Hadrian's Wall Run Part1

A week ago I stood in a daze having completed the run from Wallsend in Newcastle to Bowness-on-Solway; crossing the line after 16 hours and 21 minutes including more breaks than planned, some walking much food and water and three full kit changes. It’s sinking in more and more that I have achieved my goal and in a reasonable time, though of course slower than I would have liked! Back then, as I finished I could only think that I had done it little else made any impact on me as both mind my body were spent, but what about the build up and the run itself?

Finished

One month to go…

With less than five weeks to go before my Hadrian's Wall run it was time to get focused, but what on? Firstly what route would I take: would I follow the path exactly or closely? How would I sustain myself physically and mentally? What support would I need and all this while getting sponsors! It was obvious that I would need to reccy the whole route so that needed to be fitted in. Research on how the body works to give me the knowledge necessary to judge pace, fluid and fuel intake would be essential. Asking friends and family to support me on route with supplies, encouragement and maybe running was also essential.

The highest point on the wall

Hadrian's Wall Main Reccy

Over the Friday 24th to Sunday 26th July, my Dad and I walked (and in my case some running) from Prudhoe train station up to the Wall path then on to Carlisle. We covered about 55 miles of the wall which lead to the decision that I would run close to but not exactly on the Hadrian's Wall path. 

Poppy fields near Prudhoe

In some places this was due to the high density of stiles (in one place there were 10 in the space of around 300m)  in other places it was more to do with safety than speed - steep steps that would actually mean a shorter route (admittedly with more climb) but dangerous when fatigued - it would have been ironic to need the Great North Air Ambulance on a run that was 50% in aid of them.

My Dad demonstrating one of the gates

My dad showing off his calves on a ladder stile

In the areas of ridiculous numbers of stiles I planned to run in parallel on the road to miss them out so the distance would be the same  but speed greater. With the steps it depended on how I felt when I got to them along with the weather conditions. It may be they would be a welcome walking break if it was not raining, but the decision would be made on the day of the exact route taken in these areas. I also decide from this reccy to use three pairs of shoes with road shoes at the start and finish but trail shoes for the middle 20+ miles or so.

Continue the training

The next few days were really training as usual, with a club handicap race on the 28th where I was a wee bit slower than I should be, Intervals at 5K pace with tri Lakeland on Wednesday followed by Pilates. Thursday I switch my training to a progressive run due to time constraints and Friday some hills at recovery effort with another short one on Saturday.

Coniston Trail Marathon – Sunday 3^rd July

Yeah yeah I know shouldn't really have been racing this close to a big one so didn't I just ran it! The sun was strong and winds light increasing the need to carry extra water (only three water stations on route). This I thought would be ideal practice for fueling and drinking on the move. The route itself was spectacular and I stuck to my steady 7:45 average pace. About four miles from the finish I caught Adam who was seriously suffering from the heat and dehydration I slowed to give him some of my water and we jogged along together for a bit. Another runner started to catch us up with one mile to go so Adam pushed on but I just maintained my pace only picking it up a bit near the end to make sure of sixth place, after all it was only a training run!

Adam at the high point - Coniston Trail Marathon

'Hay-O' trail race – Tuesday 5th July

This one I had to race and was due a tempo run anyway and it was one of our club runs – more excuses justifying going fast and racing when I probably shouldn’t! At the start it was clear none of the speed daemons had turned up so there was a real chance of a top place, my only obvious challenge was Marc Penn from Blengdale but he had raced in a 5K and 10K over the weekend which I though would probably have tired him more for this kind of race than my marathon. We ran together for the first kilometer, and then on the hill I started to pull away and by the turn was at least 30 seconds ahead. In the end I won comfortably over a minute ahead of Marc but in a time that the previous year would have only got me fifth! Still it was a win and it got me a mention in the Times and Star

The next next few days the usual mix of training runs: Wednesday 8miles including 12x400m at 3K pace followed by pilates, Thursday 9 mile club run, Friday 14.5 mile run to work and Saturday a gentle 5 mile recovery run.

Start of Hadrian's Wall path

Final Reccy runs

At this stage I still had two sections of the Wall path to reccy; the section from Wallsend to Harlow Hill and the section from Carlisle to Bowness-on-Solway. So on Sunday I drove out to Prudhoe and took the train and metro to the start of the Hadrian’s Wall path at Wallsend. The temperature was uncomfortably hot but the reccy went well, I tried to keep the pace down, close to what I’d expect to do on the day but probably went a bit fast at around 8 minute a mile pace. By Harlow Hill I was out off water so picked it up to get back to the car as quickly as possible! Felt fairly good after the run of just over 23 miles as finished still feeling fairly fresh if thirsty.

I rested the following day then on Tuesday took the train to Carlisle to do the final reccy. Again the sun was strong but the path was fairly simple to navigate but a worry was to come. Around three miles out of Carlisle the path started to go up and down steps by the Eden with roots ready to trip the weary runner on a sloping path. There was also what could only be described as a gantry across the new Carlisle bypass still under construction – not good for a fast pace on this section! By the time the path meandered its way to Burgh by Sands it was mainly road which continued for the majority of the remaining eight miles or so to Bowness-on-Solway. Unfortunately those eight miles became eleven after taking a wrong turning but better in the reccy than the run itself! In Bowness a swift pint was had and I told the landlord my plan to do the run inside 16 hours he just laughed and said I’d never do it as the previous fastest runner they’d had in the pub was 19.5 hours. He promised me £100 sponsor money if I could do it so the challenge was on!

The finish at Bowness-on-Solway

Wednesday 13th July BodyFit 5K

Yes yes yes I KNOW, I should not have raced this close to my run but it was only 5K and my schedule said to do 3x 1600m at 5K pace so I though what the hell might as well race it and run there and back to make up the miles. I knew I was in good shape but with a focus on endurance training wasn't very confident of my pace though felt a PB was possible. A PB I got and quite convincingly, going sub 18mins for the first time finishing in 17:54 and 9th place.

One week to go…

Now it was time to get serious with the taper so I only did 8.5 on Thursday and 7 on the Friday then went for a spa day in Ambleside part of a prize for coming first in the Langdale 10K (worth racing the same day as London!). This involved about 1:30 of aerobic exercise in the gym followed by sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi and ice treatment – not a bad way to spend a rainy afternoon. Then back to the running which went from 7.5 miles easy on Sunday down to 3.5 miles on Wednesday. I also had a pre-run massage on Wednesday to get my muscles ready for what I was about to subject them to. Disaster almost struck at this point as I lost one of my pacers for the run – Steve Angus had got the day wrong he thought I was running on the Saturday so I had a gaping hole in the middle with no pacers. I tried to move people around and posted a plea on facebook when Adam came to the rescue and offered to drive up from Worcestershire to be at Chesters roman fort for nine in the morning!

The day before…

A very distracted day off work doing the final shopping and preparations making sure my food and fluid intake was planned right and pace set correctly. I would need to consume at least 4,000 Kcals just to top up my glycogen stores to just above depletion level. I would need about 16 liters of fluid including a lot of electrolytes. The unknown was around 65 miles as by that point I would be going further than I’d gone before and had no idea how my body would react –there was a good chance that around this point no matter how well I planned it I would crash/bonk or whatever term you want to use for a drastic reduction in pace!

Sleep was hard to get but I managed a couple of hours in the afternoon, then at 19:30 Jane arrived in her campervan followed shortly after by Phil my first pacer. We loaded up the camper with all my supplies and changes of kit and set of for Newcastle, arriving just before 22:00. Jane managed to get permission to allow us to park close to the start on the promise that she would leave by 04:30.

Phil about to leave the camper van for the start

Hadrian’s Wall run day

None of us slept to well, me better than Jane or Phil thanks to the earplugs but at 03:10 we were up got breakfast and a cup of coffee. Kit was checked, bowels emptied and we headed for the start. I texted all the pacers and other who wanted to be kept informed that we were off and at 04:06 the run began. The run itself deserves its own post so for now I leave us running towards Byker...

The Forgotten Post

I wrote this on 21st of June then forgot to post it! So here is a late post...


Tuesday's "recovery" pace run
This was meant to be a gentle run at recovery pace with a distance of no more than 5 miles. I managed to an OK pace to start with but ended up going a bit too fast with 5 faster bursts. Probably on the whole went to fast and too far (~6.5 miles) considering there was around 700 feet of accent - not good preparation for a PB attempt at 10 miles the next day.


Gosforth 10
After what felt like a long day, drove down to Gosforth for the ten mile road race with three progressive targets of a PB, sub 61 mins and sub 60 mins. A sub 60 mins is definitely on the cards soon, though with all this endurance targeted training my pace over shorter distances is dropping. Ran 58:40 for the first 10 miles of the Brass Monkey half marathon in January so...


Arriving a good 2 hours early since I'd been working in Egremont, I decided to drive around the course to get a feel for the terrain, looked like the first 3 to 4 miles would be quick with slow miles at 6 and possible 10 though the finish in sight might temper the affect of the final hill. There was a good Derwent AC turn out with four competing, I felt good except for the muggy conditions which can slow me down a lot. Looking around at the start after my just under 3 miles warm up I saw Alan Bowness, Chris Steel and Russell Maddams so there were the top three. Marc Penn was also there who is getting faster and faster but I was determined not to let him beat me.

Start of Gosforth 10

On the off the expected three immediately made a lead pack along with another runner whom I didn't recognise. Marc Penn, Steve Garner and myself formed the following pack. It was pretty clear early on that the other runner (John Woodhouse) was racing well above his class and before the first mile marker was in the following pack and soon trailing it. Steve started to pull away at about two miles, I let him go as from experience he is a fair bit faster than me over the shorter distances and is an excellent pacer, Marc stuck with him for a bit but I wasn't overly concerned and  stuck to my pace. If Marc could maintain that pace he would beat me convincingly but I doubted he would, feeling sure he was going too fast. I feared disaster half way through mile five with a stitch developing, easing back slightly and relaxing a bit more the stitch eased but Marc had pulled away establishing a "massive"17 seconds lead: worry I did start. I needn't have as the gap started to close from around mile six. I was catching him significantly on the down hill sections, eventually passing him to move into fifth on the hill at about 6.5 miles. By this point sub 60 was unlikely but sub 61 was still possible. Digging in I managed to pull away from Marc and finish 19 seconds ahead of him with a new PB of 60:31, the Full results are on the Blengdale web site. The sub 60 will have to wait a while longer...

Derwent AC finishers, from top left clockwise: Me, Tony, Anna, Rob

Thursday's Club Run
After the failed attempt on Tuesday to judge what should be recovery pace with the probably knock on affect of not breaking 60 mins at Gosforth I decided to re-introduce my heart rate monitor to get a feel for what was the correct pace for different training zones. Without this knowledge there is a very real danger that the pace on the Hadrian's Wall run would be too strong and my glycogen stores would deplete way to early. I didn't know my resting HR nor my maximum HR, though this should lie around 185. Using this figure I approximated my maximum HR for a recovery run (75% Max HR) of around 138. I tried to stick to this for the cub run where we ran the Lambfoot loop in reverse. This was easier said than done as up the hills it crept over to about 145 and down the hills dropped to under 130 even when going at a decent pace of sub 6 min miles. Maybe more research is necessary or I need to do more up hill training! Pretty pleased with the 140 average at the end of the seven mile easy run.


Jane's BGR
Jane who joined Derwent last year partly to try and improve her basic speed on the flat after a 26 hour BGR attempt was all set for a second attempt with pacing all calculated to give her a 23:12 round.

Jane (on the right) and Angela outside the Moot Hall

Leg1
So at 21:00 on Friday 17th June of she set with Angela and me as pacers for the first leg, Angela was the navigator, I the pack horse and chief gate opener. The acent of Skidaw was straight forward and  with clear skys nothing like the forecast which was was terrible. We made the summit in a steady 83 mins, 12 mins ahead of Jane's schedule. The weather continued to be kind and the pace good to Great Calva with head torches only needed once we reach the bottom to cross to the accent of Blencathera - 11:20 switch on time was pretty good. By now the cloud was coming down over the top of blencathera and the moon was struggling to make any impact, still the ascent was relatively straight forward with Jane's excellent knowledge of the leg getting us straight to the top 15mins ahead. The decent to Threlkeld down Haws Crag was fairly slow going with the slippy rock and now poor visibility but threlkeld and a change of paces was reached still 7mins ahead.

Jane almost at Dunmail Raise

Leg2
After a 5min refil of water bottles, cup of tea etc we we off. For this leg there were four pacers, one navigator, one pack horse (me) an two for encouragement. For the whole of the leg it rained, so that the low cloud and dark means not much to say! A couple of minor navigational errors but maid Dummail Raise 7min up with Jane look very fresh. This is where I left the attempt.


Leg3
Unfortunately leg three went really badly with Jane's balance going and by the time she reached Wasdale she was over an hour down, very tired and demoralized so she decided to call it a day and come back again to crack the BGR.


Go Ape
After about three hours sleep it was time to join the Derwent AC posse for an afternoon at Whinlatter Go Ape. This was part one of Kirsty's Sten Hag do. Luckily the weather had improved and we all had a good time larking about in the trees!

Derwent AC with certificates to prove they had Gone Ape

Night Out and beyond
On the Saturday some of Derwent AC hit Cockermouth for Kirsty's Sten Hag do, a good night was had by all and copious amounts of beer, shots, cider etc. drunk by most. I manages to keep it sensible-ish but not down to a suitable level to allow me to do my planned run on Sunday - a reccy of the Carlilse to Bowness on Solway section of the Hadrian's wall path instead I rested. I was still tired out on Monday so rested again. It seams even a relatively small quantity of alchohol has a significant affect on my ability to run or was it the lack of sleep, two legs of the BGR, a day at go Ape and the night out...


Tuesday 21st June
On Tuesday I had my picture taken for the Times and Star who were running an article on my up coming Hadrian's Wall run - have a sneaky suspicion that the picture may be a bit cheesy as it was taken with me standing on a wall...


Running today was 4x 600m hill repeats to try and find max heart rate which was 183. I'll try this again sometime without the knowledge that I still have 4 miles to run home as I think this held me back a bit but it will do for now. Having this and mu resting heart rate of 41 mean I can now look at what zones I need to train in but more importantly how fast is optimal for Hadrian's Wall. 


Unfortunately the nights club training was hill skills!!!