Trail & Ultra Running Thread

Events
1644

I ran a race - my first ultra! (well that’s actually a race and not just a bimble)

https://www.strava.com/activities/5028230582

~32 miles around the perimeter of Manhattan. Probably not a good idea to go out way below marathon PB pace (with very little training), but still good fun and other than a bit of a rough patch in the middle I didn’t blow up too significantly. Just under 4 hours.

Check-point style racing so no actual course but had planned the route in advance so knew a couple of short-cuts, and it pays to be confident running alongside NYC traffic.

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1645

Great run that :+1:, not sure hanging on for 15 miles was very pleasant though!

1646

great time for a run through a city that :smiley:

1647

Ok, I have a bit of a problem for SDW100. I forgot to book a return shuttle and now it’s sold out.

The train looks like a 3.5hr 2 stop nightmare that doesn’t leave Eastbourne until 2.00pm. Could be time to butter up my sister to crew me!

1648

I would come across a lot of farm dogs in Bavaria, generally big german breeds. If they weren’t chained up, I’d just do a u turn. They would stand across the track doing their ‘job’ and shorts & t-shirt is not adequate protection! I knew the tracks/farms to avoid on my runs.

There is a section on dogs in the JSP 911. One piece of advice roughly went like this:

"Grab a thick stick and try to place it under the dog’s collar and twist. Let us know how you get on.". Unusual to see humour in a JSP.

1649

The return journey is usually a pain in the ass for me

Train to London.

Tube across London (the steps are always a nightmare after 100 miles and 4000m of up and down)

Train to Manchester

Son has agreed to pace me though from half way so she is going to meet me in Eastbourne this time round :grinning:

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1650

yep, i was bitten by a free roaming farm dog in Italy…stitches and antibiotics. not the way to start a training camp…

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1651

I suppose the other option is to drive to the finish on the Friday morning, park up, catch the train back. Quite a bit of hassle for the day before a 100 miler!

1652

Not sure I would want to be doing any driving after a 100

1653

Yeah that’s the thing also. I might book into a premier Inn and just catch the train back on Monday.

1654

Yeh even though Mrs T is meeting us we are also staying over so we can get some shut eye afterwards

1655

I think that might be a good plan as I was thinking, even if my sister was to be my crew, she’ll be just as knackered as me early Sunday morning or late morning or 3secs before midday. :smile:

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1656

Echo @tunster there @FatPom

When I did the Arc i did my ankle in not long after half way. Had a cankle like a fucking watermelon. Luckily my mate was crewing so drove me back from Cornwall. I was a state physically and mentally.

Only thing was I had to drive the 10 miles back from his house in Exeter to mine. I pretty much put it in 3rd and drove back, at night, without changing gear with all teh windows wide open ! :see_no_evil: It was not one of my best ideas!!

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1657

Cheers mate, yeah I think staying over will be good. Mrs FP just isn’t confident driving to places she doesn’t know, esp over that distance.

I have this funny feeling after an event though, in that once it’s done.I just want to get the hell home. Can’t really explain why, I’ve always been a bit like that.

1658

My main issue with driving after a 100 miler is the sleep deprivation, I just don’t think I’d trust myself to drive any significant distance without a good kip first.

1659

I drove home after Race to the stones.
After finishing I tried to sleep in the car, but was feeling awake…
I then stopped for a nap in every service station on the way home.
And got really bad cramp in my left calf in traffic!

1660

Nick Butter set off today to run the coast of Britain as 52 miles a day for 100 days. Started from the Eden Project going anti clockwise.
Aiming slow and steady (14hrs a day).
Guy has previous as first to run a marathon in every country.
Hopefully might be some action for the vanlife thread too as he goes.

7 Likes
1661

Friday/Saturday I competed in the the NZ Bigs Backyard relaps. What an absolute headf*ck. Basically 4 miles, on the hour, every hour until last man standing…

The course was tough with 3 progressively harder single track climbs, first was really stoney, second, steep, third v steep and really slippery. It then got onto firetrail ups and downs which was a lot easier. So it was survive the first 3k, then roll then next 3.7, always walking the hills.

The target was 50-52 mins per lap.
Started at midday, which meant you were already up for a few hours to get there/pitch tent/register etc…

We had 6 hours in daylight and the into the night. At night the rain came on and off. Which made that third hill barely possible to get up.
During daylight, I found I had enough time to walk the last 500m through all the tents and still come in around the 51 minute mark. At night I knew I would be slower, which is cool as I could jog the 500m in tight.
But all was good until I swapped headtorches and I found that there was a loose connection that only came on when running which meant it flashed on the downhills which is where I needed to make up time. This started messing with my head. Was coming in 51-54 minutes now. Though still all good, then on the final night lap, my good headtorch ran out of battery enough that I could only use it on the low setting, which was not helpful. I got in in 56 minutes and by this point I had decided that I did not want to go really deep and let the start go and I was out.

That felt fine Saturday and Sunday, but now I am really kicking myself as I was feeling pretty good.
But it is SO SO easy to drop, you just stay sat down and you are out. Any normal race where you have a bad patch, you keep walking, it passes and then you start running again. Anyway…
I did 18 hours/120k. So not bad, came top 20.
Winner did 38 laps/250ish k I think. I don’t think I could have done that, the second night would have been mentally very hard, but I like to think I could got through the day time hours.

Anyway, again, what a mind f*ck. I was definitely not doing it again (I dont usually say this), but now I want redemption. Just need to remember how I feel now then.

17 Likes
4 x 4 x 48 challenge 2021
1662

Great effort mate. That does sound very tough. I have Endure 24 on July 23/24 which is continuous for 24hrs. Not the head games that you had to deal with what you said about being easy to drop out, that s on my mind.

I’m surprised a back up headtorch wasn’t mandatory kit?

1663

Good effort - very frustrating reason to drop - the sort of thing that would be messing with my head for months