Tuesday 19 July 2011

Fairland's Valley Race Results In

When I checked the race results yesterday I was amazed to discover that I finished in 6th place out of 205 marathon runners.  I thought I was just plodding around.  Still, my high placing would explain why my legs were feeling so tired.  I've definitely been feeling sorer after the Fairland's Valley Marathon than I was post South Downs, which should have been a harder race.  But maybe this also further confirms my difficulty to soreness ratio theory.

I wouldn't necessarily regard the Fairland's Valley Marathon as being particularly tough, providing you can interpret race instructions whilst running.  It is mostly run off-road and at times on fairly thick grass, which is more energy sapping than tarmac, but also a lot more pleasant.


There's also a few challenging short climbs.  But none of the hills were impossible to run up.


On the whole, the weekend's marathon was a really enjoyable race.  The number of participants was fairly small.  About 500 people in total took part, with 205 doing the marathon and the rest either opting to do the 50k ultra, or an 18 mile or 12 mile run.  As always with small events there was greater camaraderie and the runners were more supportive of each other. 

Marathon number 7 completed

The organisers had laid on a free barbecue at the finish, and I was very grateful for my cheese burger.  My one and only criticism of the event is that the race memento is a bit naff - a one size fits all baseball cap with the Spartans Running Club logo on, the club that organised the event.  Still, it was a cheapish event to enter, so I can't really complain.  I guess I prefer a medal.

Since Sunday I have now picked out my next marathon.  I've decided not to do the North Downs Marathon so that I can join my friend for his birthday celebrations.  Instead I will take part in 42k Pathfinder Walk which starts at Conington in Cambridgeshire.  It's another local event and only cost £7 to enter.  Although it's billed as a walk it is recognised by the 100 marathon club, in fact it was a member of the club who told me of the event.  There are also different start times for runners and walkers, so runners are definitely welcomed by the organisers.  I'll be posting my application today.

Sunday 17 July 2011

Fairland's Valley Marathon - Brief Post Race Report

Well, I've been a little slack on updating my blog over the last few weeks and also suffering slightly with a lack of motivation with regards to training.  I'm blaming Glastonbury and the warmer weather.  I'm hoping that today's marathon will give me the boost to get back on track with both.

This will just be a quick update.  I hope to write more later in the week.  Today's race was the Fairland's Valley Marathon, which started and finished in Stevenage.  I didn't have great expectations for either my time or the relative beauty of the course.  Stevenage isn't the most inspiring place on Earth.  However, I had my scepticism squashed soon into the run.  The countryside around Stevenage is varied and stunning.  Perhaps not quite Lake District stunning, but very nice none the less.  We ran through a good mix of woodland, country estates and meandering river valleys.  Given that it's only about a 45 to 50 minute drive from home, this is definitely a marathon that I'd do again, and which I would recommend to friends.

The need to follow written instructions and self navigate can be a bit of a pain, and I did go wrong on two occasions.  Fortunately, I realised my mistake very quickly so it didn't cost much in terms of time.  For the majority of the race I ran in a pack with six other runners.  By the time we'd reached the final checkpoint we'd become a group of three, and over the last few miles the three of us separated as we each focused on our own personal battles to reach the finish.  Thus, Dave from South Africa finished a couple of minutes ahead of me, and Beth running her first ever marathon finished about a minute behind me.  The two of them are pictured with me below.  I think you can work out who's who.


My finishing time today was 3 hours and 44 minutes.  This needs to be verified with the official results, which I expect will be on-line tomorrow. 

For the first time this year and don't have my next race booked already.  So I really need to get on to do that.  I haven't 100% picked out my August marathon yet.  I was going to do the North Downs Marathon, but that now clashes with a friend's birthday celebration.  If I can find an alternative attractive marathon to do on a different weekend, then I'll book that.  If not, I'll stick with my original plan even though it means letting a friend down.  I doubt if my absence from the party will be noticed that much.

Sunday 3 July 2011

Post Glastonbury Long Run

Boy that was a hard run today.  It’s been three weeks since South Downs Marathon and training has taken a bit of a slump in that time.  This was mainly due to being away for the best part of a week at Glastonbury Festival, which I treat as my one chance in the year to really let my hair down (what little I have) and have a bit of a wild time without thinking about the next race goal.  It’s great that it fell exactly half way through my marathon challenge for the year.

 

So, on Wednesday 22 June I left Cambridge at 6am with two friends (Victor and James) for the 5 hour drive to Glastonbury.  The weather wasn’t looking too great for the following days, but I wasn’t going to let that get me down.  We had a bit of a trek to find a camping pitch for the three of us.  Despite the fact that the gates only opened at 9am, the site was virtually full by the time we actually arrived on the main festival site just after mid-day.  Once we were pitched it was time to go and have our first festival meal.  There’s a vast choice of food available at Glastonbury and it is possible to eat very well.  My first meal was a Lebanese meze of cous cous salad, stuffed vine leaves, feta and spinach filo pastry parcels, falafel and hummus.

 

Lovely Glastonbury mud

Later on the Wednesday we met up with two other friends, Simon and Abigail.  We then pretty much stayed together as a group of five throughout Wednesday evening and all day on Thursday, trudging through the slurry like Glastonbury mud between bars and various venues.

 

First pint of hot spiced cider

The festival really kicks off from Friday morning, and it looked like the weather was going to pick up.  The day started well on Friday, but rain returned in time for Morrissey’s set and continued throughout U2.  Fortunately, it stayed dry and warm on Saturday and the mud started to dry out.  This meant that for the whole day we had to wade through ever hardening mud, which would cling to boots adding a good kilo of extra weight to each leg.  This would be the closest I’d come to doing any training.

 

Sunshine over Glastonbury Festival

Thankfully, the ground was mostly dry by Sunday afternoon and it was possible to lie out on the baked earth in the sun.  It was on Sunday that I got to experience my two absolute highlights of the weekend: TV On The Radio, and Queens Of The Stoneage, who were amongst one of the best headline bands I’ve seen at the Festival.

 

After the long walk from our camping pitch to the car Monday morning, we then had the five hour drive back to Cambridge to face.  I was very grateful that Victor was doing the driving.  I got home muddy and tired, with a rucksack of dirty clothes to wash and a tent to erect, hose down and dry off before putting it away.  That evening I had an early night to try and make up for only getting about 5 hours sleep each night for the previous five nights.  Then it was back to work as usual on Tuesday.  I felt as if I was working through a sleep deficit for the entire week and was very grateful for a long lie-in Saturday morning – to think I’d actually contemplated going to Parkrun.


Since Tuesday I’ve done more kettlebelling than running, which is a reverse to the norm for me.  I was a little apprehensive about today’s long run.  I knew it was going to hurt, but with my next marathon taking place in two weeks time I had no option but to get out for a 20 mile run.  I opted for the 20 mile loop via the villages of Bottisham, Swaffham Prior and Lode and finishing with an 8 mile run along the river.  It was a hot day, with temperatures in the mid 20s, and with very little shade on the route.  By mile 12 my legs were starting to hurt.  I tried to take in the sights along the river to take my mind off the run.  By the last 2 miles of the run I felt as if I was practically crawling along and the desire to just walk was overwhelming.  But I managed to dig deep and it was a huge relief to eventually find myself back at my front door.   For the rest of this week I need to focus on some good quality running to get back in to better shape for the Fairland’s Valley Marathon on 17 July.

 

Life on the Rive Cam