Long weekend

Saturday - Black Mountain Big Dipper

30 miles,1820m of ascent

I love the black mountains, less than 90 minutes from home, plenty of variety and over 800m, not too busy, and the quite brilliant castle Inn for great hospitality, camping, steaks and ale.

After dusting off the cobwebs it was clearly going to be a glorious day, and I made Llanthony my aim. I had to get over three ridges to get there, but If I want to survive the Cotswold way century then I need to get used to hills. As I came up towards the main Waun Fach path it was jacket on time, despite the clear blue sky and warm sun the wind was really strong. Got a really fluid pace going on the gentle 4 mile down hill, then started the second ascent. On top of the second ridge the supposed footpath through the forest had lost out to the trees, so decided to zig zag gently long the forest roads. I hit a real sweet spot here, clocking sub 8 minute miles and felt like I could go all day. Needed some lunch though and the pub at Llanthony beckoned  so dropped through the trees to the road and then started the third climb of the day.

Looking back towards Pengenfford

AT 17 miles I arrived at the campsite in Llanthony where they also have a bacon & burger van. I couldn't get past the smell so had a great locally sourced beef burger :) Then onto the pub in the  Priory where last nights beer was asking to be neutralised with a lasagne. I took the next 7 miles  at a brisk walk to digest and save the legs a bit until back up high, it was 5pm now, a great time to be on the hill I had it to myself. A gentle run back to the pub finished off a great day in the hills.

mid wales in the sunshine

Back to Waun Fach on the final descent

What a great route back down to cold beer

Sunday - Welsh Castles Relay

Leg 18, Merthyr - Abercynon, 9.05 miles, 59:08, 15th Place

Now, the other reason I was in wales was to join Stroud AC on day two of the Welsh Castles Relay. I've never raced anything quite like this, 20 legs, mainly on minor roads, down the length of wales. With each leg starting at a set time, it's not a true baton passing relay, but the teams time is added up. We had a mixture of runners and were there for fun more than to compete at the sharp end of the field, with teams from all over the country the standard was really high.

1) 1m - 6:24
2) 1m - 6:35
3) 1m - 6:29
4) 1m - 6:54
5) 1m - 7:01
6) 1m - 6:59
7) 1m - 6:10*
8) 1m - 6:02 
9) 1m - 6:18
10) 0.05m - 16

*Can you spot the point where my club mates on Bikes joined the route and started shouting at me?!

It's amazing what you can do when you think you can't give anymore but someone else thinks you can....I was felling the heat and had settled into a fairly comfortable pace, but Darren Jewell was telling me If I ran as hard as we do in training I could catch some people "they're knackered up there mate, you can get them"...."i've got them....." - I think I picked up 4 or 5 places in the last three miles. I don't intend to race comfortably for half marathon or shorter again after that!  

Had great fun following the race and supporting, it's great running as a part of a team especially when it's people you've trained with through rain and snow all winter. Stroud finished 27th of 61.

Monday - Westonbirt 10k

38:49, 30th of 712, 4th Stroud runner

With tired legs, I wasn't expecting a pb (37:54), but thought I'd see if 6 minute miles were possible  Of course they weren't, especially on an undulating course. I started off with Jason & Dan from Stroud who I run with regularly, but couldn't stay with their fresh legs after the first mile. Dan went on to run his first every sub 40:00 10K, in 37:56!!! an amazing improvement. 

I was hurting but going for it and passed a fading Jason at 5 miles. Was really pleased to finish within a minute of my spring best. there's close to a 37 minute 10K in me on the right day at the moment I think.

Split Summary
===
1) 1m - 6:01 169/177bpm 
2) 1m - 6:27 177/180bpm l
3) 1m - 6:09 174/177bpm 
4) 1m - 6:26 175/178bpm l
5) 1m - 6:29 176/180bpm 
6) 1m - 6:22 173/178bpm 
7) 0.11m - 40 180/181bpm 

Near the start with Dan Brook 

Cardiff Ultra

Next up was the Cardiff Ultra, a 50 mile route along the Taff Trail from Brecon to Cardiff. Just 4 weeks after the Fling, I wasn't sure quite how this would go, but felt good.

Time at each 10 mile mark and (average pace in brackets)

10 miles 1:37 (9:40)

20 miles 3:16 (9:48)

30 miles 5:18 (10:36)

40 miles 7:14 (10:50)

50.2 miles 8:54:49 (10:39)

Felt really good throughout, helped to share the first half with Jamie Blair, in not only his first ultra but his first Marathon too! Amazing effort from him to finish the thing, though I wonder if I've put him off Ultras?!

It was a really hot day, and we we're trying to stay in the shadows before 9am, but by the middle of the day it was baking hot. After a few miles walking (and eating) with Jamie to see if we could carry on together, I was went on my way at mile 33, and picked the pace up, running all the way to the finish. I felt really good, picked up about 20 places as people faded in the heat. I was able to throw in a couple of 8 minute miles at the end to bring it inside 9 hours :)

8:54:49 51st of 140 - OK, now I'm an ultra runner, I actually ran this one. The fact is was mainly tarmac and gravel paths made a big difference, as that's still where the majority of my training has been. But getting offroad and on hills every chance I can get now. I was really pleased with the recovery after the race too my legs were'nt to bad at all and I was back to normal training 4 days later.

Beyond The Marathon

So better late than never I've found some time to catch up on events Since the Blackpool Marathon in April. Having achieved the time I was after to qualify from London Marathon 2013 my focus for the rest of 2013 is Ultra Marathons, and running more miles.

I'd run one 40 mile ultra marathon before in November 2011, it was flat and on good paths, and whilst I had a hard time from mile 25 onward was keen to try again and try to master a new discipline. First up was the Highland Fling a 53 mile race along the route of the the West Highland Way from Milngavine to Tyndrum. The WHW continues as far as Fort William, 93 miles in total, and the fling was originally started as a training event for those running the full thing! 

I lived in Milngavie when I was young, and my uncle and family are still there, so it was great to base myself from their house whilst others scrambled for hotel rooms. After a good feed I sealed up my drop bags and tried to get some sleep

A 6am start saw a great atmosphere as around 500 runner leave Milngavine, The first section was nice and flat and it felt very easy getting to Drymen in 1:45. From here the route headed up conic hill, a mere pimple compared to the highlands, but a tough enough climb as the day warmed up. I found I was in the company of some lakeland 100 miler veterans and questioned if I should be going this quick, but felt good. A speedy runner dropped his gloves, so I went a bit quicker than planned and caught him on the descent to give them back before realising I'd hammered my legs a lot more than I should have done at this stage. After refueling at the first checkpoint in Balmaha it was a long trip up the east edge of Loch Lomond. I decided to throw in a walk for a mile here to let my system recover a bit, and lost several places to sensible paced types!

The legs were complaining along the loch side, and more walk sections (and hands on the rock clambering) were needed. By 40 miles it hurt lots to run, and hurt lots but in different places to walk. I was finishing this thing, but not in the fashion I'd hoped for! I'll be back to Fling again a really well but together event, with great atmosphere. It might be a bit close after the London Marathon form me in 2014, but to be continued!

I finished middle of the pack, 254 out of 416 that made it to the finish inside the 15 hour cut off. The beer I was handed at the finish line is the best I've ever tasted :)

Split times:

12.6 miles Drymen 1:45:58

27.2 miles Rowardennan 04:51:38

40.9 miles Beinglas Farm 08:46:37

53 miles Tyndrum  12:18:06

With the marathon as a focus this Spring, I hadn't run enough hilly offroad miles to be fully prepared for the fling, so lesson learnt! 2 days resting up and I got on with the week in the highlands. I finished off the West Highland way in 2 days, walking and dropped straight into the leisure centre at Fort William for a sauna and swim as a reward. The Full WHW race is definitely something I want to be able to complete one day. More training needed! 

I also had a bit more time and energy to snap some photos.