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good luck, KR
Blisters - bloody hell ! Never was an event more appropriately named . . . . .
reverse of Lorenzo's run here - planned 20, but called it a day at 18 back at the park where pal was parked - she dropped me back as I didn't fancy the last couple uphill to home. Must be getting sensible in my old age.
Blimey, I'd better go and read this race report, it sounds good!
Awesome 20 milers BTW. I can only dream of that. (I biked today. A good 60 at a far better pace than last week).
Blisters - Great performance and report
PMJ - Belated Happy Birthday!
KR - I hope your 24 hour goes well. I'm looking forward to the report
I'm well pleased to have managed 18:31 in my local (slowish course) Parkrun this morning. That's my 4th fastest on the course in 39 runs just 6 days after a 2:55 marathon. Sweet.
I'm giving serious consideration to running the 'Last One Standing Ultra' below. I think it will be as much about handling sleep depravation as to ultra running.
http://www.atlasrunning.co.uk/page.html
https://www.facebook.com/ATLASRUNNING
BB - is that a 48 HR bleep test! Yer mad!
Hope things are going well for KR
Nice parkrun, BB. I remain envious of your recovery powers!
Midlands road relays for me yesterday. Last minute promotion to the A team after a raft of injuries and illness wiped out the 10 or so people I imagine were on the list ahead of me, but between us (a mixture of the injured and the B-string) we nonetheless scooped a silver medal. I started my leg rather too cautiously (6.20), although the first mile is fairly twisty and has a slight climb in it, but then put my foot down in mile 2 (5.52) and finished fairly strongly (6m/m) in the last 0.7, so felt much better than last week.
Nice work, Jools - congrats on the medal
Badbark,that sounds like great fun, if it wasn't in N. Ireland I'd be tempted to give it a go myself!
Jools - congrats again. I think the Notts team was made up of C team runners this time round, with only one of our faster runners available and she's technically finished her season. She's a 1500 runner anyway. Wouldn't these things be great if clubs could actually get their best runners out all on one day? Of course I wouldn't make the team, but it would be great to watch. Who would be in the top 4 for Bristol? It would be an awesome team I'm sure.
Love the sound of that race BB. Great stuff!
KR - Hope all is well! Look forward to hearing all about it.
Blisters - Epic stuff, how you can run a marathon and keep going after all all that is very impressive! My 7 year old son just asked me y'day if I would do an Ironman. Yikes!
Jools - Nice one!
Birch - Snap.
Lorenzo - Looking good!
PJF - Good reps! You've got some speed in them legs!
19 miles for me today in glorious conditions, sunny and barely a breeze, but not too warm for running. Took it easy as I didn't want to over do it after last week's marathon. 8:08mm pace with a nice mix of hills/trails and road. It didn't feel that easy and feel stiff all over now. Luckily had some chill time on the beach today afterwards & hopefully things will settle down tomorrow, 13 days and counting until Jsy marathon.
GM - good going there. Sounds as though the conditions were ideal - always good fun to do a mix of road and off-road. I hadn't realised you had two marathons so close together.
Great going Jools and congrats on (yet) another medal.
What's happened to KR?!
Safely dropped elder Lorenzito off in Manchester yesterday to start uni life but the weekend's plans meant I didn't get a run in yesterday. Felt quite sprightly this morning (or as much as you can do at 5.30am) so kept up a decent pace all the way round - ended up with 8.5 miles at 7:09 av pace - pleased with that.
Lorenzo - King's Lynn may not be the most exciting place in the country, but you can get your haircut early in the morning
Great longer than expected run. 
Birch - slacking a bit there!
Badbark - great parkrunning. That Ultra sounds insane so should suit
Jools - congrats on the silver medal.
GM - looking good.
8 miles for me this morning with 6 @ 7:27 after a 2 mile warm-up. Couldn't quite keep up with Lorenzo
Morning thread,
Congrats on the sterling effort Blisters.
Good long runs clocked by Lorenzo, Birch & GM.
BB continues to impress, and more congrats to Jools on the relays bling; you can only beat those who turn up on the day, so be proud of it!
Gul, that's still a pretty decent effort for so early in the morning; I struggle doing anything vaguely quick early in the day.
Come on KR...
Kept a lid on things at the end of last week in an attempt to shift this lingering cough/cold thing, so did an easy 6 on Thursday and took a rest day on Friday, which was planned anyway as we had friends round for food and the start of the World Cup. Got out for 14 early on Saturday, ending with a mile at sub-7, then a turbo yesterday evening. Looks like I'll be getting rained on at lunch!
Feel like I'm in taper mode but it's still 5 weeks to go.
But is the injury responding to the rest and reduced load Slokey?
6 easy, wet miles at lunch.
Felt knackered last night and couldn't bring myself switching my computer on.
Had a good run at the Equinox 24 and managed 80.6 miles in total by the end (13 x 10k laps). It was tough going especially in the early hours!
Will do a full report later.
KR - That's some effort. Well done and I look forward to a report when you have caught up on life!
Lorenzo - Lovely 8.5 there. I had not planned to race a marathon this Autumn as I had done no long runs. 3 weeks ago I ran 19 miles and signed up.
Medoc was meant to be my only one this year and that was a fun thing, but I thought, why not, life passes you by and I am currently unjured (hope I don't curse myself) so I thought, what the heck, just do it and take part and try enjoy it without any pressure. I hope to race one proper next Spring or Autumn.
Gul - Nice 8 miler too, good pace!
Abbers - Sensible approach and some nice running by yourself. The WC should be fun this time around, seems very open to me. There are some very tasty group encounters that could yield some interesting match ups in the knock out stages.
Similar story here Lorenzo. Dropped junior OO in Sheffield so a shortened 10 miler yesterday. I hope your junior will keep up his running in Manchester.
Well I go under the knife tomorrow to to correct a problem in my hand which is manking my fingers turn into a claw (Jupitors XXXX, or some such condition). My only worry is if it will recover in time for the Haltwhisle Half M next Sunday
Look forward to the full report KR, sounds epic
KR - that's a very long way! Hard to imagine running 80 miles in 24 hours. Great effort. Like others, looking forward to the report once you've caught up on eating and sleeping!
GM - indeed, as Japan proved at the weekend! That group in particular is now all to play for, and obviously England's group will see someone significant going home early too. I'm off to Cardiff for Aus-Fiji on Wednesday, and then again next Thursday for Wales-Fiji. I'll certainly be cheering on Fiji on at least one of those days!
OO - good luck with the op. Should be OK for the HM though, as long as you can pin your number on and do up your laces!
Abbers - nice running. Hope the cold has gone now.
SJ - get your taper out of the way now!
KR - well done. That's a great tally. And as a bonus you can add at least another 0.1 to your total - 13x10k = 80.778 miles! Can't wait to read your report!
GM - sounds like a good plan. Enjoy!
OO - all the best for your op today.
7 easy miles with strides this morning.
Gul - if not gone totally (still coughing a bit), it's certainly on the way out. Today was the first interval session I've managed for a few weeks without having to cut it short; 6x1k for which I resorted to the gym as couldn't face getting soaked again after yesterday. All of them at 15.5kph, so 3:52/k. Felt like I could have done more, but time dictated otherwise, so things are improving just in time for Oxford. Nice easy miles from you - what's your weekly mileage looking like at the moment?
They've only got ..,a how far can you cycle in 15m 'turbo trainer challenge' in the office today- so tempting risk blowing a years training 4 days before the marathon. The question is "what would Badbark do"!
Good luck with the de-clawing OO.
Ankle still not right Abbers. Failed the "hop test" yesterday so still confined to bike. Got a puncture last night at the furthest point of an out and back in a valley just west of Kendal with zero phone reception which I realised was a problem when I misfired my only CO2 canister. After walking towards home for 20minutes a passing cyclist provided me with a good old fashioned pump (ooh er missus) and I was back on the road to get home just as it was getting dark.
OO - Hope the surgery went ok.
Abbers - Haha, there is a lot riding on the England v Wales game, I think the Aussies seem to have found a team in time for the WC, what a tough group though. Quality session today. Looking good for Oxford. When is it?
KR - You catching some much needed zzzz's?
PJF - Madbark would probably smash the turbo and run a sub 3 marathon 4 days before his A race.
Gul - Cheers. You seem to be ticking along nicely again.
Easy 5k for me today as the legs still felt a bit tender but felt good to be back running again. Planning a nice trail/cliff path 10k tomorrow night, hopefully the wind clams down as it was F6 today. I contacted the race director of Jersey marathon y'day to ask if they considered using pacers for the marathon. It has never been done before and it was something I considered doing if they were keen. I was originally going to pace a few friends for a sub 4 but they didn't commit so I decided to run myself. The race director emailed me straight back to say they had lined up a sub 3:30, 4 & 5hr pacer only for the 1st two to drop out because they got injured. They are now looking for a sub 3:30 & 4hr pacer. Would love to do that maybe next year.
SJ - Sounds like you got lucky there!
Thanks for all the kind comments. My legs are feeling a bit more human today!
Equinox 24 was certainly a different experience as a solo runner than being part of a small team like last year. I got there on Friday night to set up camp with some Club mates. The idea was to get a decent spot on the edge of the course in the start/finish field. So with a BBQ it was hardly the carb loading planned
Race morning consisted of eating breakfast and grazing on snacks & water/sports drink before the start. There were a lot more entered this year in the 10k race & the 24 hour race and we all started together. Me and my Club mate who was also solo started pretty much at the back. My theory was to head off slow and not get caught up in the excitement of the 10k race and the numerous pairs, small & large teams.
I had my Garmin on my wrist but was using only as a watch and not for GPS as the battery would have croaked after 8 hours. So I set my goal of each 10k loop initially at 1 hour. It seemed slow enough and easy to keep check on pace at 6 minutes per 1k. Luckily there were 1k markers on the course which made this easy to check on. The course itself is a mixture of roughly 4k tarmac pathway and 6k off road in various chunks. Although there was a long climb for 1 mile half way - which seemed to get longer each lap. There was 1 brutal downhill with a bad camber and then a brutal up hill straight after. The downhill initially wasn't too bad, but as the event went on it became very painful on the quads. In fact the brutal uphill was ok as that was a walking section for me.
The day was very sunny and sun block would have been a good thing to pack. For the first 2 laps I just had a water bottle, then on the 3rd I took on a quick snack and put in some of my Trailwind powder into my water, which is a good mixture of 200 calories and electrolytes. I found I was drinking up to about 500ml of liquid each lap which wasn't surprising given the unexpected late September heat. Luckily there were a few Portaloos en route!. By lap 4 I was still averaging 1 hour per lap and I was stopping at the Club tent for a snack every 2 laps. This varied from preprepared Bagels & jam, packets of salted crisps, flapjacks, Soreen slices etc. Then as I left the tent after about 10 minutes I was walking and eating a banana letting it all go down a bit, then running. I had got into what felt a good rhythm of walking up some of the inclines after trying to get at least part way up. I had the initial plan of run for 20 minutes then walk for 3-5 minutes, but given the changing terrain and hills the running lasted longer in some parts than others.
I got to 8 laps (nearly 50 miles) by about 9.20/30 ish and had planned to take a break to get some proper food and a bit of a sit down. Food consisted of a pre-prepared Pasta meal, more crisps, jaffa cakes etc. By now it had been dark for 2 hours and the temperature had dropped and I was started to get cold. My legs were understandably weary and I was contemplating having a lie down. However I opted not to as I was worried I would cease up and that would be it. After an hour's break I carried on. As I was cold I had changed into leggings with a vest/t-shirt/long sleeve top & gloves.
Head torches are mandatory, and running in the dark and pitch black in the countryside is a lot more difficult. All those laps where you had memorised the course played a part in what racing line/edge of the path you took in the dark to avoid pot holes in the road or off road. The night laps were rightly slower than the daylight and the mile climb seemed to last even longer. We were lucky with the weather as it remained dry the whole time and this could have a lot more difficult with soggy, wet & muddy terrain.
I got to 10 laps at 1.30 in the morning and had a quick pit stop snack break for 5-10 minutes. By now the 10 times down the very steep hill were taking their toll and my legs felt battered. Lap 11 was the worst and I was reaching a real low. It felt like I was walking more than running and when I was running I was looking for an excuse to stop. It was going down the brutal hill where I had to cautiously walk down I thought that this would be my last lap. With that in mind I got to the finish and signed myself off the course (which is a safety thing so the organiser knows you aren't out on course, but doesn't mean you have finished). I decided that was it and went to bed and it was now 3.30am. After a sleep of 5 hours I got up and had some tea & breakfast. Talking to my other solo Club mate, he and done the same thing and had finished about the same time. Looking at my watch and it was only 9.45am and I thought I would get changed and see if I could at least shuffle round another lap.
The sleep/rest had obviously had a good effect as I managed to run most of my 12th lap and did it in 1 hour (although my lap split was about 8.5 hours LOL). By then I'd got to 74.4 miles and me being me I like round numbers so cracked on and did another lap to get just over 80 miles for the event.
I did have high hopes to get to 100 miles, but know I was probably at my limit having never done an Ultra kind of event before. My Club mate made me laugh as he went to buy a bacon cob and they had sold out, but instead he managed to sign up for next year with an early bird discount. I think I'll have to think a bit before signing up again – Mrs KR wasn't too keen on all the training! The event itself is fantastic and there is so much support though the day & night from the other runners on the course and spectators & marshals.
2 weird things. I never thought too much about the overall distance covered, but more about how many laps I had done or had to do. I think this made it more manageable. And finally a woman at work asked me what I thought about when I was running. Strange thing was, it was about running the course. I had a mental picture of each part of the course and what was coming up next and how to tackle it – and about what food I was going to eat next!
Run Eat, Run, Repeat!
Profile of the course. A nice flat tarmac course would be a bit easier
KR- no idea how you managed to keep going till 3:30am! Awesome effort and achievement. I think you would have reached the 100 mile target if it were a flat course!
Abbers - good progress. 29 miles for me last week, should be in the high 30s / early 40s this week, so a way to go yet. The trouble is I don't have a target race yet.
PJF - go smash it!
SJ - ah, the good old hop test. Hope the ankle is good to go very soon.
GM - couldn't you step in for one of the pacers who dropped out?
10 easy miles d&d.
KR - Enjoyed your report and I have to say you did really well for your first Ultra. Must give you a fair sense of pride having put yourself through that. Well done!
Gul - I did consider it a while back but I am hoping to run a PB so I will run my own race.