The Essex Way...

After the success and enjoyment of my last solo ultra I thought the summer holidays would be an ideal time to try something else. The Essex Way (81 miles) has been on my 'to do list' for some time so it didn't take long to come up with the plan to give it a go. I decided doing it over two days would be more realistic and doable! The route crosses the road at Cressing, just a couple of miles from home and conveniently is almost half way on the route, so it made sense to do Epping to Cressing on Day one, run home, eat, sleep etc then back out to Cressing the next day to carry on into Harwich. Always sounds so simple sat at your laptop!

Day 1...

Packed and ready to go

 After a week of record temperatures I was pleased it had cooled down, not so happy about the forecast day of rain, but no point stressing about the weather. Andreea had very kindly agreed to drive me to Epping stupidly early and so at 5:45am I was outside Epping station excited for the journey ahead!

At the start

It took a few miles to settle into the running and to become focused on the navigation, a few minor navigation errors soon had me concentrating and all was well. My only concern was because of the previous days rain I had wet feet from practically the beginning. I had spare sock and knew footcare would be paramount during the day.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first day, the footpaths were well maintained and the majority was runnable. I kept my pace slow as the second day was going to be slightly longer and I hadn't ever run back to back ultra distances before.
I didn't pass anywhere to fill my drinks bottles but had plenty with me and I knew a friend was going to join me for a mile at some point, so I asked her to bring some water. Erica and Arthur joined me at Great Waltham with my favourite ultra running snacks, custard and salt and vinegar crisps and it was lovely to have some company for a mile.

Erica and Arthur

I considered changing into some dry socks but had been pre-warned that there was a field in this section that is always boggy, and with no way round, you had to suck it up and go through it, the advice being if you just go for it it's only ankle deep! (This advice was spot on, thanks Baz!)

My left foot in particular was feeling a little tender around the heel by the time I reached Cressing but with just a couple of miles to go before I was home I carried on, not sure anything I could do at that point was going to make a lot of difference anyway. Ten hours with warm wet feet was never going to be great!

So after 41 miles and 10:13 running I was home with plenty of the day left to eat, drink, give the feet some TLC and prepare for day 2.

Day 2...

I slept reasonably well which I was pleased about as I often don't after an ultra and woke early as I wanted to get going, day 2 was going to be about 48 miles and Andreea had again agreed to scoop me up in Harwich and get home. Optimistically and overestimating my speed for the day I said I would be done about 7pm, maintaining about 4 miles an hour would get me done in that time. The legs were achy but not horrifcally so and the feet seemed good, no blisters or obvious sore spots when I put my trainers back on. Happily I left home and headed back to Cressing to pick up the Essex Way where I had left it.

Watching the sunrise on day 2

The first section of day 2 was the toughest running of the whole thing, brambles and stinging nettles for what seemed like miles and due to the early morning dew my feet were wet again with the left one feeling slightly tender, it was a lovely sunny day and I figured the ground would soon dry so made the decision to change socks once that had happened. After the overgrown section the next hazard was crossing the A120 at 8am on a Monday morning. I actually said 'I am gong to die' out loud! Eventually there was a gap big enough for me to sprint (yes I did sprint that bit!) across and so I survived to continue on my way.

The footpaths improved and in general I have to say the Essex Way is well maintained. My pace was considerably slower than I had thought but I was moving forward so wasn't too concerned at this point. Being a much warmer day, I got through my drink much quicker and needed to find somewhere t buy some more. By about 15 miles I had, had enough! Everything hurt, my foot was sore and I still had a very long way to go. I spent several miles convincing myself that if I got to 20 miles that was a good enough distance and I would call it a day. No one would really care if I finished or not, why was I putting myself through this etc etc. The usual negative thoughts that can hit when you're doing these runs. I hit 20 miles as I reached West Bergholt, there was a Co-op on the route so I went in and bought loads of drinks, some food and just had a break to decide what I was going to do. In a race you would have a checkpoint, and lovely volunteers would boost you up, feed you and there may be a medic to patch up your feet. Not having that I decided to use the power of Facebook, within minutes I had so many encouraging messages that I could no longer justify quitting! My mood lifted and I decided I had at least another 10 miles in me. Those messages and tat online support really did save my run.

Just a few of the many messages that saved my run

That was the only point of the day that I thought about giving up, my mood stayed positive after that, and eating and drinking regularly, buying extra treats when I could helped me stay focused. The views in that last 25 miles were stunning, some of the bits around Stour Valley I knew from running the Stour Valley marathon a few times, the rest was all new to me. My favourite view of the day was running up a hill though a field and getting to the top to see this view of Mistley...

This view was amazing

 I was low on drink again as I entered Mistley but a well placed ice cream van saved the day, it was probably the best can of coke and Cornetto I have ever had! By this time I knew I wasn't going to make my 7pm finish but just kept moving, eating and drinking. I knew I would make it now.
After the village of Ramsey there was a path that ran out to the see wall, it seemed to go on forever! As I got nearer to the sea wall I could see huge cows along where I was going to have to go. I don't like cows, scary, unpredictable creatures! I stopped, swore quite a lot, looked at the map to see if there was an alternative route. There wasn't I was going to have to brave the cows. As I climbed up the bank and turned along the sea wall for the final few miles into Harwich, these are the cows I encountered...

Not scary cows!

They weren't giant cows at all, they were perfectly normal sized sheep! I laughed hysterically, blamed tiredness and dehydration (I had run out of drink!) and carried on. Slowly but surely I ticked off those last few miles, Andreea met me with drink about a mile from the end, so after a brief break I headed off to finally touch that lighthouse.

So close

It was almost 9pm and after 15 hours and 22 minutes covering 51 miles day 2 and the challenge was completed. With the extra I added on to run from Cressing to home and back and a few navigational errors I covered 93 miles during my two days out on the Essex Way. Other than the section before West Bergholt I thoroughly enjoyed my adventure. My left foot had some nasty blisters and I have since lost a toe nail but am already planning the next one!

Finished

Thank you to everyone who has donated money for our sensory room at Beckers Green Primary School, if you haven't and would like to the link is here here.

Thank you again to Andreea for driving me to the start and home again and to everyone for the online support, I read every message, and they were paramount in my keeping going. I had an amazing two days running/walking/shuffling and am still smiling that I finished it.

Happy running xxx

Trying to train the head...

As we approach the end of February and my first ultra of the year training is going well, 223 miles for the year so far, missed a few sessions at the beginning of the month due to a virus doing the rounds at school. This was frustrating but couldn't be helped and I have learned from experience that training through a bug doesn't achieve much so reluctantly followed Lindley's advice just to take a few days and recover properly.

Have also been frustrated that the speedy sessions in my plan such as tempo runs, parkruns etc haven't been as speedy as they should have been. I do think it is a mental thing and not because I can't run that fast, I will keep persevering and am determined to run some sub 8 minute miles! 

On a more positive note my long runs have been going really well have run with Lindley, Maxine and Naomi at various times over the past month and managed to run some decent times and not feel completely destroyed at the end. Think I have found a nutrition strategy that works, nakd bars and Freddos alternately about every two miles! I have ordered some Nakd bars in bulk to get through St Peters Way next Sunday.

Physically I feel 100% ready (I am keeping well away from my son who has a cold and am washing my hands obsessively!) I know what I want to achieve and just need to keep mentally strong on the day. I am refusing to do the usual things this week that stress me before a race, so no continual checking of the weather forecast for Sunday, kit will be packed and then left alone and I will arrive at the start line calm and focused. Well that is the plan!! I really do believe my mental state beforehand plays a big part on performance on the day, so trying a different approach to see if it helps. On the day I know I can achieve my goals if I just keep my head in the right place. I will be running my own race, for me and no one else.

I am a different runner to this time last year, stronger and more focused and although I know it's easy to say all this from the warmth of my sofa I need to keep believing it for the 45 miles from Chipping Ongar to Bradwell-on-Sea.

Is it all just attention seeking...

I got asked a few weeks ago, and not for the first time, why I want to run ultramarathons. Is it for me or to impress others? It got me thinking...

I use social media regularly to let everyone, whether they're interested or not, know what training, races etc I've got planned. I blog, I talk about running. So is it for attention?

 I don't perceive myself as a particularly popular person, I was always one of 'the invisible' children at school, not bright enough to be top of the class, not troublesome, I went, did what was asked of me and went home again. Also my social skills were and still aren't amazing, being in large groups of people is uncomfortable. There is always that worry I'll say something stupid and so I tend to keep quiet. It takes me a long time to really be comfortable enough to open up to people. I'm not the life and soul of the party so I always assume if I'm not around I'm not missed. I'm not writing all this for approval or for anyone to tell me I'm wrong. I'm 42 and have got used to and accepted the person I am and I'm mostly happy with that. 

So how does this all fit in to the original question. Do I run ultramarathons to get attention... I'm not going to say I don't like the attention, but I like it in that it is usually by way of giving me support for whatever crazy challenge I've got myself into! 

But surely ultrarunning by it's nature is an anti social hobby, I am more than happy to go to bed early on a Saturday night, get up early on a Sunday morning and spend several hours running around the countryside by myself. I enjoy the solitude, the thought that no one knows where I am, the peace and quiet. Even during a race, especially an ultra I often find myself running for many hours alone. I am happy alone, conversation doesn't always come easily. So hours alone with just the odd horse or cow to talk to is ok.

      Peace and solitude 

I will always be grateful and amazed by the support I receive from friends and family for my endeavours and long may it continue, but if there were no Facebook, Twitter or blogging, if no one was interested in my running would I still run ultramarathons? Well that's an easy question to answer...

Yes, of course I would, there are still so many races to do, places to explore and distances to see if I can conquer...

Happy running xx 

Essex Boot Camp and more running...

Another week of training is done, bringing me to 606.95 miles for the year. The last four weeks have been tough and I seem to have been constantly going out for the next session on tired legs. The good thing is that I still haven't missed a session, I can usually stick to the suggested pace and get the mileage in, so this has given me confidence that after two weeks of tapering I will be refreshed and ready to get that new PB at Halstead Marathon.

On Saturday I managed a new PB at Colchester Castle Parkrun thanks to being paced round by Lindley. 

     Colchester castle Parkrun (photo by Neil Wray)

Sunday was a 10 mile marathon paced run, really enjoyed it, felt good and tried some new gels (TorQ) which tasted great and didn't upset my stomach, so last week was a really good, happy training week!

As well as running lots of miles I also train twice a week with Essex Boot Camp, I have been doing this for nearly four years (I never stuck to the gym for more than a few months!). I still enjoy every session and it really compliments my running, helping to improve strength and mental toughness. Sessions are an hour long, outside, whatever the weather and no two sessions are the same, which is why I still look forward to going. I know I will be pushed by the instructors so even as I get fitter it doesn't ever get easier!!  

    6am workout with Essex Boot Camp 

So the next two weeks will involve slightly less running and some boot camp as I taper ready for Halstead. 

     Train Hard No Excuses 

Have a good week and happy running xx