12 Marathons – 12 Months

Cheltenham Circular Challenge

Well they call this the “prettiest marathon in Great Britain” and I would certainly agree with that statement because this was definitely a change from the tarmac torture I’ve endured over the last five races. However, to call this a race would be a a bit of a misnomer because you start on your own!! Basically this is a 4-stage trek around the outskirts of Cheltenham, starting and finishing at the racecourse. On arrival you register at the HQ and then when you are ready you get your timecard stamped and off you go. At each of the checkpoints your card is stamped and you get the option to return to the start on the minibus, allowing you to do as many of the sections as you feel able. The whole route is 26.2 miles however which is why it qualifies as an official “marathon” but don’t expect a PB when doing this one! I decided at the start that I would take my Garmin time over the clock time and would stop the watch at each checkpoint for a short break, which proved to be a good strategy in the end as I spent quite a while at one checkpoint with a bad case of the runs (yes ok – too much information). So, while my watch time came in at 4:57:28 as actual time spent on the move I would image the course clock time would be closer to 5:20 or so.

Off into the hills!

Anyway onto the course itself, the first stage starts out on single track roads and you start heading towards what is quite a significant climb up onto the panorama overlooking Cheltenham. It was only after a mile or so that the first waypoint took me off-road and into a field, which wasn’t too bad to start with as the ground was quite even but as the hills approached the gradient really started to take it’s toll and I was soon down to a stride as I was literally climbing up a steep grassy bank. I decided that the best approach to this race was going to be walk up – run down (wherever possible) and only run on surfaces where I wasn’t going to risk going over on an ankle and – and there were certainly plenty of those!! As well as the tracks and open fields there were a lot of  passages through hedgerows and small bridges over streams to negotiate as well as countless stiles and kissing gates – and this was just the first section… The  first checkpoint was a welcome sight, not just for the water but also to reassure me that I was following the map ok. This was not repeated on stage two when I managed to get very lost having missed one of the small waypoint markers on a fencepost and ended up in a small village street that I couldn’t find on the little hand-drawn map I was given. A local passer-by couldn’t really make out where I should be going and just suggested I ran down the main road until a got to a road sign which I duly did and managed to get back on a heading to a village that was on the map. By this point I was worried that I’d completely messed up the route but when I eventually got to checkpoint two, the official half-way stage, my Garmin clocked me in at just over 13.1 miles so despite missing out on some of the scenery I was still ok as far as distance was concerned and decided that was good enough.

Yes, that really is the path!!

After a water refill in my new Camelback belt (really good!) and an energy bar I was off again and this time paying more attention to the map. Section three was called “Fields” and they really were not joking as most of the route was across completely open terrain with only the faintest hint of where the actual path was but thankfully there were plenty of walkers on the route taking time to read their OS maps and GPS’s so I found them to be a reliable indicator of the route. At checkpoint three there was the offer of free squash and biscuits and a request to sign a petition to stop developing on greenbelt land, which was a small price to pay for a couple of fig rolls, and then off onto the last section known as “Villages”. As the name suggested this had far more of the solid surfaces I was used to and I was able to actually run a decent pace for the final few miles but this soon dropped back into the cross-country terrain as I hit mile 23. By this time, negotiating a stile with tired, stiff legs was becoming quite a strenuous exercise and having banged my knee in the same place on about 10 or more of them by now I was starting to hate every one but soon the racecourse came into view and that last mile magic kicked in as I jumped the last stile and ran down the road to the HQ to be stamped out after more than five hours of being attacked by nettles, thorns and just about anything else that the British countryside could throw at me.

Still, this was without doubt one of the most enjoyable races so far and the overall event organisation was superb with plenty of water available, a friendly family atmosphere and some spectacular views. I fully intend to come back next year and do this one as a walk so that I can better appreciate it. Full marks to Cleveden Vale Rotary Club for a great event.

See the races page for a link to the route I took and the gallery contains a few more pictures.

Almost Half Way

Well another week gone and only a week to go until the Cheltenham Circular Challenge which will be marathon number six, marking the half way point in my challenge. It will certainly be a good feeling once that one is out of the way! This week has seen me finally getting back on form after what has been around a month of coping with a knee problem. I’m glad to say that it has now completely cleared up and I’m getting no problems now whatsoever so that has been a real confidence boost and has allowed me to start getting some decent speedwork back into my training.

My pace is slowly creeping back up to what it was too. Thursday night’s speedwork was hitting the kind of split times I was getting back at the start of the year and hopefully this is a sign that I will be able to start coming in with sub-4:00 times again. However, I doubt that will be the case this month since it’s a multi-terrain trail run and the course record to date is 3:33:10!!

Today’s run was a pleasant 10 miler in the sun and I maintained an average 8:30 pace all the way round so hopefully I can keep improving on that over the next six months. Not a lot else to report this week really as it’s just been a case of business as usual apart from the fact that my wife has finally got the running bug now and is training for her first 10K in July. It’s a race I’ve always done every year but I’m going to drop out this time around so that I can cheer her on – that and the fact that I have another race that week too so best not to overdo it…

Hydration is Important!

Well it was quite an interesting weekend in terms of training as I learned a valuable lesson in maintaining hydration on Saturday. Having had a busy morning I didn’t manage to get out on the road until about 3pm, by which time it was pretty warm and it hadn’t occurred to me that I’d not drunk anything since a couple of coffees early that morning. I should have realised the mild headache I had when I went out was dehydration but off I went on a planned 14 mile run. I realised things were going wrong after about 2.5 miles when, despite the heat, I hadn’t so much as broken a sweat and my legs were getting heavier and heavier to the point at which I ground to a halt with a feeling of zero energy. I was wearing my hydration pack fortunately and had added ice to it to keep the water cool but I simply could not get fluid into myself fast enough to get myself back on-line. I carried on with a jog-walk-jog but had already decided to abort the session and arrived back home after 5 miles in total – still without breaking a sweat! It was at least an hour later and after 2 or 3 pints of water that I started to feel normal again so that was a good lesson learned.

The following day, having taken on board the warnings from Saturday, I went out fully-hydrated and easily clocked up 13.1 miles. The first 4 miles I spent coaching my wife along who is now training for her first 10k so it made a nice slow start for me (don’t tell her I said that) before I headed off for the remaining 9 miles at my usual average marathon pace.  You can see Sunday’s route here.

I only have 2 weeks now until Cheltenham so will probably do another 13-14 miles next weekend with the obligatory speedwork in between but as this next race is a trail run I’m really not sure what to expect – one thing I know for sure though is that it will be a slow one as I think the course record is nearly 4 hours!!

Training Continues

Well it’s over a week now since Edinburgh and I’ve settled back into the usual routine. My recovery run last Wednesday was quite hard as the knee was complaining a bit but loosened up after a mile or so. Saturday was my first post-marathon long run and I ran a sedate 10 miles without any trouble so that was a good confidence boost. This week has come on leaps and bounds. My usual post-weekend short run on Monday turned into just under 4 miles of speedwork, helped mainly by the fact that I’m suffering no discomfort whatsoever in my knee so it looks like the physio has really done the trick. I will definitely be keeping up those glute and VMO exercises going forward  the anterior knee pain has gone!

Anyway, planning to hit the speedwork again on Weds with some quality intervals and then aim for a 16 miler at the weekend as Cheltenham is only 4 weeks away. I’ve been looking at the route and whilst it’s probably going to be one of the most scenic races I will do this year it’s certainly not going to be one of the fastest! However, the rest of the family are going to walk the first two stages so I should hopefully get to the finish about the same time they do. Not sure if they kids realise they’re doing a 13 mile walk yet but glad I’m going to be running ahead!