Just Googled him - yep, that was the chap
19 hrs - fair play, as I said they were totally motoring - running with another guy and a lady in the group - all 3 looked pretty darn serious runners
Just looked at the results for the Langdale Horseshe race - winner did it in 2 hrs last year - amazing - course record of 1:55 was set in 1977!
Thatās really shifting around there, although both times I did the course was quite boggy and visibility was poor. You also need to get a good start as well as thereās a massive bottleneck up the first climb.
Carla Molinaro passed as nearby to me as sheāll be today in her attempt at a LEJOG running record.
https://www.carlamolinaro.com/lejog
Craziness.
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wow - 70 miles at day for 12 days!
a great (but long) report from the man himself
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oohh thanks - will take a look at that later.
Soā¦ looks like my 52km trail run around/up Snowdon on 26 sep is going ahead. 3800m vertical 
Iām in half decent running shape, Iām comfortable running with a pack and i dont think thereāll be much self navigation required but does anyone have any tips for a first time ultra runner ?
Iām pretty comfortable running hills and have been doing lots of leg strength work this yearā¦ but what are the known unknowns for a freshie like me ?
Still space for a fourth musketeer on our team btw (looking at you @gingerbongo)
Iām a novice and not fast but my advice would be, walk the hills, all the hills but walk them strongly, then make it up trotting along the flats and descends.
Start slowly, then when you think youāve started slowly enough, slow down by half.
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Thanksā¦ kinda what i thoughtā¦ power walking up the main 3 uphills ? I guess iāll be wincing a bit from the downhills by the end though. Are poles likely necessary ?
quads are the killers on any lumpy ultra especially if you have not trained a lot on downhills
in my experience poles are a help on the ups but just get in the way on the downs - I always collapse them and run without on the downs
take plenty of food and donāt forget to eat it
looking forward to hearing how it went
Well, to start, 52 km is barely an ultra! 
Be ready for a long day out. Itāll probably take in the region of 10-14 hours iād say. I donāt know all of the route, but i recognise a fair few bits from doing the Welsh 3000s. Personally i love poles and would not hesitate in using them on a race like this. They help to spread the load when climbing and can be used for balance as well.
As FP said, there wonāt be much running as you know it. I doubt youāll ever get any quicker than 5.30/km unless youāre really aiming to hammer the race? Power walk the hills, itās all about rhythm. There are hills and then there are mountains. Unless you train in the mountains, nothing comes close. You canāt replicate a 1 hour constant climb anywhere else! But that leg strength HIT stuff youāve been into lately will definitely help!
Use them as the opportunity to fuel ā¦ but also anticipate the big climbs and get fuelled up before them!
Practice wearing your pack for long periods of time. I always forget about this and end up with really achey shoulders. Training for 3-4 hours on a light pack, surprise surprise, does not imitate carrying a full pack for 12 hrs+!
Be ready for the weather to turn at any time up there. It can be sweaty and sunny in the valley, then half way up the climb it starts hailing or sleetingy, seemingly within minutes. Carry decent kit.
how are you on descending on technical ground. As we all know. Itās the descents that can cripple the legs. All that quad pounding. But just pick your line, lean forward and get your cadence up as high as you can. Try not to ābrakeā with each step if you can help it.
And enjoy it! Itās flippin lush up there. My friend is doing another of his 3000s guides next weekend and i was very tempted ā¦ but itās big kidās birthday. So no way that can happen.
Iād love to join you up there, but think iād be kicked off the team if i was putting Ā£Ā£ into one of our competitorās pockets! 
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The cut off is 11.5 hrs ! I think it might be relatively benignā¦ the winner last year took 7hrs 3mins. I havent yet decided between running on my own or (more likely) taking it a bit easier with my brother and our friend.
ah ok, the connecting paths around the back of the main hills must be pretty straightforward then. I was basing on the V3k.
Easy then @twhat !!
are you sure on the elevation stats @twhat?
This is the V3k route, and that has 3,800m
https://www.strava.com/activities/1119010560/overview
We did it at a steady pace and it took 14 hours. A lot of people do it over two days. I could well be wrong, i donāt know the area well, but 11.5hrs cutoff seems quite tight to me. Or maybe we were just proper ambling! haha
Itās this one. Does sound a lot. Are they counting ups and downs??
Looks like they are counting total elevation change.
On the subject of poles, I like them but weigh up how much Iām likely t use them. I have a quiver think that clips onto my vest which makes it a bit easier but breaking them down and stowing them multiple times in a race can be a faff. But carrying them made up in hand can also be tiring.
I donāt think I would have made it Porlock Hill at NC 50 without them but when youāre tired and using them on the flat, itās easy to kick them in front of your foot and then a tumble usually follows.
Theyāre a bit like a roof box on a car, a godsend when you need them and a PITA when you donāt!
sounds like a good event
you have 2 months to practice - find the biggest hill you can and do as many hill reps as you can stomach - steady ups and harder downs to get the quads used to descending
Hey twhat,
I run the odd ultra without ever training for one, I just dont think its possible. Anyhow these are my thoughts
Now it is āonlyā 52k, so not to bad, therefore I would suggest that you are a good enough runner to run the flats and downs. I find whatever pace I go out it hurts near the end. So I kind of, (though not sure I would actually advise anyone), believe what this guy says: http://ultrastu.blogspot.com/p/article-pacing-strategy.html.
But the one bit of advice I would give is walk ALL the ups, whether it is a 5k drag or a 5m rise, it just breaks it up a bit and the small rises give you small little rests.
Enjoy!
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Thames Path 100 in 5 weeks. Longest run of the year (23 miles) last night following big Sunday lunch with the family. I thought that after a couple of hours of letting lunch settle it would be all good.
Boy, was I wrong. First 20km felt really good. Wheels came off for the next 10km and became run/walk while trying not to have lunch pay me a second visit. Last 5km felt fine again which goes to show that in a long race there is always time to recover even if you do go through a rough patch.
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