a bit delayed but better late than never ...

GUCR 2016

Well that was a surprise, and a more than pleasant one too. I actually did 34.31 and knocked well over an hour off my PB, the 35.43 time  I did way back in 2007. I also did 23.13 to GJA so a 100m PB too. I came 19^th, so a top 20 finish on top of everything else. its good to know that I can still improve on things even after all this time. There has after all a lot of water passed under the canal bridge since I ran my 1st GUCR in 2003. In the last few years I've been worried about never getting back under 36hrs again, let alone knocking an additional 90mins off. 

It was hard though. I struggled in the heat a bit on Day 1 and felt like I was struggling to stay awake overnight (though my splits show I actually went pretty well overnight). By morning my R knee ligaments were hurting and I was only able to run short distances before walking again. I caught up Nick and Phil Smith after Springwell and gradually began to run a bit more and more, keeping to a good 4mph average - and was surprised once again just how much you do need to run to keep to a 4mph avg though. Splits were:

CP	Miles	Total	2011	2012	2014	36hrs	2016
Cath de B	10.79	10.79	1.46	2.01	1.51	1.45	1.49
Hatton Locks	11.99	22.78	2.08	2.14	3.58	2.00	2.00
Birdingbury	13.66	36.44	2.50	2.41	6.13	2.45	2.45
H of E	17.31	53.75	4.19	3.56	9.27	4.15	3.59
Navigation	17.08	70.83	4.20	4.17		4.15	4.10
Br99	14.55	85.38		4.17		4.30	3.58
GJA	15.73	101.11	9.15	5.10		4.45	4.31
Springwell	20.82	121.93	5.59	5.52	5.30	5.30	5.28
Hamborough	12.90	134.83	3.12		3.15	3.15	3.03
Little Venice	11.72	146.55	2.53	6.52	3.00	2.45	2.42
	146.6		36.42	37.20	36.26	35.75	34.31

 

Only 1 section was slower than my 36hr schedule and that was the 1^st one (stopped for a poo not long after the start ) but only by 4mins. After that the next 2 were spot on. I was a fair bit faster to 50m but slower than I would have liked to 70m.

The real improvement looks to have been my overnight running. At the time I felt like I was permanently nodding off, though I did run a fair bit of the section to Bridge 99 and that is reflected by the fact that I was 30mins up on my schedule. Although I was slow/sleepy on the section to GJA I was still 14mins up on schedule which means that overnight I was 46mins up on schedule overall and that was where I really made the difference. the sleepmonsters didn't get me anywhere near as bad as they had done on the Spine. After that my knee pain became a bit intrusive and to Springwell I was only 2mins up. With hindsight I could probably have gained a good 15mins over schedule for that section, if my knee had allowed me to run more.

The last 2 sections were quite good though and I picked up 12mins to Hamborough and 2 more mins to the end.

I started the run being fairly confident I could beat 36hrs if things went to plan, especially after London but not really expecting to be anywhere near 34hrs realistically. I did have to be mentally strong especially after GJA and even more so after Springwell so as not to let the rate slip, but in the end I could probably have been even more close to 34hrs had I known just how close I was.

So, just like London I should be really chuffed with my PB but instead am thinking about how I could have been even nearer 34hrs and a Spartathlon qualifier if I’d not hurt my knee. its a bit annoying that they've made it so much harder to qualify, well for me at any rate. It even more annoying that the qualifying time for women is 35hrs, given that they have to finish Spartathlon in 36hrs as well.

It’s a real bummer to have been so close but I reckon I could have knocked off about 10mins to the 70m point, another 15mins to GJA and another 15mins again to Springwell if I’d been able to run more. That would have given me a 33.50 time, so there is still room for improvement despite the excellent run I did have.

I also got to GJA in about 23hrs 12mins so again I was more than an hour faster than my other 100m times (usually about 24.30-24.40) and my 1^st ever 100m sub 24hr time … still a good 2¼hrs off a Spartathlon 100m qualifier though. So it looks like if I don’t get in this year I’ve pretty much had it since there’s little time or opportunity to get a qualifier in the rest of 2016.

I did the Ramathon the weekend afterwards too in 1.44.44. It was slow/hot and I shouldn’t really have tried it but I had the number so thought what the hell. I went ok for the 1^st 3 miles or so but after that was hanging on for the last 10. usually its the other way around!

So what next?