Wot @gingerbongo said
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I did the Sandman in 2017 and thought it was great, sea was a bit chilly but flat calm although they added about 400m for some reason! We think the buoys got dragged by the current. Was supposed to be ~800m, I got over 1.2k.
Looks like they’ve standardised the distances as the bike course I got was 59k, rolling rather than hilly and I remember the roads being pretty good, but they could have deteriorated by now.
All I can remember about the run was quite a few sections in the woods where it was soft underfoot but not muddy with tree roots, but the kind of running I like, then a finish on the beach. But even the run was 9.5k.
Always wanted to go back but usually clashes with other races.
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Point of order. 
@gingerbongo , calling out some sandbagging, have I got that correct? 
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Did my double yesterday, didn’t get home until late and was pretty much a shower then bed.
My brain did its best to sabotage it again though with about 4 hours of sleep 
Pretty much rolled from HQ to the start of the 50 which was about 800m for my warmup generally took it quite steady, there was a bit of a strange breeze which was WNW and the course is a sort of Z shape, but what a difference good tarmac makes. There was a small section near Cockermouth that was a bit tatty but still better than most of my training route.
Got round in 2:13:50, slightly disappointing as I’ve done quite a bit faster over 100 miles on pretty much the same course, but I didn’t use my aero helmet and a few other things. The position on the new bike isn’t particularly aero but I’m getting less flexible!
Had a quick look round Keswick and about 15 minutes nap in the car before setting off towards Sutton Bank, there’s a lot of work going on at the junction on the M6/A6 at Penrith if anyone is heading that way which cost me about 20 minutes.
Got to the run and luckily someone offered me a lift from the car park to where I was doing the handover for the running leg, that saved me about 5k jog but I was earlier so had a walk about to ease the legs!
Got going once our previous runner appeared and knew 3 people had gone out up to 5 minutes before me, I did catch one but the others were about the same time. It was a slight uphill drag on grass for the first 1.5k and I knew my legs were tired
It’s good fun though and I got to the handover just under 50 minutes for 10.25K, I’d been put down for a 50 minute split so was pleased to do it.
Decided to go to Helmsley which is a small market town afterwards where it finishes, I was surprised how many people had gone, the chippy was also open and it was a fairly pleasant evening and good catching up with people from the club and other local runners, why didn’t I do this before!
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Pipe down you!
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Congrats again and good seeing you!
This might be completely unsolicited (and potentially wrong, I’m not expert!) advise, but some comparisons if you’re interested before you progress to Wales.
The first hour was quite flat with less than average ascent for the whole course, and lots of sections of fast easy speed. My plan was to make sure I got through the first hour at less than ride-average so that I had room to build into the climbs in the second half.
- → Put power down when the bike is slow, and coast when going >40kph.
I passed 1 hour at about 33.1-33.5kph and about 225-230W NP I think (211AP), at 79kg. So similar, with some free speed from position and equipment probably.
Whereas I’ve probably taken more time out of you on that second half of the course. I was riding the climbs around 270W (FTP currently also ~300-310ish), to finish with AP 224 NP241 for 2:54 chip time.
Summary: maybe 24 minutes gained is all equipment/position and the extra 14W, but I wonder if there may be some free speed from more tactically choosing where you apply power.
Happy to share power files/think more about it if you’re interested here or DM, or apologise again for the unsolicited advice!
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Thank you, yes I think I could have definitely been more efficient with my effort. I definitely overdid it in the first bit, I couldn’t get into a steady output, felt all over the place, which I then paid for later on. My aim was to try to keep well below 300w, unless necessary to get up a climb, but I remember seeing 350w a fair few times in the first hour on the little rolling road inclines, which was well above what I know I can sustainably hold.
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Impressive long day yesterday Jeff!
Without realising, think we walked the Sandman run route few days ago exploring Anglesey. Couldn’t imagine trying to do a swim off that beach though in the chop on Friday
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Eugh - Tiramisu 
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Years ago, we did a 5km fun run in Vienna the day before NYE. They gave you a massive (proper) pretzlel and a beer at the end.
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Love a bit of tiramisu, in the right place at the right time. But you can have too much of a good thing & also I wouldn’t necessarily pair it with a 10k race 
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OMG Tiramisu 
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I’m tempted to do the Blackpool lights 10k again in August, it’s a bit of a gimmick race but was good fun.
Starts at the North end at 9pm and runs down the road to the pleasure park and back as it gets darker under the illuminations 
And you get lots of bemused people watching as it’s a Saturday night
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good practice for IM BLACKPOOL 
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Do they sequence the lights like pacer lights on the track?
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We did that as a laugh 2 years ago. It was good fun. With added 
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There’s a tram to pace you
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No Viannetta?
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Them’s for posh folks from Gloucester, not for us Wurzels.
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