Background
I ran this as a slow training run in preparation for a 50 mile race in August and a 100km in September. I'm coached by DaznBone and I had clearly irritated them with demands for longer runs, so David told me to run a marathon over this weekend. I chose to do this out and back as a challenge,to keep things interesting, and to practice some of the nutrition and pacing lessons from my first 50km run which I had only done two weeks earlier.
Summary
I set off at around 8am from Brixton Station, choosing to start in the south because it's closer to where I live, and I figured it would be more downhill on the return leg. The roads were at first very clear but foot traffic picked up in the afternoon. The route was varied and visually interesting with the mix of fancy buildings in Pimlico and flat scenery around Walthamstow wetlands. Although inevitably some stretches involved large roads and waits at crossings. I mostly stuck to the route with the odd wrong turn or detour due to works. I kept it quite slow but still found my legs feeling sore and tired from around 42kms and was tempted to start run/walk during the final 10km. Luckily I managed to keep going and scrape in just under 5 hours.
I doubt this record will stand for long but it's nice to be on the board!
Hydration and nutrition
I ran with 1.5 litres of water in a hydration bladder, thinking that any more would be too much effort to carry and just lead to toilet breaks. The day was overcast and drizzling but critically it got quite warm around early afternoon, and I ran out of water at 42km. Not the end of the world but a good lesson about my hydration needs. For nutrition, I had two Gu gels and about a third of a packet of Maryland cookies which I carried in a sandwich bag for when I felt hungry. In my first ultra my stomach had rebelled badly at 45kms (clearly I had never pushed it to its limit during marathons), so I used this as a chance to practice with solid food. I did not resupply at any point from any source.
Links:
Instagram (pinned story has photos of the stations I passed) - @olivercampion
Strava - link
Garmin Connect - link
Stryd footpod data - link
Comments
Fixed Stryd link