Hi VRBs… it’s been eight months since I actually posted here. I kept the running ticking over, but it wasn’t really with any goal in mind. I still have many, but I took some time to just run because I wanted to.
I have been very much following my last post, the Garmin has been recording without vibrations and, more importantly without me looking… until recently… now it is time to tick off one of my goals, so I’m looking at the watch a lot as I learn to slow my pace down.
Today will be the 113th consecutive day of running for me. I agreed to run every day in January with a friend, and towards the end of December I was doubting wether I’d do it, so I did the only thing I could think of to shut those doubting voices in my head up… I started early… then we decided to do February, March breezed by and now 2/3 of the way through April a potential last run date is on the horizon. The picture above is the run I will do before I hit the end of another row on the number square and become forty-ten. I may not be up to running the day after! After much deliberation I have decided that running a marathon doesn’t interest me as much as just running long. As I’m not planning an out and back, or a loop, the route map puts the distance I face into perspective as it’s still very visible on a map of North Wales… and that is really exciting for me.
If I can move the day after, I think I may run just a mile!
Happy running.
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UnfitNoMore
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I think I need to treat myself… but the question is Enduro, Fenix 7 solar or the stupidly priced Marq Athlete? I think the latter is lacking in function, but it looks good 🤣
The bit of my run that we both remember from wayback will be very flat… the start is pretty much 8 miles downhill… which just leaves 10 miles of mainly up at the end… why can’t the coast be the highest point? Maybe I need to move to Holland?
Welcome back UNM! Long time no type!Very impressive running, both with your run streak and what you have planned. Is that going to be on the hilly bit or just along the coast road?
Good luck!! We’ll forgive you for continuing with your streak afterwards! 👍🤞🍀
Congratulations to you UnfitNoMore on running for 113 consecutive days, that is an amazing achievement 🏃🏾 👍, enjoy your forty-ten when it comes, onwards and upwards 🏃🏾 👍
I'm guessing it's Holywell to Llansannan via the coast, which is about 30 miles.
The climbing once you go south from Abergele looks quite hard, too.
You're looking at about 6-8 hours of running. Most running watches with new batteries should cope with that. If you're going for Garmin, any of the current Forerunners (if they have a new battery) should cope with that. If on a budget, the 245. If you want to splurge, the 945. The 745 doesn't have as big a battery, but does have an updated (best in class) GPS chip.
If you really want to splurge the new Fenix 7 has the same updated GPS chip.
I'm holding back on replacing my current vivoactive3 as the price of these current models will hopefully drop once the corresponding Forerunner x55 models are launched later this year. My current watch dropped to "low battery" state five minutes before the end of my 15 mile (2.5 hour) run. It probably wouldn't cope with a longer run like yours.
Wow… your guess is 100% on the money. I will run from the Catholic Church full of nuns to the little CoW one in Llansannan. It’s 31.22 miles or 50.24 km. At 14 minute miles it’s 7:17 but my aim is to have that as my moving average and the start to finish will likely be nearer to 15 per mile after some little pit stops.
The last bit is going to hurt a bit, but I’d rather take on the hills towards the end of the run… I’m think by then I’ll be warmed up 🤣
My 245 will handle the duration in full gps mode easily enough… but the idea of a new watch is that this will be just the beginning of insane runs… 50 miles will be the next target, then 100k… so something more built for the task will be good.
Sounds like good 40-10 preparation! When is the date of the run? I hope you have friends to do check points along the way! Also have you got a customised tshirt ready? All these important questions
May 21st is the run and I have a support crew in place. Little miss UNM claims she will cycle it with me, but as the furthest she’s ever ridden is a couple of miles I can see that the support vehicle will be collecting her not long into it, or certainly before it gets to the uphill section!
Ha! I will be support crew for a bob graham attempt the week after. Yeah I think Little Miss UNM might be very much a first part / middle part support crew... re tshirt, i have a small sport shop that can add names for £5, it's really not expensive to get a t customised and they even have some of the basics sports tops. I think "over the hill" would be a good caption...
oh yes that's a good one. Also maybe something like trying to get to the pub before it closed. Maybe just have loads of slogans, will give you some reading!
Thank you for posting and updating us, it’s been ages and I was hoping you were still running, being one of my early inspirations. I’d love to run consecutive days but some days at work take all my energy.
Thanks. It takes a little adjustment to the running, and the backing off of the distance a little. So far I have only had one day when I didn’t want to run… and several where I didn’t have time… so there have been a few one mile dashes, one of which was in complete darkness and in danger of becoming the day after! I didn’t know if it would suit me, but my fitness levels have gone up quite dramatically, and recovery is quicker too.
I did RED January, so know a little of what doing this is like. Thankfully, January's weather was generally favourable, not like those named storms of February. As you say, varying the distance is the key. My rule was that it had to be a minimum of 10 minutes per day.
And I did have a few runs later in the evening than I would have liked.
There is one person who has run every single day for a few years (I forget.. it might be five), and that's our own ju-ju- of Magic Plan fame (who isn't particularly active on this forum these days). Her minimum seems to be one mile per day, usually at 5am.
Yeah, she’s an early bird! We are connected on Garmin, and strava I think. A mile is the standard set by the people in the US who started formalising the streak running records… Ron Hill was the first to break 50 years and now there are two ahead of his 52 years 39 days record and still active… so I won’t be breaking any records 🤣
RED rules required a min of 10 minutes which I wouldn't have done if I had limited myself to a mile. On short runs I tend to be much faster, and my PB for the mile is just over 7.5 minutes.
I'm also connected with Ju-Ju on Strava. I don't tend to connect with folks on Garmin if they're on Strava too.
I did look at the watch you currently have (Forerunner 245) briefly, as it was on offer at £150 at Amazon just before Easter. It's a great watch, but like you I suspect I'm now at the stage I'd appreciate a step up from that.
Yes, the rumour mill is saying that a 255 and a 955 are imminent, with possible solar options for both of them. They're likely to have the latest and greatest GPS chips and optical HR sensors. The 955 is probably going to be a Fenix7-lite feature-wise.
Last year's 945LTE model (not available in UK) was a halfway house between the two, containing many hardware updates.
I did consider the instinct solar too… the only Garmin I’ve seen with no charging needed (in dumb watch mode) if it sees some sun! I’m not sure if this means it would gain charge in between runs… I could ask my Ukrainian buddy who has one, and is somehow managing track and pool sessions in Lviv despite the actions there this last week.
Looks like an interesting challenge UnfitNoMore , particularly if there's a decent bit of elevation. Road or trails? What's your current longest run? And are you doing hills now?
I was just starting my maratrail training this time last year, though I'm a long way from that at the moment.
Almost exclusively road… though I may have a little beach run. Not long though as it’s hard on the calves.
Longest run so far is 15 miles… which I need to up a little before the day, and not in the last week (I can see that being all short jogs)
I don’t avoid the hills any more… and have been doing a steep downhill a lot so to get used to going really slowly and not blowing the quads early on the day.
I have also done the odd double run day to experience running tired a little… so I’d want to do that with two 10 mile runs in a day a couple of weeks before.
The gradient isn’t too bad, but is quite relentless… I will be sticking to my planned run/walk intervals 100% in that stage.
Sounds like a plan! My longest run before the maratrail was 33k and I didn't have any problem managing the distance, even though it turned out to be over long at 46.45k. Tapering is a must too.
As for gradients and elevation, I didn't even attempt run-walk intervals when it got properly steep, I just walked and scrambled as best I could! Enjoy your preparations.
That’s well worth thinking about… I think in the uphill miles the little downhills will really annoy me as I only know the finish elevation and obviously I’m starting from sea level, so each little down means more up!!
That was the thing with the maratrail - the first half was uphill overall, but it went up and down in the process. Flat for the first km, then 440m elevation over 4km, followed by 384m descent over 6km. Then 179m ascent in the next km. And so on. No way can I run that sort of stuff, it'd have been ridiculous even to have tried.
Fwiw my race chip time was 9:05:05, and my Garmin Forerunner 45 held out all the way round, though my mobile gave up the ghost part-way through.
This is all looking really good, if slightly terrifying from my perspective!!! The hilly bits sound great ( says she who is not running them: )Good to see you back here, up and running and you have had a fantastic training session getting towards this big run.
I love the forty ten birthday! Somehow though 60 12 still sounds too much for me!!!
I need to know when you are running that run.. if we are here , we could drive up to cheer you in!!!
I can probably send you the gpx for the route and date today… time of day I’m not too sure yet. Part of me wants to get on with it early, but then my brain says that means running through the hottest part of the day, so I may be deciding when I have the weather forecast!
You’re more than welcome to drive over… but bring running shoes as I won’t be letting you off with that bit!
As a kid I met the great man a few times, he had a shop in my home town. I used to run almost exclusively in kit from there.
I remember you and others starting out in the lockdown… we were very busy! I took just as much inspiration from you guys, and I still do… the posts about W1R1 come into my mind when a run gets tough… to date it is still the hardest run I’ve ever done, though that is about to change I think 🤣
This will be my first ultra, I have another planned, which will (hopefully) involve me and other Manchester United fans running from the Sir Matt Busby statue at Old Trafford to the Hillsborough memorial at Anfield (where he was once the captain). I just need to find some more Mancunian red runners with the right balance of insanity and the ability to put rivalries aside for the day. After that I will have to think up something even more crazy!
Distance is just another number… with the right plan, anything is possible.
That's probably another 31 miler (50km), but probably a lot flatter than the final bit of this planned run in Wales. Has the East Lancs Road (A580) still got a footpath alongside it? Google thinks it does. Walking time about 10½ hours.
Amazing to read about your proposed run, Unm and all in 3 years...the phrase 'born to run' comes to mind. I'm hitting 50/21 tomorrow. Wishing it were just the 40/10! Good 🍀
4 years for me… but it was more rekindling a relationship with a high school sweetheart than meeting someone new with running… I’d really missed it for 30 years!
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December Challenge of 50 Miles Complete But It’s been a Sad and Painful few Days 
Well that’s it for the summer tour. 😞 It’s been a blast 😃
It’s all about the BLING! 🤩🏅
It’s that motley crew again!
Fabulous450 does Fartlet! 😱! It’s not a swear word, but it was close! 😂❤️
