Ultra-Marathon Training: 33 Days to go

This weekend saw me getting out and getting 19.8 miles in the pouring down rain.  You’re probably thinking why 19.8 miles, it is because I arsed up my km to mile calculation.  My Garmin was set to km rather than miles, and I calculated I would need to run 32km, when in fact I need to run 32.19km……damn you maths!!!!!

Never mind, it was a good run in horrible conditions and was another step on my training towards my GOAL of completing the 47 mile ultra-marathon.

Derwent Water is a great location and is about 9 miles around (not 10 like I thought!), one side, the Portinscale side, is mainly forest where the trail path is easy going, at the top of the lake it turns into marsh, which the National Park authority and National Trust have provided boardwalks to run and walk on.  Once off the boardwalks there is usually a small section of trail path before hitting the road. I say usually because on my run this weekend it was about 200m of ankle deep cold water which required me to run through.

Out on the road there is a short section along the road to the Ladore Falls Hotel, before cutting through into a natural woodland for 500m.  This eventually pops you out to run along the shore line.  With the lake being so high part of the shore line was under water meaning you need to thread your way through the forest.  Eventually the path becomes more manageable again and sits above the lake giving easy running into the town of Keswick.  Before starting again for the second loop.  The second loop is always a bit tougher because you know what is coming, like wading through the 200m of cold water.

When I hit about 17km, my legs were feeling tired, and the last 2km were tough but a plodded on throughout.

I was using High 5 energy gels for this run along with a Mcvities Chocolate Hobnob Flapjacks (a favourite of mine see my earlier blog: “5 tips for new ultra-marathon runners”.

Sunday was a day of rest and stretching, or as much rest you can have when looking after an 9 mths old!

I hope you all had good weekend adventures, let us know on Twitter (@GoCumbria), on Instagram (@gocumbriaevents) or on Facebook (@GOCumbriaEvents)!

GO and Get Outdoors And Live!

Owen