CANALATHON 100K 2018
CANALATHON 100K
This was booked as replacement for the DNS at the Chester 50 three weeks ago due to lurgy. But the last 10 days saw the return of said lurgy and on Tuesday I had to go docs, had I not of got that appointment, chances are this would of been a DNS also as breathing due to chest infection was rubbish. Antibiotics & steroids though put me back together again. A few test runs confirmed all would hopefully be ok.
The event started at 7 am in Sowerby bridge, you run along the Rochdale canal all the way to Manchester and back again. Weather was perfect for it. Went through registration which is when your given your goody bag which includes a waist belt, drawstring bag & buff, all emblazoned with the event organisers logo, Cannonball . I did not even look inside at this point due to the fact your medal is also in the bag. Given your medal before you even start, what’s that about. I did not want to tempt fate so refused to even open the goody bag and had I of had a DNF, the medal would of been handed back in. Medals are earned and should be given once you’ve crossed the finish line, not at registration.
We started right on time at Sowerby cricket club, I had on T shirt, shorts and wore New Balance 1080’s, the first time they have been used in anger though have had lots of training miles. Also had a new backpack with mandatory kit.
Fuelling was cocktail sausages, pork pie and jelly babies. Just as well as cannonball make a thing of making sure all food at checkpoints is suitable for vegans, I’m not a vegan but I pay the same entry fee as a vegan, why are mine and other meat eaters tastes not catered for.
The race.
50 of us started the 100k, a bit later the 75k race would start at the same place and the 50k would start in Manchester.
The whole point of this event for me was as a training run for the upcoming Thames Path 100 so I wanted to put in a good solid run and hopefully feel that I could carry on at the end. Tactics were to keep in low heart rate zone 2 and to get to 50 miles hopefully around 10 hours, something I’ve not done before.
After winding through a few streets in Sowerby we find ourselves on the canal, navigating should be very simple from herein. It was. Straight away my heart rate was at high zone 2 and going into zone 3. Higher than I’d of liked but I put it down to all the recent lurgy. I felt ok though, breathing was good so I plodded on ignoring the Heart rate. Paces for the first 15 miles were sub 10 min miles, I should of trusted the heart rate and slowed down a bit, but all felt very good. It felt like the majority of the runners overtook me early on but I just let them go. During this first 15 miles I saw sharon at the first checkpoint, I hadn’t eaten much at this stage so just changed the water bottle and she put tape on my neck as the backpack was rubbing on the left side of my neck. Was still doing it when I saw her again a few miles later when she adjusted some straps and from then on all was good.
After 15 miles i just plodded on to the next checkpoint at 21 miles. This time all food and water was changed. There was no hanging around at checkpoints, was only there for as long as it took to sort the food etc out.
The next 10 miles was the stretch to the halfway point. Up to now it had been a really nice route, i thought that long on the canal path would be all doom and gloom but it wasn’t. It’s a very nice canal which passes through some nice countryside. Also in these last 10 miles i had all the 50k runners coming passed me. They were a nice supportive bunch. At 26 miles, the person leading the 100k came flying passed me, which means in the same time as me, he’d done 36 miles to my 26. Impressive.
The last 5 miles into Manchester was notable for 2 things. 1, you run on the flat to a lock then drop down, flat, lock, drop down etc, so you knew on the way back your going up, flat, up, flat etc. And the 2nd thing, gone has the nice scenery, this was the canal of debris, was grim and littered with manc youths in groups. Though I guess it’s nice that these groups are admiring our waterways and not at home on the X box.
Halfway point arrives and the next meeting with Mrs S who after replenishing my stocks produced a fine act of support duty by producing a Cadburys Cream Egg. Oh my, was that good.
Now it’s time for the return journey, halfway doesn’t really bother me as once you turn around you can count the miles down, all 31 of them. I should add that I could feel the legs starting to get heavy after only 20 miles, I put this down to spending the last month in a very ploddy Zone 2, pretty much all runs have been like that recently plus theres been no races of late, it felt like I was lacking match practice. So I had decided that on the way out of Manchester I would walk up the little roses at all the locks. And that’s exactly what I did.
The next aim was to get to the next checkpoint at 42 miles, 11 miles away. When other checkpoints are 10 miles apart, 11 seems a long way. Time to keep plodding away. The legs were getting proper heavy by now but I carried on and even started to catch people up. These were people who had passed me on my way into Manchester, so either I’m moving very well or they were feeling worse than me. By the time I reached the checkpoint I had reeled in 4 or 5 of them with no one overtaking me. At this checkpoint it was Cream Egg No2. Cream eggs at checkpoints are the future I tell you, take note organisers.
Onto the next checkpoint, back fully into the nice countryside and I knew if I get this 9 mile leg out the way then it’s in the bag. I continued to walk up the locks but there was also more walking elsewhere creeping in. My mile split times were dropping considerably but I wasn’t stressed about it as I had, up to now been way ahead of the cut off times. I pretty much adopted the walk for 0.1 or 0.2 sometimes of each mile then try to plod the rest. I was happy enough with this as its what’s needed at the Thames Path 100. Just before the checkpoint at mile 52 was a nice big boost. My aim was to get to 50 miles around the 10 hour point, again, a good first 50 is what’s needed at TP100. I got to 50 miles in 8:50:14. Was very happy with that. That’s the quickest 50 I’ve ever done.
Made the checkpoint, restocked and though no Cream Egg there was a non vegan ham sandwich provided by Sharon, not by the organisers and it was lovely.
I had still been catching a few folk up which was nice and this leg had in it an extra checkpoint at mile 58. So plod for 7 miles, it’s really a boost when the next checkpoint is not as far away as previous. I got to that checkpoint with the same walk / run strategy. Again no one had over took me and I had caught about 10 but one of them was in the 75k race.
A brief stop at the checkpoint then it was the small matter of the 4.5 miles to the finish. Doesn’t sound much when you’ve already done 58 miles but you know they will still hurt. The legs at this stage, did hurt, but only in a tired way.
With about 3 miles to go I caught and passed someone else, he was the last I would pass, it was 11 nil to me. Though a quick glance behind me I saw someone I’d passed earlier gaining on me. That only meant one thing, it was game on, I wont let him pass me. Which means abandoning the walk/run and just blooming well run. It hurt but I wasn’t giving in. Then with a quarter of a mile to go, he passed me, nowt I could do about it but boy had he made me work in those last few miles.
Arrived back at the cricket club and crossed the line to be reunited with Mrs S and my up to now unseen medal which was placed around me because I’d now earned it. Medal at the end, as it should be.
Results
50 started. 36 finished and I was 17th in a time of 11:18:42 and my first ever category win, 1st in the M50 cat. Pretty chuffed with that.
Overall I think it went very well, considering the last month we’ve had with the lurgy there’s certainly no reason to complain. The legs were knackered at the end, but not injured. On reflection I think I should of trusted my Heart rate a bit more in the first 15.
Breathing and general health throughout was very good. There was also no mind demons whatsoever, it’s very easy to have mind demons on these types of distances and certainly when it’s an out and back. But it all went very well indeed.
Huge thanks as also goes to Mrs S, she did a fantastic job at the checkpoints and cropped up in a few unexpected places which is also a major boost. She is also the brains behind everything I do running wise. Thank you very much Sharon xx.
