Thames Trot 6/02/10
(near Goring – path shown here typical, sunshine not!)We do this for fun, this running thing. Because we enjoy it. Not because we need to prove we are still as fit as we used to be. Or to let us eat more. Not because we want to beat the next guy. And definitely not to win. But we seek out the experience because it gives us pleasure?
The Thames Trot runs from a pub in Oxford – surprisingly open, but only for coffee, at 8 am on a February Saturday morning – to a bandstand in Henley (just a thought, but wouldn’t finishing at a pub be better?) along the Thames path. 50 miles, largely of rather muddy path, in the cold – and most of it largely alone – so its worth being clear that you’re doing this for fun. At least following a large river means it is all gently downhill and you can’t get lost….
OK, I went off the route four times. So here are Richard’s tips for navigating in ultras:
1. Don’t trust directions helpfully offered by the public (leading to a diversion via the centre of Abingdon)
2. Don’t follow signs labelled “the Thames Path” which may have been swung around by the local youth (leading to a diversion through Shillingford)
3. Don’t follow the three runners in front who turn off the path simply to avoid passing “danger – private land – pass this and we will shoot you” signs (a visit to the A Roads of Streatley)
4. Don’t be too busy eating cake when you leave the checkpoint to look at the map (leading to seeing more of Mapledurham than expected)
5. DO LOOK AT THE MAP!
(
Ran through this in Abingdon)
I used to wonder why Graham’s reports of ultras were more general rants than descriptions of the race. And I wonder why we seek out experiences when you spend a lot of the time trying to avoid focussing on what you are doing/how you are feeling and just keep on going with as little conscious thought as possible. A lot of it fits that irritating American expression – “too much to process”. But briefly…The first hour went well, and I avoid getting suckered into racing. First half marathon took about 1:50. But I was already feeling tight, and for long periods in the third hour I felt pretty miserable and that things weren’t going well. The marathon came up in just under 4 hours, which was fine, so no idea why I’m feeling bad. After that there was some walking whilst I felt very depressed. Curiously getting lost the third time cheered me up a lot, since I was the only one of the four of us who could read the map and get us back to the lunch checkpoint – which the four of us entered coming from the wrong way. I expect the miles between 30-40 to be the hardest – but after lunch things go OK, and I cheer up more. I’m on a run/walk strategy here – run a mile, then walk until you are confident you can manage a whole other mile. From 40 onwards the end is in sight, and there is the pressure of it getting dark. For these last 10 miles, I occasionally see one other runner way ahead, and another runner catches me about mile 47, from where we jog in together, but otherwise I’m alone. I have no idea where I am in the field, it doesn’t feel at all like a race, and the end rather catches me by surprise.
(two miles from finish)I finish inside the magic “8 hrs 20” – magic since it is 10 minute mile pace for a 50 miler – which I guess means my walk/run plan knocks out 5 miles an hour for the last three or four hours. You really don’t need to be able to run very fast to run ultras (I am 31st out of the 120 finishers). Ultras are all in the head. I think I’ve got this one done by convincing myself it is just part of the training for events later in the year – otherwise I’m surprised by my lack of competitive feeling: though in most ultras there is more of a sense of “all the runners together against the course”, at least away from the front of the race.
Other things folk might be interested in. In terms of training, I’ve done two 60 mile and a fifty mile week since Christmas, but my longest training run was 24 miles. In terms of eating, during the run I had: 2 bars of tablet, a nakd fruit bar, two hobnob flapjacks, a ham sandwich, a packet of chocolate raisins and four (small) pieces of fruitcake: so at least the rucksack got lighter as the day went on, even if I didn’t!
Report Richard Dennis
Results here.
