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...