Excalibur Trail Marathon 2015 - 1st

Excalibur is a trail marathon in the Clwydian hills for the Claire House charity. It's pretty tough as trail marathons go with 1700m ascent or about 5500ft. The highest point is 500 and odd meters but lots of short sharp climbs soon add up! Trails are fairly easy going, a few bits of rocks here and there some grassy fields but on the whole good tracks. Lots of well stocked checkpoints and course markings and marshals were fantastic! Really well organised too! 

On the day it was pretty warm and there was a quick kit check before a briefing. The race also has a half marathon option which shares the same start for about 1 mile. It was great to catch up with plenty of friends who were doing the various races once again! From the start there was about 7 of us in a small group, I was having a glance around at the numbers to see who was doing the half and who was doing the marathon, turns out at the split everyone else turned on to the half route so I was alone leading the marathon. After a couple of minutes just before a steady ascent on a wide trail I heard some heavy breathing and some loud feet then had a couple of runners on my shoulder. A little bit of chat and it seemed like they were working quite hard to maintain the pace up the climb. As we reached the top I moved ahead and began to create a gap.

In terms of pacing I'd expected to take about a minute per mile off my time from 2014 which I won in 4.03. On a good day and a bit of effort something around 3.30 would be possible. For today I expected a little slower than that around about 3.40 with the upcoming Bolton Hilly Marathon and Scafell Pike Marathon on the 6/7th June. I wasn't really sure on any particular split times from last year but felt like I was moving well. It was great to see Laura and David from Sport Sunday taking photos on the course! Excellent and supportive as always! www.sportsunday.co.uk has all the official photos! 

The course is pretty consistently up and down, not many flat sections, I'd say 4 bigger climbs but plenty of shorter sharper ones to go at too in between. After a few miles the  course joins back to the half marathon runners so I was gradually moving through the field which was nice to have people to chat to during the run. Everyone was very encouraging and seemed to be enjoying the day! As we reached about half way at the furthest point of the course I could see 2nd place in the distance so kept the pace on over the next few miles so he didn't get any ideas. 

The longest climb coming up from about 20 miles to 22.5 miles I thought would be an ideal point to put a bit of effort in and make sure there was still a good gap. I looked back from the top and thought I must have about 3 minutes to play with. Knowing the route, it undulates another 2 miles before Moel Famau. I kept a steady pace and enjoyed the final miles towards Moel Famau just shy of 2 miles from the finish and all down hill from here. I had a quick chat at the checkpoint there and looked back... Would I need a sprint finish? .... No sign of 2nd place so I must have had a couple of minutes gap at least. I jogged it down to the finish knowing that for someone to make up a minute per mile on me (or more) whilst I was doing just under 7 min miles would be a big ask.  

I finished in 3.42 so about 21 minutes quicker than last year. I knew it'd be a quicker time than 2014 and was around about where I expected. I also ran 20km the week before taking in the bigger climbs of the route and even at a comfortable pace was quick on all the ascents compared to the previous year so I was confident on my prediction. I'd also picked up a 2nd place in the Harrock hill 8.5km race during the week which was my best time there too. I didn't realise how hot it was on the day and should have taken some electrolytes in hindsight. 

If you're after a tough but friendly and well supported trail marathon, this is one to look at! 

Garmin Forerunner 310XT, GPS Watch Review

Today I thought I would throw together a quick review on my Garmin 310XT. I have had it for over 1 year and wear it most days (for any cycling or running I do) The battery is rechargeable with a usb cable. It has lasted about 18hours when actually recording.

The Garmin 310 XT

I bought the watch as a way of measuring and recording my distances and speed (or lack of?) mainly when running. It is available with and without a heart rate monitor strap (HRM). I don't tend to use this as I find it a bit awkward, seems to be fine for the majority of the time but every now and again I would glance at it and see something like 235bmp even after I have set up my max and resting heart rate. I would be willing to put money on the fact that my heart wasn't doing anything quite so extreme during a steady, long run.

The functionality of the watch I find absolutely great! It can be set to record running, cycling or 'other' eg swimming or skiing or whatever else you might get up to, being waterproof it is ideal for those outdoorsy types or anyone that might end up submerged during their Saturday morning run.

Basically on each activity you can set the display to show whatever you wish from a long list of options such as; speed, pace, elevation, time, time of day, heart rate, total distance (always a killer when you check about an hour into a 100 mile race)  and so on. For intervals I usually have last lap pace (you can set the laps automatically according to distance or time or just manually by pressing the lap button), last lap time, last lap distance. The watch has heaps of configurative possibilities, far more than I have used so should satisfy any technology loving creatures out there!

The back light is great!

I find the watch pretty consistent usually, my run to work on the usual route is always within a few meters.Things like the elevation also being consistent when doing the same route multiple times. It picks up signal as quick as I can put my shoes on if I am outside, if you're planning on running in the gym on a treadmill the GPS might not be the best choice! (Although jokes aside there is a foot pod which I DON'T have, apparently able to measure cadence etc incase your treadmill doesn't have a display?)

 It has been incredibly durable, the only small problem is the little bit on the strap that holds the tail of the 'excess' strap snapped off, I have continued to use it like this for about 6 months or so, so it is obviously not a major problem! Being generally a bit rough with things this has been dropped probably a couple of times per week and is still going strong. It's pretty comfy to wear, I saw some of the other GPS watches and they looked huge, this isn't too bad and I don't have the biggest wrists in the world! It can be seen in action below.

A quick search and it's going for under £150 now. Last year I clocked just over 10,000km with the watch on (running and cycling) so it cost me about 2p per km if my maths is any good at this time of night? Bargain!

The Garmin wirelessly transmits data to the computer and uses an on-line interface called 'Garmin connect'  here you can see each individual activity on a map with split times etc, reports of all your data sorted how you like eg, monthly mileage totals for each activity in a nice little table to print off and stick on the fridge, or a calendar of your training, for example this particular week in October last year I ran 220km with the watch in the week. The time and average speed represents total time so where I may have forgot and not stopped the watch it would continue to record so just remember to do that if you want to keep real accurate records. I tend to use it all just to look back on as I train to how I feel and to what race schedule is like rather than trying to hit so many miles each week.

Time Period	Count	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Avg Speed
17/10/2011	6	220.30	25:07:47	4,365	8.8	--	--	--	15,815

 Another really useful feature of the watch is the ability to download a GPX file on to the watch and follow a course (if  you are too lazy to navigate, or just want it for back up to ensure you don't get lost). Good if you know the route before hand, not so important if you are doing Warrington Half Marathon fenced in onto the roads, but more useful if you were perhaps recceing a section of the Bob Graham Round or something. You can plot points in so If you know the location of a check point you could plot that in and be able to set the watch to point towards it keeping you on track. Although I would reccomend learning to navigate and still carrying map and compass etc if you are venturing into the wilderness, what if your watch failed?

To summarise, there isn't a feature I can think of that needs to be added, it has survived over 1 year with me which is quite rare for most fancy gadgets, battery life is still pretty good, combined with a solar charger which are pretty cheap to pick up it would suit multi day events such as Marathon Des Sables or Gobi challenge. Heaps of incredibly useful features, more than you are likely to use, one thing I forgot, you can plan a session on the watch or computer and the watch will display the instruction and automatically keep the time and use a series of beeps and alarms to keep you on time and at your target pace etc. eg if you wanted to do Tabatta intervals you could set the beeps for 20 sec sprint and 10 sec rest x8 and the watch would alert you when you have finished. There are other options available with regards to brands and styles, I chose this as it was the top of the range at the time and waterproof, had a back light and longer battery than most!

Hope you find this useful you can get the watch on Amazon HERE


Any comments or questions specifically drop them in the comment form below or pop me an e-mail!

Grantham Ultra 2x29 milers March 10th + 11th

Nice early start on Saturday morning leaving home just before 6am and cruising down to Cotgrave near Nottingham

Just after passing a sign 'Leicestershire, the heart of rural England'

Basically... Day 1 run from Cotgrave (just outside Nottingham) to Grantham following mostly canal path, then day 2, repeat the same course in the opposite direction! It's pretty flat and was fairly good ground to run a good pace, part of the canal was grassy track which was a tad slippy but nothing the road shoes couldn't handle.

Jen, awaiting victims!

Day 1 start was quite steady with about a group of 5 staying together for nearly the first 10k I moved on ahead just before the first checkpoint and didn't see anybody until the end (apart from Gaynor Prior out for a leisurely jog down the Grantham Canal!)  It would have been pretty difficult to go wrong on this course, there was plenty of those awkward gates (designed to deter cyclists?) to weave through and interrupt your rhythm, one of which a cyclist coming towards me tried to hurry through as he had seen my race number and managed to get tangled up good style. I hopped over the fence and he was very apologetic.

That thorn went through my shoe into my foot and dropped me!

All was going well I hit marathon distance about 12seconds off what I expected (@ 3.09 and 48 sec)  apart from a minor incident with a thorn, going through my shoe into my foot it felt like I had been stung by a Jelly fish! Pulled it out and got back up and it was a little sore for a moment although I soon forgot about it. Ran on and passed a section of the Viking Way (got a long race along that in April, just shy of 150miles) before a hotel came into view, here it was about 1km to the finish and I felt pretty good having not run at a pace that was too extreme. in 3.32 and some seconds.

Trophy for 1st on day 1

After that I promptly downed about 1l of water and some of Claire Trinders flapjack, now world famous in Grantham. Thanks Claire! Washed it down with 2 pints of milk and a lemonade and more flapjack. Vale my friend from Italy was 1st lady today who unfortunately couldn't stay for both days, only her 2nd ultra, very impressive 4hours 14 min if I remember correct?

After that we moved on for a quick feed involving Wetherspoons finest gammon steak. After that headed to my accomodation (about 4km from the race start/finish) which was nice and clean and just what I needed. The bathroom was a bit on the small side (I couldn't stretch my arms in any direction, what I imagine a caged hen to feel like) but it was perfect and did the job (I basically drank tea and slept) the shower bathroom combo was about 1m square or the size of a large fridge, all nice and clean and I would stay there again.

Day 2 the legs felt ok I had a little bit of breakfast and a 9 bar before heading out the door onto the start line. I walked the first km while I drank a pint of milk and then jogged slowly on to the start line, arriving just in time about 8.45. The weather was warm already and the sun was beaming!

Grantham Church day 2 am

Day 2, scenery very much like day 1 only seen from the other direction! I planned to run a little slower today as it felt surprisingly warm and I haven't really got used to running in any kind of heat yet this year (compared to say Autumn when you have spent all Summer running in 'warmer' temperatures) so took it steady and took on more water than I normally would which left me feeling strong towards the end. I rolled in 3hours 48mins and took home a trophy for 3rd on day 2. It was very warm at the finish there and I bet it came as a shock to some of the runners out for a little longer. I saw the paper today, it reported 18 degrees recorded in Nottinghamshire yesterday! Ideal for those Marathon des Sables (MDS) training ;)

The trophies/medals from the weekend.

Rory took a heap of photos too http://www.flickr.com/photos/ultraracephotos/sets/72157629189595862/  I have a couple more on my phone from the actual race, I'll pop them up soon! Between finishing day 1 and running day 2 I had approx  6 litres of tea/water/juice and the milk!