two rough rocky paths which really made you really have to concentrate on not tripping over and with thin bottom trails you felt it, feet seem ok today but will put bottle of water in freezer for later. Rest day for me and family time. Good luck today and stay safe.
I had 20 miles scheduled for today and wanted to get out early before it got too warm. Woke up at 3.30am so had to decide whether to a) stay awake or b) go back to sleep and then risk sleeping in until 5.30 which would mean I'd be unlikely to get out before 7. So I went with a).
Set out at 5.15am and headed straight down to Tooting and Colliers would and hit the Wandle Trail just as it was starting to get light. (This is a path that runs alongside a small river - very pleasant, but I was concerned about light levels here so didn't want to go out too early). As it happened, the sky turned an amazing red at this point and I hit Morden Hall Park at sunrise. It was really stunning - lots of low mist and pink and red. I told myself, this is why you run, not the medals. (But to be fair, it is also the medals.
From there I headed along various roads towards Wimbledon Common, including The Downs which is a pretty nasty, steep hill (much bigger and steeper than anything I do on the Brockwell route). The common is on top of a hill, more or less, so if you're coming from my direction, you can't avoid a few climbs.
I spent a few miles running around the common, which is always pleasant, though I'm never quite sure where I'm going after the first couple of miles as the common is big and has a lot of paths - I just kind of wing it.
I left the common at around 13 miles figuring that would give me 7 miles to get home (it's about 4.5 - 5 miles using the most direct route) and I could add a little detour to Wimbledon Park, a Capability Brown-designed park that is also pleasant.
I decided on the spur of the moment to try and find the big hill I ran up during the Wimbledon 5K Dash last year - go up that and then head back down towards the station and then home. But I went very, very wrong. Turned the wrong way coming out of the park and found myself heading towards Putney. I made a few corrections and found myself back at the common, but I was at the far end of the common. I realised at this point that I was going to be doing a bit more than 20 miles.
From here I ran the most direct route home rather than the more interesting routes I usually choose, and hit 22 miles not too far from home. I decided I would stop here and walk the remaining half mile or so to cool down.
Interestingly, I felt a lot stronger towards the end. I was running high 10s to start with, and even a couple of 11s going up hills on the common itself (I'm always slower on trail) but I got faster and faster as the run progressed and the last five miles were all 9:40s and 50s. I felt I could easily have run further, but didn't see any benefit in doing so (especially since I have a race on Wednesday).
Points to note: I used the bladder rather than the bottles with the hydration vest and much preferred it. The weight is much better distributed and doesn't pull on my shoulders as much. It also held enough water for this run, which I did in 3:47:55. The water didn't get too warm and didn't really slosh until towards the end, and then not much.
Also used three gels (at 6, 11 and 15 miles). Two were SiS and one was a Torq that I'd picked up at the trail half I did. I used Torq before I moved on to SiS so I knew it wouldn't cause problems, but holy god it was sweet compared to the SiS gels. Think I will definitely stick with SiS.
Other thing is the new Garmin is not as good at estimating pace on the fly as the old one. It was giving me some very high readings at some points and then I'd get the mile bleep and the mile would be significantly faster. I really relied on my old Garmin to pace myself (mainly to avoid running too fast) but I don't think I can rely on this one as much. On the plus side, it uploads everything first time - I'd have to plug and unplug the old one several times before my PC could detect it, so it's clear there was something wrong with it.
And that's quite enough typing from me, I think!
Cal-That is also a great run,22 miles in that time bodes really well esp with being strong at the end,also good you got to experiment more and seemed to work.
16.5 for me today,unfortunately I didn't get out until after 10 and it was starting to really warm up by then and only got warmer,glad I'm not doing a marathon today.
It was actually a really good run,very consistent pace,few hills to keep it interesting and felt good at the end except I ran out of water so stopped at a shop and picked up another bottle,then walked the last bit home.
Cal/Ian, great long runs from you too. You both sound like you finished strong which is encouraging too.
Day 2 of Plym Trail today. I saw Shades at the start before she went off to her aid station, and she kindly took a cheese roll so I could have that during the race. Day 2 last year I had an awful time which I think was partly because I didn’t fuel properly, so I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again!
Anyway, today was a bit cooler than yesterday at the start but I was determined to take it really, really easy initially and then just see how I got on. I got to half marathon in around 2:04, and even on the downhill section from 14-20 I was purposefully holding myself back, as I knew the uphill section to the finish was still to come.
21-26 is all up hill, and although not overly steep it just drags on, but I was feeling good so pushed it a bit, as it had crossed my mind that I could beat yesterday’s time. I did pick off 5 people on this stretch and I just felt I was running well, and finished in 4:08 so about 20mins quicker than yesterday. It was nice to finish feeling strong. I think taking it easy yesterday paid off for me, so in the circumstances I’m pleased with today’s effort. It was still warm - and getting warmer - so I think taking it easy for the first 20 miles or so was the way to go.
Numbers 64 and 65 ticked off this weekend.
It was nice because this weekend was the 199th and 200th marathons for a local runner. I didn't know this, but he runs for a huge Plymouth based club called Storm. I don't know how many runners they have, but it's a massive club and I've been told in the past they have a waiting list to join. I had finished and then maybe 20mins later the runner came in, and Storm had turned out in force to see him in. They had a massive awning/tent, and a large "Storm" flag, and they kind of did a guard of honour. I think one of them cycled out to see him around half a mile from the finish, as he came in wearing his 100MC vest, whereas I'm pretty sure he wasn't wearing that for the rest of the race. As far as I know, none of them were actually running at today's event, but they all turned up for a good celebration for him.
Shades - Well done on yesterdays race. Running in that sort of heat is not fun at all. Glad that runner is ok. I'm being thick here but does low BP equate to low HR?
Keith - That sounded like hard work, hope the knee is ok today. Bet you ate loads after all that....!
Jelly - What an achievement, well done you.
Cal - I really enjoyed reading your long run report! That's great that you got faster, finished strongly AND felt like you could have gone further. I don't think that's ever happened to me on a long training run. I'm just counting down the miles from about half way in
Ian - Great long run from you too, another one finishing strong!
Just easy running from me for the last couple of days. This morning I came across a bloke that had just wrapped his golf around a tree about 10 mins before I arrived, he wasn't hurt thank goodness but God knows how. The car was completely caved in at the front, all airbags having gone off etc. It was right on a sharp bend so I'm guessing he had been going too fast and had completely overshot the corner. The local farmer had come out to have a look too and the driver told us that a deer had run out in front of him, causing the accident. Not sure if I believe that!
Other news is that I have thrown financial caution to the winds and ordered a new HR strap. It will be here on Tuesday.
I was up quite early (for me) and went out for a very slow/steady 3-miler. Legs feel okay, but just a bit stiff. Probably it'll be a rest day tomorrow though.
Cal - that was an eventful but good long run. Just as well you opted for the early start as it might have been less pleasant later in the day to do those extra unexpected miles.
I think my Garmin does the same as yours re current pace. After each session it shows me maximum readings and the mile pace is always way faster than anything I could run so I assume that's just the readings bouncing off the satellites, so always ignore those maximum readings. Must be disconcerting though if you rely on current pace. I've never used current pace as I use HR.
Is there a option of having average current mile pace on display, that should be more accurate?
Ian - that's a good long run from you too.
Big G - a very successful double for you this weekend on not the easiest of courses
Long day for me yesterday on the drink station but I enjoyed it, I didn't get back to race HQ until 4pm. Luckily they still had some of the 200th celebration cake left
There were a couple of other Storm runners doing the marathon and the half yesterday.
mamafox - not a daft question at all. I believe there are lots of combination of high/low HR and BP for various reasons. As how it could affect runners you might be better asking your ultra running GP. I do know that a very dangerously low BP can cause a very high HR as the heart tries to get the blood pumping around the body, to raise the BP.
But with heat exhaustion one of the symptoms is low BP, which is what the runner had on Saturday. He's now been discharged.
That Golf driver was very lucky.
I do hope your new HR resolves those odd readings you've been having while training.
Belated recovery run today. Wasn't able to run yesterday as early start for marshalling duties and too knackered by the time I got home. Lovely and cool and fresh this morning, a very pleasant 6 miles.
Just been having a quick look at my stats for the two days, which makes some interesting reading. It demonstrates very different ways of running a marathon...
Day 1
First turnaround (7.7 miles). 1:03
Half Marathon. 1:52
Second turnaround (20 miles). 2:56 (normally on a flat course and in cooler conditions, a comfortable sub-4 would be a guaranteed for me at this point, even on a double)
Finish. 4:28
Day 2
So quite a bit slower at each of the points on day 2, except the one that counts at the end! Basically a minute a mile quicker on Day 1 getting to the first turnaround and Half Marathon, which in hindsight was probably a mistake in the circumstances as well! But then from 20-26 on Day 2, I was about 5mins/mile quicker, which is basically where I gained back all the time, and more.
Strava has my moving time as 4:00:22 for Day 2, so 8mins stood at aid stations, but without doing that and refuelling/drinking I would have been slower overall anyway.
I did think about running today as it's a bank hol but my body was saying no. Not really sore (a few tight spots) but I can feel the fatigue. I went out at 6.10am and walked for an hour instead. I am going to do yoga later, also.
Tomorrow will be an easy run and then I have my race on Wednesday evening, which will not be a fast one. Given I will likely jog there and back (3 miles-ish each way) I'm undecided on whether to do the 5 or 10K. I could use the 10K as lactate training - I won't be racing as a) I'll still be a bit tired, b) it'll be warm (not as hot as now, but still warmer than I like to run in) and c) it's Brockwell Park, so a bit hilly. What would you do, given the choice?
Re your stats, you also had a bit of stoppage with the collapsed runner and it was a bit hotter on Day 1. My car said 25 degrees yesterday, Saturday was 29 degrees.
You also looked happier and more motivated in the final stretch yesterday than you did on Saturday.
Keith, sounds like the right decision to go to the half. Fingers crossed the drive goes well tomorrow.
Hope your journey home isn't too bad tomorrow.
Big G - that is odd about your shoulder, I would have expected a bit more discomfort on Day 2 due to a bit of upper body tiredness. But being more relaxed on Day 2 and focussed obviously worked for your shoulder and your race time. Must be good to know that a double marathon does it no harm