The Running Thread

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poshrule_uk
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PostRe: The Running Thread
by poshrule_uk » Sun May 30, 2021 11:55 am

satriales wrote:My GUCR attempt ended in a DNF.

The week leading into it was super stressful - I was doing job interviews, and my 6-month old puppy got hit by a car which meant I almost had to cancel the race so I could be at home with him, but thankfully surgery on his leg went well and he was allowed home on the Friday. I changed my plans last minute and got a train to Birmingham on the Friday. I hadn't slept for more than 4 hours a night all week!

I got to registration early, had a burger at O'Neils, scoped out the fastest route to the start from the Holiday Inn across the canal, then went back to the hotel and sorted out my bags. I was all set, I just need to get up at 5:15 and head out the door...

... I woke up at 1:30am and couldn't get back to sleep :x

The race itself is very well organised and as a new runner it felt like they were my personal crew looking after me. I can see the appeal of going back year after year.

Before the start I had a quick scout of the field to see if I recognised anyone. Tried to keep an eye out for Avon but he couldn't be seen. I thought I started from the back but then I looked behind and realised I was probably closer to the front. The first few miles out of Birmingham were slower than expected. All of the awkward cobbled paving and short pitch black tunnels do slow you down a little. Once we start seeing trees I settle into a 10 minute mile pace and am happy with my choice of road shoes. All feels good.

I can't remember if it was before or after CP1 but out of nowhere there some unavoidable puddles. My feet got soaking wet and so I planned to swap socks at CP2. A few miles before CP2 I could feel I was getting blisters and by this point a hip niggle I had in training had returned. Once at Hatton Locks I bought an ice cream from the little cafe and jogged into CP2. I sorted out my drinks, grabbed a prepacked bag of snacks out of my drop bag, and then headed back out. Oops I'd forgotten to sort my feet out!

At about 30 miles the blisters were becoming unbearable. I never get blisters so I'm pretty sure it was the wet feet that did it. I stopped a couple of times before CP3 to apply plasters and do my best at fixing my feet but it didn't help much. I knew already at this point that my hip wasn't going to let me do another 110+ miles and a finish was unlikely. Finally I reach CP3 and make a better job of fixing my feet but not that good as it continues to bother me for rest of the race.

After leaving CP3 I realise I forgot to apply sun cream. I had taken it out of my drop bag but forgotten to use it. The sun was blaring and there was little shade. I could feel I was already burning. Luckily I passed another runner's crew a few miles later and they gave me some sun cream. One disaster averted, gave me a five minute boost in motivation but my hip just wasn't letting me run well. I'm at about 40 miles at this point and I'm feeling much worse than usual at this distance. The tiredness is also kicking in already. Over the next hour I am just walking and considering whether to quit now or get to CP4 and quit. I know that I won't be able to stay awake during the night section and I can't really get a lift home in the night as my partner would need to find someone to keep an eye on the puppy that has a broken leg. So I didn't want to quit in the night and I knew I wasn't going to be able to run through the night. I made the phone call to race hq and called it a day at about 45 miles.

Not actually too disappointed. I felt I paced the start well and stuck to my plan. Things went wrong but I don't feel like it was anything I could have done differently. It just wasn't going to happen today. Huge respect for Avon for finishing eight times without a DNF. It's not as easy as he makes it seem!


Well done for giving it a go, I have massive respect for people who run ultras.

I plan to do a 50k race once I have done my first marathon.

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Rubix
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PostRe: The Running Thread
by Rubix » Sun May 30, 2021 2:03 pm

Just did my 3rd Half of the year although this one was over pebbles, stairs and Trail. Elevation of 655 meters.

Totally knackered

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PostRe: The Running Thread
by poshrule_uk » Sun May 30, 2021 2:14 pm

Rubix wrote:Just did my 3rd Half of the year although this one was over pebbles, stairs and Trail. Elevation of 655 meters.

Totally knackered


That sounds brutal but well done on smashing it

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PostRe: The Running Thread
by Ecno » Thu Jun 10, 2021 2:58 pm

Needed a new pair of running shoes and saw a pair of Nike Zoom Pegasus which I've gotten on with before. Have tried going for a walk in them and they just seem like they've made them more narrow and they're causing me pain. So I've basically wasted £100, because Nike want to keep changing the design of their shoes so they don't fit like previous ones (in fairness last time I had Pegasus' maybe I had a 9 too compensate for the smaller fit). But this is such a huge annoyance.

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Victor Mildew
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PostRe: The Running Thread
by Victor Mildew » Thu Jun 24, 2021 9:50 am

Is there anything worse than going for a run and then realising pretty quickly that you need a gooseberry fool? Had that a few times recently now, get down the road and then it feels like I'm carrying a bowling ball around in my ass for 40 minutes (context). Not gone full Paula Radcliff yet but the day may yet come.

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PostRe: The Running Thread
by Dual » Thu Jun 24, 2021 2:30 pm

At the start of May I was basically running a 5k quite comfortably (for me! - sub 30mins) and was just working on techniques to improve on my time. But due to a birthday week, a holiday and a week of sickness I didn't do any running for about 4 weeks. I finally got out again this week and strawberry floating hell I was absolutely gassed. Had to walk around some bits of my usual 5k route. I couldn't believe how having 4 weeks off could effect my fitness so much. I went out yesterday and I just about shuffled my fat ass around and completed the 5k but I am feeling it today.

Lesson is don't stop running or you might die.

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That's not a growth
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PostRe: The Running Thread
by That's not a growth » Thu Jun 24, 2021 2:49 pm

Thankfully you'll get your fitness back pretty quick as it's only been a few weeks, but yeah it's a horrible feeling.

Victor Mildew wrote:Is there anything worse than going for a run and then realising pretty quickly that you need a gooseberry fool? Had that a few times recently now, get down the road and then it feels like I'm carrying a bowling ball around in my ass for 40 minutes (context). Not gone full Paula Radcliff yet but the day may yet come.


Yeah, I always make sure I've unloaded before a run, it's bad enough needing a piss!

poshrule_uk
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PostRe: The Running Thread
by poshrule_uk » Thu Jun 24, 2021 4:18 pm

Victor Mildew wrote:Is there anything worse than going for a run and then realising pretty quickly that you need a gooseberry fool? Had that a few times recently now, get down the road and then it feels like I'm carrying a bowling ball around in my ass for 40 minutes (context). Not gone full Paula Radcliff yet but the day may yet come.


I run with a guy from running club and he brings emergency paper out on Sunday long runs Incase he gets caught short

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satriales
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PostRe: The Running Thread
by satriales » Thu Jun 24, 2021 11:48 pm

I'm attempting Escape From Meriden tomorrow at midnight. You have 24 hours to get as far away as possible as the crow flies. You plan your own route and can finish anywhere - I'll be heading towards Guildford. After 24hrs (or whenever you give up) your distance in a straight line from the start is measured. So the key is planning an efficient route.

I've only done a couple of short runs since GUCR 4 weeks ago, so this might be a disaster but worth having a go.

It's usually quite a fun one to dot watch. Tracking link will be here: https://track.trail.live/event/EscapeFromMeriden

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That's not a growth
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PostRe: The Running Thread
by That's not a growth » Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:30 am

Damn, that's crazy and exciting. Hope it goes well!

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Victor Mildew
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PostRe: The Running Thread
by Victor Mildew » Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:52 am

That's a really cool idea, something different from the usual event.

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PostRe: The Running Thread
by Curls » Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:44 pm

3 Weeks and I can start my back to runnin programme. It'll be bloody scorchio here then but sounds good. Gotta start off with 30 second bursts. Don't break your bones guys!

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satriales
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PostRe: The Running Thread
by satriales » Sun Jun 27, 2021 8:05 am

Escape from Meriden was tough!!

I wasn't as recovered from GUCR as I thought I was. Usually I get to at least 20 miles before any signs of struggle but here it was about 12 miles. By 15 I was walking more than running and hip and feet were in pain. My knee would also join in the fun occasionally with sharp stabbing pains. I was also struggling to stay awake.

One thing keeping me motivated was that someone behind me was following the exact same route as me. Every time I checked the tracker they were a bit closer and it would spur me on to try and run a bit more. I got to around 25 miles (about 6am) and decided to sleep on a random bench in the middle of nowhere. I set my alarm for 15mins and must've only slept for 5 minutes of that. I didn't have a sudden burst of energy but the strong desire to sleep had now gone. I also spent about 10 minutes here re-taping my feet and changing socks again.

When I checked the tracker expecting to see the other guy had gone past I was surprised to see he had made a detour to motorway services and was now only slightly ahead of my route. I started to chase and now I felt much better and able to run for longer between walk breaks. Everything hurt still but not quite as much as earlier. I was gaining on him. At 30 miles there was a 2 mile section along an a-road. About half of it has no path and so the sensible thing is to avoid that road but the detour adds a couple of miles. Nemesis guy took the detour and at this point I was close enough behind that I could see him crossing the road in the distance. I planned to take the direct route thinking that it would be quicker even if I walked and dived to the side everytime there was a car. It paid off as the road was surprisingly quiet 7am on Saturday and I made good progess here.

32 miles I stopped at Tesco for much needed breakfast and water topup. I didn't have any space in my backpack though so walked a couple of miles whilst eating 10 mini beef pasties. Nemesis guy had not needed to go to Tesco and so his detour was actually not as much a detour as it would have been for me. He was now about 2 miles ahead. I was chasing again and feeling like I could run faster than I had so far.

Within about 6 miles I had caught up. He was almost within sight. Then my knee really started to hurt and I suddenly couldn't run. Then I couldn't even walk comfortably. Then I was limping and every step was agony. Race was over but I carried on limping for 3 hours in the hope that things might get better. I decided to get to Bicester and take a train home. Nemesis guy had same idea and his tracker went black. I got there 2 hours after him (I was doing 40 minute miles!) but went an extra 100m past his stop point for a small victory 8-)
Train home was agony and knee is still very sore this morning.

I have no regrets about the race, definitely couldn't have done much more and I didn't stop until I was sure race was over. I made it 50 miles actual distance (about 44 ATCF) not great but not terrible.

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PostRe: The Running Thread
by Rubix » Sun Jun 27, 2021 11:08 am

Been following Garmin recommendations for the past two weeks. Last three days have just been recovery rums, it’s certainly leading me up to something.

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PostRe: The Running Thread
by aayl1 » Sun Jun 27, 2021 11:49 am

satriales wrote:Escape from Meriden was tough!!

I wasn't as recovered from GUCR as I thought I was. Usually I get to at least 20 miles before any signs of struggle but here it was about 12 miles. By 15 I was walking more than running and hip and feet were in pain. My knee would also join in the fun occasionally with sharp stabbing pains. I was also struggling to stay awake.

One thing keeping me motivated was that someone behind me was following the exact same route as me. Every time I checked the tracker they were a bit closer and it would spur me on to try and run a bit more. I got to around 25 miles (about 6am) and decided to sleep on a random bench in the middle of nowhere. I set my alarm for 15mins and must've only slept for 5 minutes of that. I didn't have a sudden burst of energy but the strong desire to sleep had now gone. I also spent about 10 minutes here re-taping my feet and changing socks again.

When I checked the tracker expecting to see the other guy had gone past I was surprised to see he had made a detour to motorway services and was now only slightly ahead of my route. I started to chase and now I felt much better and able to run for longer between walk breaks. Everything hurt still but not quite as much as earlier. I was gaining on him. At 30 miles there was a 2 mile section along an a-road. About half of it has no path and so the sensible thing is to avoid that road but the detour adds a couple of miles. Nemesis guy took the detour and at this point I was close enough behind that I could see him crossing the road in the distance. I planned to take the direct route thinking that it would be quicker even if I walked and dived to the side everytime there was a car. It paid off as the road was surprisingly quiet 7am on Saturday and I made good progess here.

32 miles I stopped at Tesco for much needed breakfast and water topup. I didn't have any space in my backpack though so walked a couple of miles whilst eating 10 mini beef pasties. Nemesis guy had not needed to go to Tesco and so his detour was actually not as much a detour as it would have been for me. He was now about 2 miles ahead. I was chasing again and feeling like I could run faster than I had so far.

Within about 6 miles I had caught up. He was almost within sight. Then my knee really started to hurt and I suddenly couldn't run. Then I couldn't even walk comfortably. Then I was limping and every step was agony. Race was over but I carried on limping for 3 hours in the hope that things might get better. I decide 8-) d to get to Bicester and take a train home. Nemesis guy had same idea and his tracker went black. I got there 2 hours after him (I was doing 40 minute miles!) but went an extra 100m past his stop point for a small victory 8-)
Train home was agony and knee is still very sore this morning.

I have no regrets about the race, definitely couldn't have done much more and I didn't stop until I was sure race was over. I made it 50 miles actual distance (about 44 ATCF) not great but not terrible.


This was a great read - what a cool idea for a race. Glad you got the moral victory

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poshrule_uk
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PostRe: The Running Thread
by poshrule_uk » Sun Jun 27, 2021 12:29 pm

satriales wrote:Escape from Meriden was tough!!

I wasn't as recovered from GUCR as I thought I was. Usually I get to at least 20 miles before any signs of struggle but here it was about 12 miles. By 15 I was walking more than running and hip and feet were in pain. My knee would also join in the fun occasionally with sharp stabbing pains. I was also struggling to stay awake.

One thing keeping me motivated was that someone behind me was following the exact same route as me. Every time I checked the tracker they were a bit closer and it would spur me on to try and run a bit more. I got to around 25 miles (about 6am) and decided to sleep on a random bench in the middle of nowhere. I set my alarm for 15mins and must've only slept for 5 minutes of that. I didn't have a sudden burst of energy but the strong desire to sleep had now gone. I also spent about 10 minutes here re-taping my feet and changing socks again.

When I checked the tracker expecting to see the other guy had gone past I was surprised to see he had made a detour to motorway services and was now only slightly ahead of my route. I started to chase and now I felt much better and able to run for longer between walk breaks. Everything hurt still but not quite as much as earlier. I was gaining on him. At 30 miles there was a 2 mile section along an a-road. About half of it has no path and so the sensible thing is to avoid that road but the detour adds a couple of miles. Nemesis guy took the detour and at this point I was close enough behind that I could see him crossing the road in the distance. I planned to take the direct route thinking that it would be quicker even if I walked and dived to the side everytime there was a car. It paid off as the road was surprisingly quiet 7am on Saturday and I made good progess here.

32 miles I stopped at Tesco for much needed breakfast and water topup. I didn't have any space in my backpack though so walked a couple of miles whilst eating 10 mini beef pasties. Nemesis guy had not needed to go to Tesco and so his detour was actually not as much a detour as it would have been for me. He was now about 2 miles ahead. I was chasing again and feeling like I could run faster than I had so far.

Within about 6 miles I had caught up. He was almost within sight. Then my knee really started to hurt and I suddenly couldn't run. Then I couldn't even walk comfortably. Then I was limping and every step was agony. Race was over but I carried on limping for 3 hours in the hope that things might get better. I decided to get to Bicester and take a train home. Nemesis guy had same idea and his tracker went black. I got there 2 hours after him (I was doing 40 minute miles!) but went an extra 100m past his stop point for a small victory 8-)
Train home was agony and knee is still very sore this morning.

I have no regrets about the race, definitely couldn't have done much more and I didn't stop until I was sure race was over. I made it 50 miles actual distance (about 44 ATCF) not great but not terrible.


That's a great read and a victory is a victory no matter what. I would imagine that helped keep you going.

I definitely want to do an ultra at some point. I have a few goals I want to achieve first such as sub 19 5k and sub 40 10k plus a cheeky marathon as I have never done one. Will probably start with a 50k.

A guy at running club did the Cheshire 100m a few weeks back, took 28 hours

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PostRe: The Running Thread
by satriales » Sun Jun 27, 2021 12:49 pm

Thanks guys. I was using that race as a decider for whether I enter GUCR ballot again. If it had gone well then I would have but it didn't and I felt awful pretty much the way. So I might train for a half marathon instead and have a break from ultras.

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PostRe: The Running Thread
by mcjihge2 » Sun Jun 27, 2021 1:50 pm

satriales wrote:Escape from Meriden was tough!!
....


Nice one

I got to 100km for this month today. Mainly through 16/10ish kms each Sat / Sun. I think its my highest ever monthly total. :toot:
I also didnt realise, but it was also the local 10k/half today on part the route i took. Only i went at about 7:30 and they started at about 9am, so they started just as i finished - right in the same location. It was prety sunny for me then clouded over for them. Alot of people, probably about 1000 people doing it, i was surprised it went ahead.

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PostRe: The Running Thread
by poshrule_uk » Sun Jun 27, 2021 5:03 pm

mcjihge2 wrote:
satriales wrote:Escape from Meriden was tough!!
....


Nice one

I got to 100km for this month today. Mainly through 16/10ish kms each Sat / Sun. I think its my highest ever monthly total. :toot:
I also didnt realise, but it was also the local 10k/half today on part the route i took. Only i went at about 7:30 and they started at about 9am, so they started just as i finished - right in the same location. It was prety sunny for me then clouded over for them. Alot of people, probably about 1000 people doing it, i was surprised it went ahead.


I did a race least week with over a 1000 people. They had rolling starts and other covid measures in place.

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Victor Mildew
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PostRe: The Running Thread
by Victor Mildew » Mon Jun 28, 2021 3:42 pm

satriales wrote:Escape from Meriden was tough!!

I wasn't as recovered from GUCR as I thought I was. Usually I get to at least 20 miles before any signs of struggle but here it was about 12 miles. By 15 I was walking more than running and hip and feet were in pain. My knee would also join in the fun occasionally with sharp stabbing pains. I was also struggling to stay awake.

One thing keeping me motivated was that someone behind me was following the exact same route as me. Every time I checked the tracker they were a bit closer and it would spur me on to try and run a bit more. I got to around 25 miles (about 6am) and decided to sleep on a random bench in the middle of nowhere. I set my alarm for 15mins and must've only slept for 5 minutes of that. I didn't have a sudden burst of energy but the strong desire to sleep had now gone. I also spent about 10 minutes here re-taping my feet and changing socks again.

When I checked the tracker expecting to see the other guy had gone past I was surprised to see he had made a detour to motorway services and was now only slightly ahead of my route. I started to chase and now I felt much better and able to run for longer between walk breaks. Everything hurt still but not quite as much as earlier. I was gaining on him. At 30 miles there was a 2 mile section along an a-road. About half of it has no path and so the sensible thing is to avoid that road but the detour adds a couple of miles. Nemesis guy took the detour and at this point I was close enough behind that I could see him crossing the road in the distance. I planned to take the direct route thinking that it would be quicker even if I walked and dived to the side everytime there was a car. It paid off as the road was surprisingly quiet 7am on Saturday and I made good progess here.

32 miles I stopped at Tesco for much needed breakfast and water topup. I didn't have any space in my backpack though so walked a couple of miles whilst eating 10 mini beef pasties. Nemesis guy had not needed to go to Tesco and so his detour was actually not as much a detour as it would have been for me. He was now about 2 miles ahead. I was chasing again and feeling like I could run faster than I had so far.

Within about 6 miles I had caught up. He was almost within sight. Then my knee really started to hurt and I suddenly couldn't run. Then I couldn't even walk comfortably. Then I was limping and every step was agony. Race was over but I carried on limping for 3 hours in the hope that things might get better. I decided to get to Bicester and take a train home. Nemesis guy had same idea and his tracker went black. I got there 2 hours after him (I was doing 40 minute miles!) but went an extra 100m past his stop point for a small victory 8-)
Train home was agony and knee is still very sore this morning.

I have no regrets about the race, definitely couldn't have done much more and I didn't stop until I was sure race was over. I made it 50 miles actual distance (about 44 ATCF) not great but not terrible.


Well done! This sounds properly mental! I really like the idea of it just being up to you to decide how much to put in, and what to take as motivation. Love that you found a nemesis, I bet it helped to think of him/her getting slowly demoralised as you ever so slowly gained.

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