The photos show:
Race breifing, start tunnel, a view into Wales, the Airstrip, the "bridge" where I sprained my ankle (mistook the foliage top right of the sleeper for solid ground) and a view over Bristol.
I think this counts as a long post!
OK. It all started with a conversation at Pomphrey Hill Parkrun when someone wearing the t-shirt said that it was “easier than a marathon”. This planted the idea in my head. I think he meant that it’s easier because his aim was just to finish as opposed to a more targeted approach in a marathon. Thinking about it now, I don’t think this really applies to me because I tend to go at an easy pace, even when I’m running in an event. So, come January 2021, although it was a big challenge, I figured I could do it. Think it helped that been running a weekly HM for a few months by then.
For most of January, I didn’t really change my routine. That was principally because I reckoned that, if I fell on ice and broke something, that would be my attempt over before it had begun. Over the next few months I ramped up my long run on alternate weeks reaching marathon distance in early May. I then cobbled together a training plan based on a few online plans (thanks for the pointers folks) and fitting in with my routine. My plan included a cut-back week every other week and running two days in succession (known as back-to back running and a way of training for longer distances without doing anything excessive in a single day).
Shortly after I’d embarked on my plan, I had a fall (due to an overgrown hedgerow blocking off most of the pavement). Initially, I thought the only injury was a bruised arm. Well, I happily went out the following day and ran 11k without any problems. However, a few days later, I started having chest pains. I checked this out with my GP as possible signs of heart problems. Unfortunately, I didn’t link it to the fall because the superficial injuries from that were clearing up nicely and I’d forgotten about it. Later, I developed a chest pain in another location, had it checked out again and was advised to see a physiotherapist. Within a few minutes, the physio had identified the problem; they have a great skill at prodding exactly where it hurts! Basically, I’d damaged cartilage in my spine which was trapping nerves and causing the pains I felt in my chest. Overall, I reckon that incident cost me 6 weeks of training eating up all the contingency that I’d built into my plan.
Then, with 6 weeks to go to the GMU, I sprained my ankle on a training run. That cost me another three and a half weeks of training. I should have done something to maintain CV fitness but I didn’t.
So, coming up to the big day, I was unsure about whether or not I should go ahead. I decided that, since it was too late to defer, I’d give it a go and see how it went. I built up distance as far as seemed reasonable then spent the last week tapering.
Due to a failure in family communication, my daughter had a party in the house the night before the event which went on till 2am. I managed to sleep through most of it but it wasn’t ideal. I arrived for registration at 06:10 and was the first entrant to register. Maybe I should have had some more sleep but at least I had plenty of time to go to the loo and generally sort myself out. I did some dynamic stretching and walking around as the time approached. With 10 second to go, I remembered to put my watch into run mode. Thankfully, it achieved a satellite lock quickly and was ready for the 08:00 start. So, finally, the actual race:
The course starts with a climb from Ashton Court School up to the East gate of the estate. We’d been asked to follow the 11 hour Time Lord (pacer) until we left the estate. Although a lot of it was walking, the pace was faster than I’d intended (there were some very fast walkers) but I kept up. There’s then a drop down to the Clifton Suspension Bridge during which I’d positioned myself just in front of the 12 hour Time Lord (dressed as Matt Smith).
I arrived at CP1 with plenty of time to spare, collected some malt loaf and headed on my way. I’d planned to use Jeffing from the start but, most of the time on this early section, it was a case of run the downhills and walk the uphills.
I’d realised that an average pace of 10min/k was needed to make the cut off so I’d planned to use the average pace on my watch as a progress indicator. Knew it wouldn’t be perfect because Dundry Hill, at the end of the course, would slow me down but an average pace of around 8min/k for most of the course seemed about right. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten to disable auto pause so every slight delay made it less and less accurate. Not that I stopped for long but short delays, such as those for getting over styles plus a few minutes at each checkpoint mounted up. At the end, my watch showed an average pace of 10:02 but the correct figure was 11:22. That’s not why I failed to make the time, but it didn’t help.
A colleague, Rich, who’s been a runner for years said he’d try and meet me in Bradley Stoke. I’d set up Google Maps location sharing so that he’d know where I was and he came running up at the start of the Nature Reserve. It was great to have the support and someone to chat to for a while. He ran with me for about 4k, peeling off when I’d reached 25k. I carried on to CP2, arriving at about 11:50 which was noticeably slower than my reccy time. I’d noted down that the cut off time was 11:55 but found out that it was actually 12:30. I haven’t, yet, found out why there was such a discrepancy.
The area around CP2 is the most familiar part of the route because it’s close to where I live. I seemed to be making reasonable time around here. Another colleague, Russ, who’s done the course himself, arranged to meet me at around 41k in Warmley. Again, it was great to have such support. Apparently, I mentioned to Russ at this point that I was feeling fairly tired. Anyhow, I continued to CP3 in Keynsham, arriving at about 15:12. I’d noted down the cut off as 15:15 but, again, this was different to the time they were using (said I had about 20 minutes leeway, I think).
In the fields past Keynsham in the afternoon sun, my pace began to dwindle. To put it another way, my run / walk ratio dropped below what was needed. This stretch to CP4 also has some significant climbs. As I was crossing the grass air strip in Norton Marlreward, about 0.5k before CP4, I was starting to think that I might complete the course within the 12 hour limit. However, I received a phone call from the people at the checkpoint telling me that I’d failed to meet the cut off. Seems their limit was 17:30 but I didn’t arrive until 17:40. I’d noted down the cut off time as 18:00 so I thought I’d be OK but, to be honest, my pace had dropped so much by then that there was no way I was going to complete the route within the 12 hours. The people at the checkpoint were very supportive (as they were at all the checkpoints). They offered me a lift back and also said that I could continue on but that I’d be unsupported. I had a rest on a chair for 15 minutes or so whilst I decided what to do. Having failed to meet the cut off, I wasn’t going to get a finisher’s time but by continuing, I would, at least, have the satisfaction of having completed the distance. Whilst I was there, another competitor arrived. Seems he was unable to run because of blisters but he decided to carry on. Spurred on, partially by his decision, I decided to continue. With hind sight, I’m really pleased that I decided to.
This last section includes the highest point, Dundry Hill at 220m, a climb of about 155m. Strangely, I don’t remember much of this climb. Some parts of the climb include quiet country roads which seemed to go OK. There’s also the bridge across a ditch where I sprained my ankle on the reccy. It has some spectacular views over Bristol. My progress over the hill was uneventful but slow. Somewhere on the decent, or shortly afterwards, are the muddiest parts of the course. I struggled at times when my foot sank into the mud, to lift my foot up without leaving a shoe behind. How do people deal with mud like this?
By now, it was starting to get dark so I dug out my chest torch (part of the mandatory kit list). I was pleased that I’d had the forethought to do that whilst there was still enough light to find it in my rucksack.
The final decent back to Ashton Court is on a gravel path; something that I found moderately difficult. The RunGo audio directions which I’d heavily edited said that I was coming up to a tarmacked estate road but I’d cruelly deceived myself because there was a lot more gravel path until I finally reached tarmac. Trying to locate the opening in the school fence was difficult in the dark. I ended up taking the phone out of my rucksack and following the GPS trace from the morning. Using this method, I located the gate but it was locked and there were no lights visible. I suppose that’s what comes of arriving back 1hour 40mins after the cut off.
Wasn’t too happy at this point but I decided to try and find my way around to the front entrance. Made that OK but it too was locked. I decided to try and order an Uber but I’d used Uber Eats earlier in the year (buying food for my daughter’s birthday) and hadn’t noted down the account details properly. Then looked up bus routes and headed off to the stop. Thankfully, I was able to use my phone to pay for that. The fingerprint reader wasn’t working, probably because I was a bit sweaty and had the remains of sticky malt loaf on my finger. I could use the PIN OK but, by then, this made me feel disconnected. I arrived home sometime after 11.
Lessons learnt
Turn off auto pause!
Don’t book too early (unless it’s an event that’s likely to sell out).
Need to work on nutrition. This is something that I was working on during my training but I don’t think it’s good enough yet.
My watch will operate GPS for more than the specified 13 hours.
I used to think that the risk of injury from long training runs was from internal strain issues such as muscle and joint damage. I now think that it’s more to do with external factors such as falls.
Finally, because I circumnavigated the Bristol Community Forest Path on foot within 24 hours, I now have an entry in the Book of Woodwose.
