White Peak Marathon and Richmond Park Marathon

So, the last 5 days or so. With ‘er Indoors away with work on Thursday and Friday things were a little different on the domestic front. Had to take the Little One to/from Nursery so it was a late start at work and early finish - no complaints from me! Another easy 4.25 mile run with the Little One late on Thursday afternoon. Of course with ‘er Indoors being away the Little One was a little unwell. Fortunately, it was pretty much only a raised temperature that seemed to start late on Thursday afternoon and had pretty much gone by Friday evening. She was up a few times during the night but was still well enough to go to Nursery on Friday aided with the miracle cure that is Calprofen! Friday was a rest day due to the weekend’s double. 2 undulating marathons on 2 consecutive days was probably not the best of ideas but they were both entered pre-calf injury and issues!...and I do like a challenge!

White Peak Marathon.

My 3rd consecutive year running this one. 260 mile round trip. A long long day. Very scenic point to point trail course where you get bussed from the finish to start. The trail itself is generally quite loose fine gravel. My previous experience of this race (and weather) has been very warm and sunny. However, it was a pretty dull and breezy day. Not that cold but not that warm either. Would have opted for long sleeves if I had packed any! So, t-shirt it was then. Also, managed to leave my HRM soaking in the sink at home so would have no real idea of what my heart rate was really up to. Would need to run on perceived effort. The usual selection of familiar faces there so the time passed quite quickly and we were soon off. Started pretty near the back of the pack.

My aim was for an easy, slow run finishing somewhere around 4.05/4.10 so that there would be plenty in the tank for Sunday’s Richmond Park Marathon and so that my calf’s (and leg muscles) were not overly beaten up too. Started off slow and pretty much maintained the same pace throughout. Very breezy in places and the trail was very wet and muddy in places too so a reasonable amount of effort was exerted avoiding the worst of it! Light weight road shoes on trails are not good at the best of times but the lack of traction on mud can be very very interesting to say the least! The other problem is the number of stones that accumulate in your shoes whilst running. Left calf was still playing up a little. Couldn’t feel it to start with, appeared at about 7 or 8 miles and then disappeared again within a mile or so. Reappeared just before the 3 sharp descents at about 21 miles but was pretty much fine going down them. Race nutrition was Shotz gels (freebies that I picked up at the Marathon of the North) which to be honest I don’t like. Flavour wise they just don’t taste as good as High5’s gels. Finished with no real dramas or problems. Race clock finish time of 4 hours 2 minutes and 9 seconds. 4 hours 1 minute and 35 seconds on my watch and 26.50 miles. Crossed the finish line with the Little One again. She is starting to get an appetite for the crowd applause! Legs and calf’s were fine. Healthiest goody bag ever. Bottle of water, carton of orange juice, banana, orange, apple and small packet of digestive biscuits. Of course the race souvenir was the White Peak Marathon/Half-marathon mug (in yellow this time).

65.15 miles ran for the week.

Richmond Park Marathon.

This was a new one for me and only its 2nd running. Huge amount of positive feedback on its inaugural effort and with it being not too far from it was too good an opportunity to pass. Started at 0900 so another reasonably early start in order to get to Richmond Park in good time. A mile down the road I realised that I had managed to forget my race number/chip etc. After a quick u-turn we were soon back on track! Managed to remember my HRM though. Again, the usual collection of suspects with the 100 Marathon Club out in force (and wannabees too). Opted for long sleeves although it wasn’t that cold and highly likely to warm up later. Since Bahrain I have become even more warm blooded than ever! The course itself was a little complicated, maybe not so much so if you were familiar with Richmond Park! Trails shooting off left, right and centre! Basically, there was an initial loop that consisted of a small loop of just under 3 miles before running another 9 mile sort of loop with a little out and back section too – 12 miles in total. This was then followed by 2 laps of the outer perimeter – each one being 7.1 miles (allegedly!). It was ran over a mixture of grass, tarmac pavement, tarmac roads and trail (very dry and solid). It was very good under foot.

A few pre race announcements and we were off. Felt okay before the start - no aches or pains from the previous day. Again, started off reasonably slow but maybe a little quicker that I should have. Settled down and was running at around 140 bpm which was knocking the miles off at around 8.45/8.50 pace. Fast enough. Richmond Park is a very nice and a great place to run and was getting busier with other runners, walkers and cyclists as the day progressed. The initial 12 mile loop was interesting. One or two interesting sharp climbs that would be repeated again and some nice longish drops too. All in all, I would say that it was a pretty quick course. Went through the 1st 12 miles in about 1.46 with an average HR of 142 bpm feeling very comfortable and strong. Upped the effort a little but made sure that I always had a (marathon) runner in sight as I still wasn’t 100% confident on the route! With hundreds of other runners in the park too it was difficult to tell who was in the marathon and who wasn’t at times.

The mile marking was a little odd. For the first 9 miles we were coming up short. By 11 it was back on track up to around mile 17 mark where there was suddenly a long mile thrown in! I would say that the 7.1 mile perimeter loop was probably closer to 7.25 miles. One perimeter lap done, one to go. Was on for a pretty comfortable sub 4 hour finish. My quads were starting to making themselves known and the energy levels were definitely starting to wane. As ever, started to pick off other runners one by one. Was very relieved to get Snake Hill out of the way for the final time which meant about 4 miles to go. The consequence was the quads complaining bitterly and energy levels taking a pretty big hit. Still, had a nice fast downhill bit to look forward too before another sharp uphill section. Ran the final 4 miles or so on autopilot. However, with the erratic mile markings in the final 3 miles I thought that the race distance was going to come in about 26.83 miles as I passed the 25 mile marker at 25.63 miles. Crossed the finish line in 3 hours 54 minutes and 38 seconds on my watch and 26.56 miles. Average heart rate of 145 bpm. Again, the Little One (or should I rename her the Bandit!?) was ready and waiting to pounce about 30 meters away from the finish line. Needless to say, over we went together with her milking the applause! Fair play to the organisers, she was given her own Richmond Park Marathon medal! A very nice enamelled medal presented by the Mayor-ess (of Richmond I assume!). Foil blanket, bottle of water, goody bag (with not much in it other than flyers etc!), mug and a technical vest (hooray!) and a table with some banana’s and current buns. Briefly saw Firefly (Sue) at the finish for a very quick chat. Very nice to put a face to name! The post-race massage was just what the doctor had ordered. A little painful in places but did feel good!

An excellent event. Well organised with lots of nice little touches. They were maybe a little light on personnel at drink stations but unless were in the middle of a pack it was pretty irrelevant. Richmond Park is a very nice place to run (I wouldn’t personally use the word “beautiful” but very much so compared with the concrete jungle that surrounds it!). Driving out of London was not quite as quick as getting in! But still home over 3 hours earlier than Saturday!

That’s numbers 64 and 65 in the bag. I always run Day 2 quicker than Day 1 when I’ve ran doubles. I guess it’s a case of holding back and making sure there is plenty in the tank for Day 2. You don’t win anything in football matches at half-time either! In hindsight, I would probably have pushed the pace a little more on the White Peak as it would have been nice to finish both in sub 4 hours but I will happily take what I have got. More importantly the left calf is getting better. Ironically, had less discomfort in the calf on Sunday than on Saturday. Quite odd but all is good! May need to revise my June schedule (however, the South Downs Marathon will be staying off it)!

Rest day today. Legs generally feel fine. Quads are giving off that “comfortable” aching feeling and no ill feeling in the calf’s either. No planned events this week or the weekend coming on the running front so may take the opportunity and get a Sports Massage to try get all the leg muscles loosened up and back in sync with each other. Other than that, easy training runs with and without the race Bandit!

Keith_L 'You will find it much easier if you stay put and let the marathons come to you Sean. Certainly knocking up the marathons now - great running' added 21st 五月 2012

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crooxi 'Do you always run in road shoes, even on trails? I love my Salomons, they are so safe-feeling and grippy - and waterproof! Well done on nos. 64 and 65. What do you have planned for June? (or does 'the Bandit' have to approve the plan first?!)' added 21st 五月 2012

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Firefly123 'Good to meet you, Sean and I'm glad you got your massage. Look after that calf..' added 21st 五月 2012

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BiGPoPPa 'Great running Sean & glad the calf is getting better. ' added 22nd 五月 2012

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Johnf 'Your road miles between marathons must be climbing some as well Sean. Marathons still going so consistently. Hope the massage sorts out the calf muscles.' added 22nd 五月 2012

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garyb '64 & 65 - thats pretty impressive going!!! I thought I was doing well with 22 of them!' added 22nd 五月 2012

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moose10 'well done on ticking another 2 off great to here your daughter is stealing all your glory, hope the calf gets sorted' added 22nd 五月 2012

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Nick 'Excellent double, Sean! Glad the little one got a share of the glory. I shall have to check out that Richmond event.' added 22nd 五月 2012

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The Running Man by SeanG

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