Category: Races

Endure24 – The 5 mile loop

Jess Guth2 Comments

I blogged earlier about my experience at Endure24 but I thought you might like to see the loop. On my final lap I took the camera round with me and happily snapped away. Some of the camera work is a bit dodgy because I was actually running! So if you are thinking about signing up for next year and want a sense of the route, this should give you some idea. Anyway, let’s take a look.

I only ever started from the exchange area as Kath was our first runner she was the only one to run across the timing mat at the start. From the start/exchange area we went alongside the race village/camping on the grass up a slight slope. Then we turned right onto a track that took us down the slope to a fairly impressive left turn through a white gate and onto Black Fen Drop towards the 1km mark.

At about Mile 1 there was a right turn and a slight uphill through the wood and onwards to another right turn which saw us on Temple Drag and coming close to the 2km mark. Wow it’s quicker writing this than it is running it! Doesn’t sound like we’ve come far at all yet! The whole course had lots to see, lots of interesting trees and stunning views.

At the end of Temple Drag we came out of the woods, through a gate to a slight right turn and welcome downhill to Temptation Corner – where they were always playing the best music. If you look at the course map you can see why it’s called Temptation corner – if you could run through the camper van they put there, you’d be on a path that would cut off a huge chunk of the route! In fact you’d go from 2.5km straight to 6 and 3/4km. A slight left took us back uphill and then flat to the 3km marker.

The next section was through the woods and mostly flat or slightly downhill and 4km always seemed to come quite quickly. Soon after 4km we reached sheep rush – on my last lap there were no sheep, not a single one at sheep rush but I did see them later. Just after sheep rush was the Shambles Cafe drinks station and the loo that saved me on lap 4.

After that the course seemed to get easier to me. Maybe it was just that it was well over half way, not sure. The 5km marker came towards the end of a lovely downhill slope which was followed by a sharp right and a bitch of a hill.

 

Then a bit of running on grass across festival crossing and round a walled woodland area. The views were great here – lots of sheep! But every time I ran this the headwind seemed ridiculous.

The 6km marker came and went as did more spectacular views and another welcome downhill at Dead Tree Drift with the big Endure24 sign. The course then curved to the left and began to go back uphill to the 7km marker which was maybe a third of the way up Bramham Climb. 1km to go

At the top of Bramham Climb you can see the race village and you can see the first Mizuno inflatable arch before you briefly disappear into what feels like a wood lined avenue before turning right and in my case power walking up the slope which takes you through the white arch, into a left turn down a little hill and then up ‘that bloody last bit’ before turning right for the blue arch, the timing mats and your team mate waiting for you with a hug in the exchange area.

Signed up for 2018 yet?

 

Endure24 (North) – Race Report

Jess Guth3 Comments

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At the weekend I took part in Endure24 (North) at Bramham Park, Leeds. Endure24 is a 24 hour race open to solo runners and teams. I was part of Team Dopey (what else) with 3 awesome women. Kath and I were there to catch up with Bex and Amanda and the kids IMG_7607 (800x600)as well as to run. There were of course many other teams who were there to run, seriously run. Kath and I got there early afternoon and set up our tents (swearing included), then I picked up our race numbers and timing chips, Bex and Amanda and the kids arrived around 8pm and we had a lovely couple of hours chilling out, having a little walk and catching up.

Saturday we had bacon sarnies and sat in the sun before getting ready for the running. At 11.45 they started the race briefing (which wasn’t all that useful because the only thing not in the instructions was the bit about how to change over from one team member to the next and we couldn’t see the demonstration from where we were. At 12 on the dot the first runners set off, Kath amongst them. I watched her set off feeling hugely proud. Then it dawned on me that I was going next. After we looked at the exchange area I walked back to the tents, got myself sorted and then waited. We reckoned Kath would be about an hour – just under. I was just watching the exchanges when I spotted Kath coming up the slope. I wasn’t expecting her for another 5 minutes or so she had a great run. A she handed me the yellow team armband and gave me a hug she just said ‘take it easy, it’s hot out there – walk the hills and enjoy the downhill’.

Lap one was fun. I set off along the grassy slightly uphill slope thinking ‘fuck this is hard, I don’t like uphill on grass’. But then I turned right onto the track and started going downhill and enjoying myself. I looked at my watch – 11.30 pace. Too fast. I slowed off, turned the corner and started a long stretch of flat/slightly uphill. Then I turned a corner and went slightly uphill – I remembered Kath’s warning and slowed to a walk. I’d just passed a guy who did the same. I walked up the hill and then set off again. It was hot and my pace was dropping a little but I enjoyed looking around, plodding on the flat, walking the hills and letting the downhill just take me downhill. I was beginning to think it was getting a little hard as I passed the 4k mark, half way. Then I reached the drinks station, had a sip of water and a quick chat about the Dopey Challenge and then I was on my way, feeling stronger. At just after 7k the guy I had passed on the first real hill caught me up. We had a little chat – he was a solo runner and said he’d see me over the finish line for this loop. We jogged the rest of the route to nearly the end. I just couldn’t keep going up the final slope so told him to to go. As I reached the corner I heard a cheer and saw Bex and Kath and the kids clapping me home. I ran the finish stretch and handed the band to Amanda. Loop one done and I felt great.

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Lap 2 – again I took over from Kath who did another great loop. I set off more slowly this time and ran more of the course but at a slower pace. It was cooler so easier to keep going. Approaching 7km I was about to walk as a group of runners passed me. I asked them if I could tag along up the hill and they welcomed me in. When I got to 7km I waved them off and thanked them for the lift. I couldn’t go with them all the way up. Again the slope at the end defeated me but another good lap.

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Lap 3. I set off after a hug from Kath. I felt strong and ready. I plodded up the grassy slope, turned right, got half way down the hill and my tummy gave a dangerous rumble. I tried to ignore it but by the time I turned the next corner there was no ignoring it. I walked a bit to see if it would ease but it didn’t. It got worse every time I tried to run and I nearly turned and went back but I didn’t know if that would disqualify us so there was nothing for it. I would just have to keep going and hope that I would make it to the end without pooing my pants.  I tried running on and off and when I was on one of those little jogs, sticking nicely to the left as a slow person a bloke came zooming past me on the left – he could have used the entire path on my right, it was clear – he said ‘move your fat arse’. I was stunned and angry and a bit upset. Everyone had been lovely up to that point, encouraging and friendly. Eventually I got to the drinks station but someone sneaked into the loo before me and then they were doing something on it and standing waiting wasn’t helping so I motored on. I didn’t run and then, in the finishing straight it happened… I didn’t quite make it to the toilet. It wasn’t a total disaster but a useful reminder that running and keeping your dignity intact aren’t necessarily compatible.

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Lap 4. I didn’t eat anything other than a banana between loops 3 and 4. I slept a few hours, restlessly and then decided to go out for another lap to leave the demons out there. I got sorted and set off about 4am. It was a gorgeous morning. My legs felt good, I was looking forward to a gentle jog in the morning sun. I’d been to the loo, I felt empty but well fueled – perfect really. I walked the grassy slope to wake my legs up and then jogged down the hill and almost immediately my tummy was right were it left off on Lap 3. I tried not to be disappointed and just accept I’d be walking. I didn’t even try and run so as to not make things worse. This time I could use the loo at the 3 mile mark and once I’d done that I managed to run a lot of the final 2 miles. I went back to bed for a bit after that.

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Lap 5. This was my lap of honour really. I wanted to go out on a positive and so decided to take my camera on a walk/jog around the course. I loved this lap. I felt strong and I jogged from photo stop to photo stop, I chatted with people on course, I thanked the Marshals and I enjoyed the sunshine.  I stopped to take a picture of the last sign and then walk the slope up towards the finish line when I saw the kids running down the hill towards me. ‘Oh fuck’, I thought ‘they’re going to make me run the slope!’. They did but it was awesome. On my last lap I finally managed to run the hill and the finishing stretch. A great way to finish!

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We collected our medals and then headed home – the others had packed up the tents and everything while I was running. It was a lovely weekend, I ran/walked 25 miles which is fabulous and I am so proud of the whole team for all sorts of reasons – we did our own thing, we had fun and we did it together. What more could you want?

Once we got home I soon realised how tired I was. We did some yoga, we had some food and celebrated with a beer, lots of water and a packet of hoola hoops.

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The Thing with Consistency…

Jess Guth6 Comments

The thing with consistency is that, well, you have to be consistent. I like the idea of consistency generally. Consistency is sensible and safe and likely to see success in whatever it is you are being consistent about. The problem is, I’m rubbish at consistency. I don’t consistently blog, I don’t consistently file my emails or anything at all, I don’t consistently eat well, I don’t consistently exercise and I most certainly don’t consistently run. It’s been a month since my last running blog post and oh goodness has it been a fun sort of running month. Let’s see.

Just after my last blog post we went away to the Northumberland coast for a few days and I nearly threw in the towel completely. I didn’t seem to be able to run, I couldn’t do it, it stressed me out and I just felt crap about it all. Instead of a gorgeous 6 mile happy plod along the beach, I had a couple of barely a mile, tears, snot and general tantrum sort of events. I was quite ready to never really run again.

Once home, I got myself together again and decided that actually, yes, I do want to run. I managed 3 miles and then a couple of days after I managed 5k non-stop. Then we went to Bolton Abbey and I did the little loop while Kath went on to the next bridge. It was good to do it and I didn’t walk that much but neither of us were really feeling that one. Then we had a go at some speed work which I bizarrely sort of enjoyed – it was a sort of fun fartlek for beginners where you simply count strides and do the same amount fast and to recover going up in increments of 10 (starting from 10). I made it to 80.

Then  we hit June and I did a couple of short runs including one in the gym on the treadmill which was horrendous but, accidentally, very fast. I thought the treadmill was set to km rather than miles – reasonable assumption because that’s what it usually is – and therefore set it to run a steady 5k at 8minutes per km pace. That should have been easy but felt impossible so I quickly dropped to 10 minutes per km pace which still felt impossible so when I hit 2km I stopped, wheezing, huffing, puffing, sweating like mad and very very very very very grumpy. As the workout summary flashed across the screen I realised that the treadmill had been set to miles. I’d run 2 miles in just under 20 minutes, not 2km. Madness

Next I wanted to go out for a 5 mile little run but couldn’t do it. Head shut down and then my feet started hurting so I gave up half way and walked home. Two days later I thought I’d better have another go and I managed 5 miles non-stop running feeling pretty comfortable all the way. Then I had a gym session with lots of stretching and a bit of strength work the next day but no more running during the week until today. Today I managed 6.5 miles. I’m not sure how because it was awful, hideous, vile running.

We set off from Bolton Abbey Cavendish Pavilion and crossed over the bridge and ran towards the Abbey. I felt tired before I’d run 100 metres. I was a little worried because my tummy has been a bit uncomfortable for days – days of work travel, eating on the go and eating crap! It remained uncomfortable but more in a painful way than a ‘I’m going to wait until you’re as far away from the loo as possible and then make you really need to go’ kind of a way. I plodded, walked the hills, plodded. Bleurgh. We got to the car, had a sip of water and energy drink (more on that another time I think), nipped to the loo again and then set off again on our usual loop. I did not at all want to go, not one little bit but I just silently gritted my teeth and kept trying. We dropped into intervals of 2 minutes running and 1 minute walking and that’s how I got round. An eternity and 6.5 miles after we set off we got back to the car. The running was a whole new level of awful but at the same time it was fabulous to be out. We saw lots of ducks, blue and great tits, sparrows, chaffinches; we saw a dipper chick being fed by its parent and we ran a few metres with a sandpiper before it flew off showing us the way. A little further on we saw oystercatchers and then a heron flying across the field. On our way home we saw a further 3 herons.

When we got to the car I grabbed the water bottle and wobbled across the car park to the edge of the River Wharfe and collapsed in a sweaty mess. Kath came over and she brought me the first of the RunDisney Virtual Shorts medal for completing my run. I may not look it but I was excited and happy to get that! I earned that one. What a slog! The virtual run series is supposed to be for 5km runs really but in my head I had sort of decided that I wanted to keep them for the bigger wins in each of the months the series covers and running that route, just over 10km, is huge. We’ve attempted it a few times and I’ve never made it and I haven’t run over 5 miles since I abandoned the Half Marathon at Disneyland Anaheim in November. I got this monkey off my back and I feel better – even if the actual running was hideous.

But anyway, consistency. I have been running but not consistently enough. I seem to manage 2 back to back runs and then there’s a huge gap to the next. It’s ok in terms of maintaining that bit of fitness I have but it is not enough to build and it doesn’t make increasing the miles easy. I’m off to Mexico City for a conference on Monday, I have packed my gym stuff and I will run. I’m not sure about treadmill running but I’ll try!

Trail Slope Repeats and Planning

Jess Guth3 Comments

Ooh slightly behind on my running blogging. It’s marking season. Life sort of stops during marking season and I’ll emerge feeling a bit fuzzy and disorientated in a couple of week’s time.

Anyway, I’m sort of sorting paperwork and hanging about after lunch waiting to go for an afternoon little jog. Kath has a slightly sore knee so is sitting this one out. I’m not really sure how far I want to go or where but I’ve got a couple of hours to decide. However, I haven’t told you about Thursday morning’s run yet.

If you’ve been following this blog a while you may know that I don’t like hills. I have always ignored hill repeats if they appeared on a training plan (even if I put them on the plan). I mean, running up a hill once is bad enough, why on earth would I want to walk/jog back down just to run back up? Anyway, on Thursday morning we did hill repeats. Well, we did slope repeats. We used the slope on our sheep loop which isn’t steep but it’s uneven and very much trail territory and it’s a slope I have always struggled on. So we happily tootled along to that slope which starts just after our far field – so just about a mile away. Then we took it in turns to run up the slope as fast as we could and then jog back down. Kath went first and she went all the way up to the top. I went second and I went to where the slope levels before a final little climb. The first run took me 45 seconds exact and it was hard! I was tempted to walk back down and I was huffing and puffing like I haven’t in a long time. But I jogged.

Then Kath went again. Then me again and I think it was faster. I don’t know exactly because my watch battery gave up as I set off. The temptation to collapse in a heap was quite overwhelming but I managed to jog down. Kath went for round three. She’s too bloody fast. She was back in no time which meant I had to go. This was definitely more measured and my legs were screaming at me to stop from about half way. I got there, whimpered, turned round and sort of rolled back down. Kath went for the final time. Then she was back and off I went. I tried to keep an even fast-ish pace all the way up. My legs were a bit jelly-ish as I got to where I’d been turning round. I walked a few steps and decided I would take the last one right to the top so set off again as fast as I could (which wasn’t very fast at this point!) I made it. I jogged down and we walked a little, had a little jog and then we walked home running just a couple of hills en route. 3 miles total. It was a really good exercise actually. It was really hard work but also sort of felt doable. Choosing a slope rather than a hill was a good start to get used to it and choosing trail terrain meant I could practice going faster (rather than slowing almost to a stand still) on an uneven surface. I wouldn’t exactly say I enjoyed it but it felt good to have done it.

Yesterday was a rest day. Today we were going to run several loops with breaks in between but Kath’s knee needs a rest and I don’t fancy going out on my own repeatedly. I’ll see how I feel tomorrow but for today I will just do something which allows me to feed the sheep on the way. We’ve also been planning though. We are going to run the Dirty Double in the Lakes in October. Lakeland Trails does a 15km Helvellyn Challenge on the 14th October and a 14km Ullswater Challenge on the 15th October so we have booked onto those. I really like this idea – there is a race version with a tighter cut off time and then a challenge option with a more generous cut off so you can still do it if you’re slower or if you just want to take it easy, enjoy the scenery and not race. Given these challenges, I suspect I will be doing a few more hill repeats between now and then! The week after we’ll be off to Scarborough to do the Yorkshire Coast 10k there. It should feel lovely and flat after the hills the weekend before!

Might have entered the ballot

Jess Guth2 Comments

So. Right. This just happened:

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It doesn’t actually matter. I mean the chances of actually getting a place are negligible so nothing changes. If I don’t get in I certainly won’t be disappointed but actually the possibility of getting in is sort of exciting. It would be sort of cool to have another shot at this. Clearly I have lost my mind and forgotten just how horrible it was but not to worry, it’s a ballot with very few places so I’ll just keep going about my business as if I hadn’t just entered it and what will be will be.

Running is a funny business. It really is. I’m off to run 5 miles on the trails now. Happy Monday.