A weekend of filming, recording and running. Very chuffed with myself as I managed to run up Pen y Fan, something I’ve wanted to do for years. My longest run since January would you believe – only 11 miles, but a beautiful route and by far the quickest way to get to the top!
The audio is from a combination of Trecastle (where I stayed at the friendly Castle Inn) dawn chorus, waterfalls along the Afon Tawe, and the waterfalls at Blaen y Glyn.
It’s supposed to be simple. Don shorts, T-shirt and shoes, run for 26.2 miles with a watch to check your pace, take on some fuel and water enroute, and Bob’s your uncle, or ‘Bob was my uncle’ as an American friend once put it.
Throw in some gale force winds, driving rain, then put on some previously untested running leggings and a fuel belt that hadn’t been worn for six months. Cue stomach pain on every much-looked-forward-to downhill section. I had to remove the gel belt and carry it all the way, but there was little I could do about the shorts and leggings. And the stomach pain meant I didn’t take on any fuel during the race, and very little water. Memories of Antwerp there then. In hindsight I should have removed the leggings and shorts and run half naked. Cold? Certainly, but better that than the pain on the faster downhill stretches.
Given all that, I’m happy to say I beat last year’s time and came in at 3:28:49, but miles off the 3:20 hoped for. My splits for the race tell it all. Too hard into the wind up to Pen-y-Pass, in pain on the lovely downhill stretch that followed, then giving up the ghost soon after Beddgelert in the tedious lonely section to Waunfawr. If I could have dropped out then I would have. It was lonely, endless road, mostly uphill, even though the wind was behind us.
I know a lot of folk struggle in every marathon, and thereby perhaps feel an incredible sense of achievement at the end, but I hate struggle! I run to enjoy it, and last year I did just that here – with energy left at the end, and a smile on my face. This year was just hard work, working through pain, and a pain that seemed to have nothing to do with running – not the legs, not the heart or lungs, just my bloomin’ stomach!
First half completed in 1:37, which was pretty much on target, second half in 1:52, ten minutes off target, and slower than last year. To my shame, I WALKED up Waunfawr hill – something I didn’t do last year, but was very glad to this year. Then, at the top, the winds tore my running number off my Tshirt, and I encountered a tortured scene of runners clutching their hamstrings or calves in agonising cramps, runners falling over on the slippy grassy section downhill, or being literally blown to the ground by the gusts of wind.
In fact at that point I was laughing, knowing I would finish sub 3:30 I cheered up no end. Sprinted to the finish to meet a smiling Bob (not my uncle, but really a Bob) and get back for a hot shower and food.
I set off with a plan to pace with Ru, a woman met on the Runners World Forums. We stuck together until the top of Pen-y-Pass, when she shot off downhill and I discovered my stomach was going to give me trouble. I found out later that she was 2nd lady with 3:18! Brilliant result, and she stars in the S4c (Welsh television channel) coverage of the race.
I’ll post pictures when they turn up – relying on official ones as I didn’t carry my camera phone for once.
So, top marathon tip: the same one as always for a marathon – don’t try anything you haven’t already tried! In my case, too-tight leggings.
Click on the top image for the S4C coverage of the race.
Time: 3:28:49
Position: 95th out of 1133 finishers.
Category position (men over 40): 23rd
A run / walk in Fforest Fawr, near Brecon. Up Fan Nedd from the beautifully isolated Maen Llia standing stone, across deep bogs to Fan Gyhirych (2,300ft), then plummeting down to a disused railway track back south, meeting up with the Beacons Way and Sarn Helen eastwards again to Maen Llia. Some stunning scenery, better revealed later in the day when the sun started shining.
17 miles, 4 hours. First hour we only travelled 2.5 miles!
Followed this on Sunday with a nine mile plod round the parks. I’ve developed a slightly tight ITB (Illiotibial Band) so decided to rest it a bit this week.
Oh yes, and I really did get up to my knees in the bog and had to be hauled out! As a result my garmin footpod has completely died on me 
Simply fantastic! 24 miles in 4:01. I got lost, about 2 miles from the end, or I would have made it in 3:50 or so. Perfect blustry weather, not wet underfoot, views were out of this world, and all finished off with a pint of Black Sheep at the end, watching runners then walkers coming in for an hour. What an experience!
Rhayader 20 mile race: 2h40m
That was harder than it should have been. Spent the race trying to recalibrate the garmin footpod, which meant I could see neither the time nor my pace/speed. As a result took it faster than I should have, but not fast enough to count as a race – kind of caught in limbo. Still, it’s a wonderful course through the Elan valley, winding around the reservoirs in this deserted part of the world. Two more long runs now before the big day.
Broadway Tower (above), on top of a bliddy great hill – Fish Hill. You just try running up that, go on, I dare you! 19 miles on the Cotswold Way, absolutely beautiful, but I decided not to wear my orthotics for some reason, and now have blisters on my feet, grrr. Still, 51 miles total last week, so I’m doing well, and can afford a little break.
Inspirational run today -Â along the Malvern ridge from North Quarry down to British Camp and back. It should have been a bit further, but I didn’t print out enough map, so was worried about getting lost! That was far enough anyway, what with the 1700′ ascent, and some of those ascents were hard work. Two groups of walkers shouted wierd things at me, something about a license plate (? – didn’t understand that one), and something else completely unintelligible in the gale force wind on the ridge. The promised snow didn’t arrive, so it was a glorious sunny and freezing day with views for miles around. This reminds me, if I ever need reminding, why I run – you’ve got everything you need to hand, you can travel distance with no car, no bloomin’ shopping bag, no jacket, not worry about getting muddy or wet because it simply doesn’t matter. Just some dried mango, or jelly babies, and a bit of water, though I didn’t touch a drop today. Oh, give me the hills!
The run: 21.5 miles, Princes Risborough to Wallingford along the Ridgeway.
The time: 3h 20m.
The shoes: Saucony Jazz Grid (now at 450 miles – time for a new pair, oh joy!)
A great run, accompanied for the first hour, then P turned back to collect the car to pick me up from my destination – Wallingford. There were no coffee shops in Wallingford! What a crazy town, half occupied by a posh and empty Waitrose, but almost everything else was shut.
Inevitably I got lost at one point but was put rightly by a horse person near Nuffield. I finally followed the path below the dramatic chalk cutting along the M40, between Watlington and Chinnor, miles of muddy quagmire (quaggy mudmire?) near the quarries, red kites circling above, then quiet beech woodlands near Christmas Common, and lost in the Swyncombe Downs, finally over the golf course and downhill to Wallingford along Grim’s ditch.
So it seems I’ve given up on speed for the moment, and am reverting to distance. I did push myself on Tuesday to six 800 metre bursts on the treadmill, at 3m12s each. They call those Yassos, after Burt Yasso who came up with the mad idea you run 10 x 800 metres with jogs in between, then average your times. If you’re aiming at a 3h15m marathon, you should be running each 800 metre segment in 3m15s. Sounds crazy? Apparently it can be a good indicator, but that’s alongside actually putting in a lot of running the rest of the time 
 Anyway, it was damn hard work on a treadmill.
I think as a result of the extra long run last weekend, combined with this speed session, and a lack of sleep, I felt absolutely knackered by Thursday and took two days off training. It really worked, as I was full of beans again on Saturday, and Sunday’s long run was excellent.
Here’s my current schedule :
Monday: cross-train, 1hr biking usually
Tuesday: intervals or hill work (speed) running
Wednesday: cross-train, 1hr biking
Thursday: tempo run – increasing mileage each week
Friday: rest day
Saturday: easy run, 5 miles or so
Sunday: long run, keeping around 20 miles, or race day
Will I ever feel the same about running in Port Meadow again? 15 miles (or less) up 2000ft to the end of the road from Rowen to Tal y Fan, the northenmost Carneddau moutain in North West Wales. The photo was actually taken the next day when walking, but the road gets you to within 150 metres in height of this summit view. I’d love to have actually run this last bit, but as it is, I’ll find it hard to run the flat routes round Oxford again. The next day (or the one after), was just a short run but up through some private woods – fantastic soft earth and quiet atmosphere with views over the Conwy river estuary.
oops.
Slightly further than the intended 22 miler, but they had shut a bridge at St Botolph’s for 6 months, so I had to divert via some horrible A roads. I also got lost in Brighton in some woods, and ended up running down the A270 Lewes Road for a couple of miles – that really hurt right. My OS map dated from about 1987 when they hadn’t built half of Brighton. But otherwise, a really fantastic hilly run from Chanctonbury Ring to Ditchling Beacon then downhill to the town. 1200 foot ascent, but undulating all the way.
I started out at 8.30ish from a little car park near Washington, climbing up quickly to Chanctonbury Ring to stunning views over the plains and valleys layered with mist. Past a couple of other morning runners but pretty much no-one else until I got to Devil’s Dyke, a torment of ups and downs. I tried to take the uphills easy, as there were so many of them, but stopping myself falling over on the steep descents was still hard work. I was still feeling good by the time I reached Ditchling Beacon, but the downhill trek through the woods really took it out of me. Once I’d got well and truly lost, I was getting cross and tired, so resorted to Joy Division on the MP3. After that great cheering up, I found the wonderful Lewes Road dual carriageway, and plodded along that for a couple of miles until I could stop and soak my legs in Bob’s cold bath. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Foot condition: great – the Saucony Jazz shoes holding up well again.
Leg condition: slightly sore quads from the downhill batterings, but otherwise v.g.
Pace: – rubbish, but I had to stop for horses, map reading, photo sessions and traffic lights, so I’m not too worried about that.
That’s almost it now – taper down to 18 miles next weekend, then 12 after that, then the big day!
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