New Years Eve 2014
4:50:50
Visiting family and travelling I'd forgotten to think about how I was eating. Food in days before consisted of chocolateageddon, fudge and KFC. Managed to eat some sweet potatoes the night before but probably was too little too late. It doesn't help that I've put on some 'holiday weight' either.
Ground conditions- solid ice and frozen mud- the kind of mud that has been churned up by bikes and horses to form peaks like whipped cream cheese frosting on a birthday cake.... But is now so solid it's like running on granite or marble and was an experience to run on something so unforgiving and hard. Ow my knees. Ow my feet.
The start was treacherous as crowds of us stormed down the track not seeing the huge patches of ice between the mass of bodies.
Some areas had thawed and were soppingly squelchy and took a great deal of care to dodge through.
Between 11 and 15miles the ground was good. Compacted gravel, quite level.
Then back onto the mud and frozen stuff. My feet were agony by 40k due to the hard ground, and I'd begun to walk on-and-off. The warmest part of the day had been and gone and I was quite tired and had started suffering the cold, shivering in my jacket and hat, hands getting cold for the first time. Whimpering. I didn't feel too well tbh.
Aid stations awesome. Volunteers so cheery and fantastic selection and volume of snacks, sweeties and drinks. Minor criticism was the spacing of the aid stations 5miles, 11miles, 13miles, 15miles then an age back to 21miles and another loooong trek to the finish. At the finish there was a small jug of water but only 4cups which runners were sharing round. No thank-you do I want people's winter germs at the end of a long run!
Gear- Inov8 Roclites- ideal for conditions as the icy mud was like rock. Taped seam jacket- good, not too sweaty, keeps the chill off. Thin hat- glad I had it, probably best option for cold-hot-cold conditions.
Fuelling- handful of Haribo at each aid station, and cola at the later ones too.
Pacing- did the first 6miles or so at a very leisurely 7mins/km and the ramped things up a bit after that but only to around 6mins/km which is still very comfortable. When feet started giving me grief near the end was when my pace suffered.
Body- hamstring/glute first area to feel tiredness. Must strengthen this in gym. Feet painful (aching) but blister-free- taping is working. Right ankle taped for support was fine, applying the tape I maybe was a bit rough and upset things a bit, but running on it was fine, I was being cautious with that foot in particular over rough ground but nothing to report. Post race some tightness above knees, more so on rhs, in lower ITB area.
Course- out and back mainly along an old railway line. Most of the time easy to follow. Though on the outward leg there were at least 3 occasions where we saw other runners had missed the tape and were running off in the wrong direction! They were called back.
Finish- the race director clearly thought his idea for the finish was funny but I assure you after slogging out 26.2 miles in the freezing cold, ice and mud the last thing runners want to do is hill sprint up a muddy bank to touch a monument. (Or hobble back down it afterwards). And no it didn't spread us out so your marshals could take down our numbers more easily.
Medal very nice, bit smaller than I'd expected from the photos, but clever non the less and good quality. Nice shirt, bit big in a size small, but again good quality. I think I will wear it to the gym.
4:50:50
Visiting family and travelling I'd forgotten to think about how I was eating. Food in days before consisted of chocolateageddon, fudge and KFC. Managed to eat some sweet potatoes the night before but probably was too little too late. It doesn't help that I've put on some 'holiday weight' either.
Ground conditions- solid ice and frozen mud- the kind of mud that has been churned up by bikes and horses to form peaks like whipped cream cheese frosting on a birthday cake.... But is now so solid it's like running on granite or marble and was an experience to run on something so unforgiving and hard. Ow my knees. Ow my feet.
The start was treacherous as crowds of us stormed down the track not seeing the huge patches of ice between the mass of bodies.
Some areas had thawed and were soppingly squelchy and took a great deal of care to dodge through.
Between 11 and 15miles the ground was good. Compacted gravel, quite level.
Then back onto the mud and frozen stuff. My feet were agony by 40k due to the hard ground, and I'd begun to walk on-and-off. The warmest part of the day had been and gone and I was quite tired and had started suffering the cold, shivering in my jacket and hat, hands getting cold for the first time. Whimpering. I didn't feel too well tbh.
Aid stations awesome. Volunteers so cheery and fantastic selection and volume of snacks, sweeties and drinks. Minor criticism was the spacing of the aid stations 5miles, 11miles, 13miles, 15miles then an age back to 21miles and another loooong trek to the finish. At the finish there was a small jug of water but only 4cups which runners were sharing round. No thank-you do I want people's winter germs at the end of a long run!
Gear- Inov8 Roclites- ideal for conditions as the icy mud was like rock. Taped seam jacket- good, not too sweaty, keeps the chill off. Thin hat- glad I had it, probably best option for cold-hot-cold conditions.
Fuelling- handful of Haribo at each aid station, and cola at the later ones too.
Pacing- did the first 6miles or so at a very leisurely 7mins/km and the ramped things up a bit after that but only to around 6mins/km which is still very comfortable. When feet started giving me grief near the end was when my pace suffered.
Body- hamstring/glute first area to feel tiredness. Must strengthen this in gym. Feet painful (aching) but blister-free- taping is working. Right ankle taped for support was fine, applying the tape I maybe was a bit rough and upset things a bit, but running on it was fine, I was being cautious with that foot in particular over rough ground but nothing to report. Post race some tightness above knees, more so on rhs, in lower ITB area.
Course- out and back mainly along an old railway line. Most of the time easy to follow. Though on the outward leg there were at least 3 occasions where we saw other runners had missed the tape and were running off in the wrong direction! They were called back.
Finish- the race director clearly thought his idea for the finish was funny but I assure you after slogging out 26.2 miles in the freezing cold, ice and mud the last thing runners want to do is hill sprint up a muddy bank to touch a monument. (Or hobble back down it afterwards). And no it didn't spread us out so your marshals could take down our numbers more easily.
Medal very nice, bit smaller than I'd expected from the photos, but clever non the less and good quality. Nice shirt, bit big in a size small, but again good quality. I think I will wear it to the gym.
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| Ticket inspired medal |
I am getting the impression well spaced, well stocked, and motivationally manned aid stations are a seriously key part for an ideal race...
ReplyDeleteIn the cold or hot especially is nice to have drinks/snacks available pretty regularly in the final third when things start getting tough- 3-5mile intervals is pretty standard so it was probably the 6mile gap that caught me out, or maybe I'm getting spoilt with all these lapped marathons and should have planned to carry my own drink in the later stages....
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