The ON - 38 miles, 9.75 hours, 2 (sore) feet

I did it! There is some detail and pictures below, but in summary the positives and negatives are:

Positives:

• My previous longest run was 24 miles in 5 hours. Completing 38 miles in 9 3/4 hours is a big step in terms of miles and time on my feet (both important)
• I have no significant bad physical outcomes - a bit stiff if I sit for a long time, but no tendon or muscle injuries
• I handled the uphill parts of the course pretty well
  
• I learnt a lot about navigating the course, especially some of the route I will be covering in the dark, so hopefully no surprises
• I learnt more about nutrition on really long runs
  
• I have completed an ultra distance (50Km is the recognised starting distance for ultras, I completed 60Km)
• I hope (expect) that when I do the ER (2nd half of the course) I should handle the distance a bit easier
  

Negatives:

• I felt completely exhausted and my feet, legs and knees all hurt at the end. Although, this didn't last long, and by the time I got home, the residual hurt was fairly minor
• I'm not sure where the next 40 miles is going to come from (I felt pretty spent)
• The 1st half of the course was I think a lot easier than the hillier 2nd half will be
  
• I need to work on my quad strength as some of the steeper downhills were becoming quite difficult
• I'm a bit worried about navigating Portland in the dark, the route is quite complex and changes from coast path to footpath to road quite often
  

Anyway, here is a bit more detail and some photos of the day:

The day began at 04:00am, after a broken night's sleep (thanks to Felix). I drove to Weymouth and got the 06:15am bus to Lyme Regis.

Here I'm looking nervous on the bus ride:

At Lyme Regis I bought a coffee, and then struggled to find the start of the coast path which, once I had found it, immediately turned into the first of two diversions on route due to landslides.


Having got onto the coast path proper, things started to get pretty hilly, the climax being Golden Cap (shrouded in cloud):

After Golden Cap it was still quite hilly for a while, with lovely views, but flattened-off at about Burton Bradstock.



Everything was still going well as I swanned-around (sic) Abbotsbury:


After Abbotsbury, there was a long flat section alongside Chesil Beach, leading towards Moonfleet Manor, and then on to Ferrybridge (between Weymouth and Portland). There were a few sections here where prior knowledge of the course should hopefully help me during the race.

Somewhere after Moonfleet Manor I ran out of anything to drink which was a bit worrying, however around East Fleet I came across a campsite where I could refill my Camelback.

At East Fleet I reached the marathon point at 6hrs 30mins.

From East Fleet to Ferrybridge, I first began to feel quite fatigued. So before making my way out to Portland, I found a cafe and bought a Strawberry Split ice cream and a bottle of Coke. After wolfing these down I felt a lot better and continued on to Portland.

The trip around Portland was fairly demoralising - a dusty island mostly populated with quarries and a prison - I will be pleased that this section will be dark during the race.

Navigating around Portland was also difficult, and I was really starting to feel tired. However, having got back to the causway, I ran reasonably well back to Ferrybridge.

The journey from Ferrybridge back to Weymouth bay was another matter - I think I'd run low on nutrition, and this being combined with the last leg being 2.5 miles rather than the 0.5 miles I was expecting, made the going very hard.

Finally I made it back to Weymouth and dipped my sore feet into the lovely cool sea:


My nutrition for the day was:

• Approx. 1.5ltrs water with 3 x Nuun tablets
  
• 4 x Crunchy Granola bars
• Lunch of 1 x Marmite sandwich, 1 x Peanut butter and jam
• 1 x Strawberry Split, 1 x Coke (330ml)

Probably a bit light for 9 3/4 hours running.

Even though I feel pretty good, I've decided to rest for the next 3 days to give my endocrine system a chance to recover. Back to training on Monday.

Beautiful little run

I was staying at my sister-in-law's at Chesham Bois over the bank holiday weekend. Managed a 13 mile run on Monday - starting from Chesham Bois, running to Chesham, and then along an ancient trade route from Chesham to Wendover (Chiltern Link Walk).

After the run, I was expecting to meet everyone else at a play area in Wendover Woods, but the risk of rain meant that there was a change of plan. Instead I had to hot-foot it over to Wendover station to catch the train back to Amersham to meet the others at a coffee shop before going for a family swim.

I thought that the meadow flowers and wild garlic in the woods deserved a couple of photos (even if my mobile phone isn't very good quality):

Preparing for the ON...

Next Thursday (28th May), I shall be attempting to do the first half of the ONER course (hence the ON!). The plan is to drive to Weymouth, then get a bus to Lyme Regis, and run back - about 38 miles or so.

For the day I need to make a list of what to take:

• Running kit (trainers, socks, compression tights, shorts, tee-shirt / tri top, warmer top, waterproof kagool)
• Head torch
• Map
• Backpack with Camelback pouch
• Money
• Nuun tablets
• Caffeine tablets
  
• Food - Peanut butter and jam sandwich, Marmite sandwich, energy bars, gels
• Loo roll
  
• Mobile phone and digital camera
• Flask of strong coffee for the journey home

Leave home at 4:15am, drive about 2hrs15mins to Weymouth, 15 mins to park and walk to Kings Statue to catch bus (service 31) at 06:45am (next bus 07:40am).

Arrive Lyme Regis at 08:20am. Start run at 08:30am, hoping to finish before 09:30pm.

Leave Weymouth at 09:45pm, back home about Midnight!

Swim, bike, run?

Today, I cycled North of Bristol to Tockington Manor School to take part in a dry-run of the inaugural BAD Tri Bristol Triathlon. A pool-based super-sprint triathlon (400m swim, 20Km bike and 5 Km off-road run).

I would have gone out for a long run this morning, but the club were looking for volunteers to try out the course, and I thought that if I cycled to Tockington and back (circa 16 miles) and did the triathlon, that would be a reasonable workout.

The weather was appalling on the way to Tockington - Windy and rainy. However, on exiting the pool after my swim, I was pleased to see the day clearing to sunny intervals.

I was quite pleased with my swim time of 7 mins, which considering I haven't swum since last September, was OK against my best 400m swim time in a race of 6mins20secs.

I didn't particularly enjoy the bike. My legs just aren't trained for 20 Km of all-out time trial, so I found it rather frustrating.

I had totally misjudged the run, not realising it was off-road. All the rain in the morning had made the hilly tracks pretty slippery and my trainers just weren't up to the job. However, on the positive side, my base endurance meant that, whilst my run wasn't particularly fast, I felt comfortable throughout.

The rest of the day was fairly quiet, playing with the children, and then we all went out to Zizzi's for a family dinner, which was a good end to the day.

Update:

Got the results through from the triathlon dry-run. I ended up 4th out of 19. The three in front of me were very fit young things, so I'm pleased with my performance.

Sunday cycle

Decided to go out on my road bike rather than mountain bike.

Left the house at about 5:45am. It was a beautiful morning.

My route went from Bristol, down the A38 to Churchill, through to Winscombe, over to Axbridge and then Cheddar. Up through Cheddar Gorge (photo) and then over to Priddy, West Harptree, Chew Valley lake, over Dundry hill and finally back into Bristol.

3 hours, 50 miles = tired back, tired legs, sore backside.

Back to running tomorrow night - over to the BAD Kids track night at Filton Sports Academy and then a longer route back.

During the ride today, I had the following track running through my mind - No batteries required!

A matter of pace...

Just wanted to get over what a finely balanced race the ONER will be.

To complete the course within the 24 hour cut-off requires an average speed of 3.3 mph.

The ONER in 2007 had 20 starters and only 5 finishers. The second placed finisher completed the course with an average speed of 3.93mph.

So, 0.6 mph average is the difference between just squeezing past the cut-off and achieving second place.

GULP!

GWR Towpath 10k - Race 1

These races are great - Turn up with your number pinned-on, race, finish, go home (happy).

The course is a measured 10km along the towpath under the Clifton Suspension bridge. The terrain only has a few undulations, nothing you could call a hill. It's an out and back course.

Last night's conditions were very good. It was cool with a bit of a breeze, and a few muddy puddles to keep the legs cool.

I went out with the goal of beating my one and only previous attempt at the race in June last year - 41mins01secs.

The race began well, and the first 5km passed fairly easily. However, after the turnaround (19mins28secs) I began to slow. There just wasn't much in my legs/lungs. The difference in pace was very noticeable. But I hung-in and just managed to squeeze under 40mins (39mins58secs), which is a personal best and brought me in 33rd out of 229 finishers.

Today I've recovered well, and could probably do a long run tomorrow, but just to play it safe I'll go out on my mountain bike - Hopefully a hard 4 hour session. I'm making some good progress with my training and I want to make sure I keep progressing, and don't get injured.