I did a 6 mile trail route on Tuesday. On Wednesday I worked late and wandered downstairs about 7:30pm feeling hungry. I rustled myself up a bowl of pasta and ate in, only to remember I'd not gone for a run! So, that put an end to the run on Wednesday, quite by accident. Eating just before a run makes me (and I'm sure everyone else) feel awful.
On Thursday I went out and did a little further than planned to make up. I did 9 miles. On Friday my usual gym session, then on Saturday I did 10 miles trail, including 1000ft of ascent. It was also a hot day about 26/27C. I made a point of running always in direct sun when possible. I would deliberately move out of the way of the shade! I'm trying to get used to suffering in the sunshine, since shade will be in short supply in the desert!
Today I had planned to do a 15 mile route, but first I took my Son to Cariba Creek, the water park at Alton Towers theme park. We stayed for a longer than I anticipated but I wasn't going to short-change his fun, so I didn't get back home until 4pm. There was no one home to baby-sit him so I had to take my rest day today, instead of tomorrow. I'll get out tomorrow evening for a couple of hours with my pack, and try and get 10 miles in to make up for today’s loss.
I have received my confirmation and route descriptions of two of my forthcoming events. The Hills and Dales is on the 8th of September. I've realised it is the week after I the 'A Coventry Way' event, which is on the 1st and is 40 miles! I'd better hope I have recovered. I plotted out the route for Hills and Dales on Memory Map, and had to phone up the organiser to tell him he'd got a map grid reference wrong! A couple of digits incorrect had put one of the checkpoints about 40 miles away from the rest. Anyway, after getting the right reference I plotted the route successfully. Yesterday I got the details for the Rhayader Mountain Trail through. This is on Saturday coming. I am doing the 29 mile route. There is a choice of 13, 18, 29 and 43; the 43 being primarily for the Montrail Ultra Running Championship, but open to anyone who can complete in 12 hours. I considered it, but with my heavy events schedule over the next few months I decided just the 29 mile route. I was just about to write that the 29 mile route has 1350M of ascent, which is what the organiser states. However, I have just checked and it's actually 1900M! I think I'll email them and let them know! That is a huge difference. I'm glad I checked it.
I'll almost certainly pack around 7kg of weight in my backpack, and not 8kg, with that new piece of information. The route will be 3 miles longer and have 600m more ascent that the Dovedale Dipper I did last weekend. That is a considerable difference. The extra distance is not an issue, but the extra 600m of ascent certainly is. I think I will struggle to keep a 4mph average over the total distance. I'll just have to see what those hills are like! I'd guess I'm looking at 7 hours 30 minutes to 8 hours 30 minutes finish, roughly.
Here is a quick preview of the elevation. The highest peak is around 19 miles and 1863ft (576m).
Speak to you next week.
No comments:
Post a Comment