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Lorenzo I would come and do a bit of it for fun as it's so close. But an offer of work has come in for that weekend (phew).
BB - good running although I feel entitled to say that 3 in 20 days is a bit lightweight
Hoping Gul hasn't been blown out to sea, only to re-appear in the shipping forecast.
Good series there from Poacher. There is a split in the thread between those who can churn them out and those who need to target a single race and then say never again and you are definitely in the former group alongside Madbark who does a sub-3:15 off a holiday binge!
Happy with Northala Fields parkrun (the mounds alongside the A40 that are the spill from building the new Wembley) this morning for two reasons:
1) Went for a moderately long warm up (over 4 miles) with an aim of doing something under 21 minutes as an easy run but the surface was good and I was chasing people and ended up with 19:36 which is pleasing and makes the 20 pacer duty for next week look a bit more manageable.
2) I play Conquercise on fetch and I have a load of squares around my office in Hammersmith and another round my home in High Wycombe and the warm up and parkrun alongside the A40 joined the two groups so now I have a continuous block from home to office.
Badbark - excellent effort in the wind especially all that extra weight! Well done on bagging another win.
PMJ - nice parkrun and impressive map; you are on course for world domination.
Abysmal day at the office. 3:59
Congrats to the semi-professional Madbark on another piece of bling.
After a low key and moderate Monday to Friday, it was a big weekend for me - just over 19 fairly hilly road miles around Leith Hill yesterday followed by just over 30 miles this morning, most of which were either on the towpath by the River Wey or along the North Downs Way. Good time on feet.
Just about to head to the running shop to treat myself to a new pair of shoes and some extra kit.
Gul - tough luck - but well toughed out. Recover well . . . .
7 miles jogging around the course at daughter's half marathon today gives me, er, 7 for the week !
Sorry I can't fully engage at the mo. Had to fly home on Thursday as my best pal sadly passed away. Very sad times but surrounded by great friends and family is helping.
Gerard sad times indeed.
Currently in Dublin drinkin beer ! watched a bit of the Mara and sad to have not made the start this year ...maybe next time lol
Sorry to hear that Gerard.
Gul that's very unlucky, did you fall due to the wind? Just not your day by the sounds of it.
I had a plodding XC yesterday after a gentle parkrun warm-up in the morning-22 mins at parkrun. 14 miles LSR today gives me 53 for the week.
Daughter number 2 fell while running 3 months ago fracturing both elbows. She was also back in action at XC scoring good points for the club. This was the highlight of my weekend.
Thanks for all your encouragement guys. Will try and post a report today. Legs are fine. 6 mile recovery run d&d.
GM - sorry to hear your news.
Gul - sounds like a tough day at the office - put it behind you and onto the next one.
17.5 miles yesterday, to bring up 46 for the week, which is my biggest week since before VLM 2016.
Lorenzo, just looked at the route and kit list for the 2 day ultra. Serious stuff! I'm sure you know that it can be very exposed on the tops up here, with ankle-turning terrain and some steep drops esp. on day 2, plus "challenging" navigation on Bleaklow. Don't skimp on the safety kit!
Part One
It had been 364 days since my last race, which was the same event but different location. It certainly was nice to have a marathon just under an hour's drive from home and only just over half an hour home from the finish! I didn't have too much of a fixed target for this race. I was fairly confident that this year's route had a much higher percentage of a firm path underfoot, so was hoping to get nearer to 3:30 (3:45 last year) especially when the one definite sand section was changed to follow the coastal path by the woods at Wells and onto Holkham. I was placed 10th last year, so I figured a single figure placing would be great. However given the weather forecast of a steadily increasing headwind from 16 to 25 mph, I had something more akin to 3:40 in mind by the morning of the race.
Mrs GD drove me to Morston Quay for the start and we arrived in good time despite coming across a road diversion. Getting out of the car to collect my race bib and chip I was struck by how chilly it was, although not too breezy at this stage. There was a coach taking runners from the finish to the start before the race and it hadn't arrived yet, so no queue to collect my envelope of goodies. I quickly got back in the car and decided to put a thermal underlayer on. Then just time for a loo stop, a few minutes jog along the path to warm-up a bit and it was time for the pre-race briefing.
We walked a hundred yards down to the start and set off on time. The first few miles had a few muddy sections but nothing to worry about. I had settled down into a nice rhythm and eased past a dozen or so runners, but had no idea of my place. I could see 3 runners spread out ahead of me and was very very slowly gaining on the nearest who was wearing a nice green top. We passed through Stiffkey and I could see Wells on the distance which was about the 8 mile mark. Somewhere along the road into Wells I passed the guy in the green top and we turned right onto Beach Road. The next runner had stopped to take a layer off and I briefly overtook him, but not for long. At the end of the road Mrs GD was waiting which was a lovely surprise. A quick kiss spurred me on and the guy in the green top cheekily asked her if he could have a kiss too!
I was slightly ahead of schedule at this point. Mile splits for the first 8, were 7:51, 7:23, 7:08, 7:16, 7:24, 7:16, 7:19, 7:48. But I knew the weather was supposed to get worse so a bit of time in the bank wouldn't go amiss.
Norfolk Coastal Trail Marathon 2017
Part Two
The next part of the route was the bit that had been altered at the last minute. In the pre-race briefing, the organiser told us that Holkham Estate had requested this. We had been due to run along the beach and re-join the footpath at the end of the Estate, but now we were to keep to the coastal path. Unfortunately, and rather surprisingly, it wasn't that well signed-posted. Presumably the organiser hadn't had the opportunity to check it out either. By now I was running with the guy in the green top, whose name was Mick, and he lives in Diss. We chatted for a bit and together with the occasional navigational issue, this led to the first 8 minute mile. At one point we were joined by another 4 runners who had taken an alternative route and joined us just at the right time because we were trying to decide whether to carry straight on or turn right. One of them had the gpx file of the route with him and he assured us we needed to head right. Afterwards it occurred to me that we weren't supposed to be following the original route at this point! Anyway, it was probably the right decision.
Shortly afterwards the trees finished and we were in sand dunes and trying to vaguely head in the right direction again! Fortunately not for too long and then the view opened out and we could see the sea again and there were a number of us converging back towards the footpath as it became clear once more.
I had gained a little bit of ground on Mick by now and was somewhere in the middle of the new group. The landscape had changed from dunes and pine trees back to the salt marsh with tidal creeks winding their way through the bleak but beautiful mudflats. The strong wind had still not materialised and we were now heading into the next village of Burnham Overy Staithe. There were a couple of marshalls by the quay side and I checked with them about the facilities at the village hall which was the halfway check point. I was relieved to discover there were toilets available and nipped inside. Later my watch showed I had stopped for just over a minute, but had mysteriously covered about 300m inside the village hall! Frankly, I was surprised that my watch had managed to keep track of a GPS signal along the Norfolk Coast, so an odd blip wasn't too bad. Splits for miles 9 to 13 were 8:00, 7:19, 8:04, 7:48, 7:43. Halfway (or so I thought) in about 1:40, so I "only" needed to do the second half in 2 hours for a 3:40.
Norfolk Coastal Trail Marathon 2017
Part Three
As I headed out of the hall, I saw Mick had caught me up and I just had a few seconds on him. Streetview is very handy and I had checked the route through the village and confidently pressed on back to the A149 before picking up the footpath on the right where it veered off through a field. The signpost was not obvious so I was glad I had checked it out beforehand. On the other side of the field at the top of the sea bank we were about to join for the next stretch, there was a runner who obviously hadn't made use of the facilities at the hall. We climbed up the bank and ahead of us was a steady trail of half-marathoners. They had been due to start at 10:30, so 11 minutes before I had set off from the checkpoint.
I began to weave my way through. It wasn't too onerous as they were already strung out quite a bit and the limit was only 150 runners (or 300 in total). I was just thinking to myself how well it was all going and glad that the forecast gale had not arrived when the wind began to pick up.
Over the next couple of miles my energy just seemed to drain away. The sea wall narrowed and became a boardwalk. Gradually I slowed down (except for a miraculous 5:08 for mile 14 which included the toilet stop and a GPS wobble) 7:43, 8:24, 9:16. I think it was somewhere just before Brancaster that I took my first walk break. Mick passed me somewhere in this slough of despond.
Thanks to Streetview, I knew again exactly where to go and was slightly concerned about the hill ahead. We turned south away from the coast for a detour around the Titchwell estate. The hill was actually a relief because there was a bit of shelter and the wind was coming in from the side now. We got to the top and turned right to follow a long, long track which seemed to go on forever. I reached the final checkpoint and took a minute or two break to take on some water and flapjack. Mile 17 had clocked up at 9:39 and this was possibly somewhere near the end of mile 19 (10:55) - to be honest I can't remember.
I was longing for the track to end because I knew it would be followed by a right hand turn back towards the coast and a downhill section! I was disappointed to discover that the downhill bit was not the full stretch of the road back down to the A149 at Thornham. But I did manage some sub 7m/m down this bit and Mick was back in sight. I'm not sure if it was related, but I had a bit of stitch after this by the Chequer's Inn (more likely the flapjack).
I was soooo glad I had checked the bits of the route which were on Streetview, as I slowly passed through the village, keeping half an eye out for Mrs GD who had said she might stop for coffee or lunch in the village deli. The abysmal splits continued: 10:08, 11:16. Actually that was probably back at check point 3, because the next 2 were 9:08 and 8:19, which must be the downhill bit.
Back out onto the mudflats for a bit and we were winding our way through to the sand dunes of Holme-next-the-sea and the finish line! At this point I had lost the mental battle and had decided to hang up my marathon shoes and focus on some shorter distances for the rest of my old age. Woe is me!
I managed to catch up with Mick one final time but I couldn't manage more than a minute of continuous running and wished him luck as he disappeared. Fortunately the path through the sand dunes was more boardwalk so it was not hard going in that sense. 9:20, 10:08...
I began to realise that it was going to be over-distance as I was almost at 26 miles and there was no sign of the golf course which we had to cross before heading into the village and the finish. The boardwalk finished and it became a mixture of sand and rough path. It wasn't flat and as I came down a slight incline I stumbled and fell head first down to the ground. Of course, it was on a rough stony path and not sand! Lots of skin came off my knee and there was a bit of blood but nothing to worry about. I stood up and my neck muscles were not good. I must have jarred it when I stuck my hands out and hit the ground.
Other than that, I felt okay. Vision, breathing etc was fine. So I walked for a bit to wait for my neck to go back to normal. Then I started to get a chill and decided to jog for a bit to keep warm. Finally the golf course came into view and my watch said 27.xx miles. The last couple of miles showed 12:12 and 13:00.
I crossed the golf course and the beach road seemed three times longer than usual. Oh yes, I thought, that's in the car... Looking at my watch, I realised I was in jeopardy of passing over the four hour mark. Finally I found the left hand turn to the finish. Past the pub (where I spotted our car!) and sprint to the village hall as lots of people started cheering including Mrs GD. The finish was inside which was unusual! My watch read 27.64 miles in 3:59:14.
Norfolk Coastal Trail Marathon 2017
Part Four
The official results tell me that the winner finished in 3:09, Mick was 20th in 3:52:47 and 1st MV50-54, and I was 24th in 3:59:11 and 2nd MV50-54. So that doesn't sound quite so bad, although there were only 12 MV50-54 finishers!
During the race, Mick had told me that he is planning on doing the Peddars Way Ultra in January as part of his prep for the City to Summit in Scotland next year. I mentioned this to Mrs GD and her first reaction was one of great concern for my health as she immediately suspected that I was thinking of entering too. She told me I looked like I was about to die after the finish on Saturday and even the event organiser asked me if I needed first aid (for the knee presumably) and then remarked how pale I looked (cheers mate!)
However she then did soften and say if I promised to drop out if things got really bad then it was up to me. I did say that the weather would play a big part in it, but hopefully running at a much slower pace on a calm, dry day would make a huge difference. To be honest though, I'm not sure what I will do with regards to the Peddars Way Ultra.
I will admit that the thought of never doing another marathon lasted longer than the usual 5 minutes after the finish this time. However, on reflection, I am going to make sure I do all I can to have at least one bash at a flat, road marathon in decent conditions following a decent training campaign, so you'll have to put up with me round here for a least a few more months!
So, please do as you say "at least one bash at a flat, road marathon in decent conditions following a decent training campaign "
the times you hit in training, and your discipline, show you can definitely bag a very good marathon time. how about Boston (Lincs) next year?
as for me - logged a few miles supporting my daughter at her half marathon yesterday. jogging down the last mile of the course, about 5 mins before the lead car was due, I passed a woman and a small child - the woman said to the nipper "the leaders will be here soon - but they'll be going a lot faster than him !!
Brilliant report Gul - I can really feel the pain! BTW, was Mick a small stocky bald-headed guy? The running community of Diss is pretty small, and I know of one guy by that name who I see at a few races, and he would be around that age group. He owns a gym in a neighbouring village.
And presumably it was Spoons from the sub 3.30 thread you were referring to before? I saw he'd put something on FB about doing the Coastal. Don't know how he got on though
I have gone mad and entered a few races for the Spring. A 20 miler on the last Sunday in February (Gul it's the Tarpley 20 near Bury St Edmonds if you fancy a jaunt out that way), the Broadland Half the following weekend, and then the City of Norwich Half the Sunday before VLM (which will be done pretty slow). Feeling stupidly excited
Can I add the words "well attended" to flat and road for the full-on attempt? I reckon if you have a bigger field, maybe with pacers, then you can get that easy ride up to 20 miles when the fun begins.
What do you think that 3.59 was “worth” in easier conditions? I’d guess it could be 3.2X.
OOs comment is very ambiguous - has he never scored a peck on the cheek from any spectator, or it is only MrsGul who has sensibly refused? ?
Birch if only they had seen you in your prime.
Freemers that’s a tasty race list which will keep the motivation going.
I’m considering another mara this weekend. MrsP will be delighted.