Great Barrow Challenge Day 4 2011

Day 4

On Day 3 at about 19m, my hip niggle came back, but once off road it seemed to disappear, but I was slightly anxious that it might make Day 4 very hard.

Day 4 initially appeared to have lots of road, but as it turned out not quite as much as I had expected . We started on quiet roads which undulated quite a bit. My general approach on all four days has been to walk anything going upwards and the runners surrounding me were doing the same. On the map it looked like there were two long straights which I was not looking forward to. The first was into Newmarket where we were told to give way to race horses and the second as we came out of the centre of Newmarket. We were also told that that bit rose gently upwards for almost 5 miles. My heart sank a little at this...

So once we had completed the undulating section, we got to the first straight, which wasn't too bad, but it did start to climb. Easily runnable but a bit draining and I found it a bit tough. However, it then veered off into woods close to the road and that was far more fun. Got through halfway and just before I got there I was overtaken by three faster runners who had started later. They slowed down for a chat, before heading onwards. There was an excellent atmosphere amongst everybody, the walkers were friendly as we overtook them (they usually started an hour ahead of us). I got through Newmarket and then started the long drag out and luckily the road wasn't straight, which I found easier. I ran most of it but also walked sections. Finally made it to the the third and final checkpoint before the next bit of off road. We were back in undulating country here, but it was good to be running through woods again.

Back to the road we had come out on and up the last two hills. I checked my watch and realised I had a good chance of my first sub-5 if I kept going. I got home in 4hr 56 which I was very happy with.

Would I do more than 4 in 4 days ? I don't think so. On the fourth day of the Quadzilla in February (which I couldn't do because of my Dad's birthday), I was buzzing and ready to run a fourth marathon. On Day 5 here, I certainly wasn't buzzing to get out there and do another marathon.

It is a good feeling to have done 4 in 4 and though I have one or two sore bits, I seem to have come through it in much better shape than I have been when I have completed some single marathons.

https://picasaweb.google.com/105792896882008304219/GreatBarrowChallenge2011

Great Barrow Challenge Day 3 2011

Day 3

After the first day I felt sore and stiff and I wondered if I would recover in time for Day 2. I did recover and Day 2 went reasonably well. After Day 2, I felt very good indeed and I thought that Day 3 would not be too hard.

It was hard. There was much more road than the previous two days, even more than I had expected, as a change to the route meant even less offroad. The route was mainly on quiet country roads, which rolled a bit, but nothing too serious. There were only one of two straight sections, which was a relief. As the day went on, it got hotter. Before we got back into Barrow we had a three mile offroad section. I liked that and moved much better. We also ran through a deer farm which was something I had not seen before.

I finished in 5hr15 so 5 minutes slower than Day 2, but I wasn't too concerned, I was just happy to have finished !

Great Barrow Challenge Day 2 2011

Day 2

Last night my legs very stiff and sore after Day 1, but I woke on Day 2 feeling not too bad. Today's route was to the east towards Bury St Edmunds and it had much more twists and turns than Day 1. The organisers had gone to town with flags and markers to make sure we didn't go wrong.

There were more rolling hills today and the sun was out, so I was a bit slower 5hr10min, but I enjoyed the countryside much more. We ran through Ickworth Park which was the grounds of an old country house. It was a lovely place to run, if you are ever near Bury St Edmunds, its is well worth a visit. We then crossed a few fields and entered Nowton Park, more like a city park, but large parts were just left to grow wild. Then it was some road and trail sections before we got back to Ickworth Park again.

The only part of the route I didn't like was a section about 22m where we ran along a section of road which had lots of trucks. We then had the same finish as yesterday with those two hills in the last two miles....

I feel much less sore than I did last night, so I am hoping that Day 3 to the south goes well.

Great Barrow Challenge Day 1 2011

The Great Barrow Challenge is a four day event and there is a choice of disciplines: walking, running or cycling. Each discipline has a choice of distances, although most people seem to be doing the maximum distance. You can change disciplines within the Challenge so there are some people who are running on Day 1, cycling Day 2, running Day 3 and cycling on Day 4. However, most people are sticking to one discipline. I did three marathons in three days in February so I thought I might push it a little and go for four marathons in four days.

Day 1

I arrived at Race HQ before 7.00 and in time to see some friends off on their 125mile bike ride. It was a small field although some riders set off later, the start times for all events are any time within a two hour window.

I faffed around and went to the run briefing at 7.45. We were warned about the sand at the top of the course and the tank tracks for about 6m from mile 16m. The tank tracks were said to be ankle twisting territory, so I thought I might walk most of that section. We set off soon after 8.00 and I took it very easy. We crossed a fairly busy railway line going over the rails and headed north. It was cloudy with no wind, so perfect running weather. It was almost perfectly flat, just a few very slight rolling hills and descents. There were a couple of slightly bigger hills in the last two miles, but my strategy was just to walk anything that looked like it was going upwards. Preservation is the key.

The course was very well marked. I hardly looked at the written instructions and I didn't look at the supplied map at all. I had downloaded the route to my Garmin and I used that the most. We went through a field of pigs. I did get slightly anxious after my recent experience, when I was chased across a field by some pigs (the fastest 200metres I have done for quite a while !) but after a few seconds I realised these pigs were contained by a low electric fence.

The route up to the top of the course was like running on a heath, not too hard. The sand at the top of the course was fine and not bad at all. At 16m I expected to find it much harder, but the tank tracks weren't too bad at all. Just a bit up and down and you could often run on the grass alongside. The last 4.5m were all on road and I enjoyed these much less. I came home in 5hr 4min. The only damage seems to be some chaffage from my rucksack, I was aware that my shirt was riding up early on, but I was unaware it was causing any damage. Bum bag tomorrow I think.

Moray marathon 2011

I am ashamed to say that this was my first time this far north and it was good fun to explore a new area. On the evening before the race I drove some of the marathon route and I must admit my heart sank a little. Long straights, gradual but long climbs. The weather was a bit grey which didn't help. I also realised that it has been a while since I have done a road marathon and it felt a bit of a challenge. The organisers were encouraging runners to finish in under five hours and I wondered whether I might not make that - I might just get tired of running as I had done two weeks ago at the Northumberland Coast marathon.

Race day dawned with much brighter, sunny weather. I met up with some other Fetchies, some new and some I have met before There had not been any signs out on the previous evening and the start/finish area was only sorted on the morning, so I thinking that this was a laid back event. The organisers knew exactly what they were doing (it was the 30th running of this event) and everything was ready in time and about 170 of us set off. The half marathon and the 10K used the later sections of the route so that everybody finished at the starting area of the marathon - those runners had buses to get to their starts. The mile markers counted down from 26 which I hadn't seen before.

We did a bit of a zigzag out of Elgin and then there was a steady climb out of the city. As a course I think I would say rolling, though there were some long flat sections. I enjoyed the route much more than I had the previous evening. The sun definitely helped, but it was warm. I don't think I have never seen so many water stations for a relatively small number of runners - every 2-3 miles and I was making full use of them.

I decided just to try and take this very easy. I had a plan to get to 3m in about 35 minutes and then see how it went. Well I got to the 23m sign (3.2m) in 30 minutes and that included the long drag out of Elgin, so not great pacing ! But I did try to slow down and quite a few people went by me. There was a woman about twenty yards ahead of me who was going about the pace I wanted so I just tried to keep to her pace. At 11m she stopped for a walking break so I went on and started to catch some of the people who had passed me earlier. From the splits, I did slow down after 9m, but I wasn't conscious of that at the time.

I thought I might try and speed up when I got to the 10k start (so just over 6m to go), but it didn't feel like there was much in the tank with the heat, so I plodded on, catching and overtaking other runners who were wilting in the heat. I was concerned I might just slow down again near the end and the penultimate mile was a struggle. The final mile was a breeze and I picked up on that one

4hr 37min 27sec was better than I had expected and it was good to come into the final straight in the front of the cathedral and to hear my name being called over the PA system

Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/105792896882008304219/MorayMarathon2011