Another month closes. Eight weeks gone in 2010.... time flies! A very busy weekend for me with a marathon on Saturday and a coaching day for 'Virgin London Marathon' on Sunday.
But first, the marathon!
Mark Hughes, Cat Archer and myself headed to South Devon to toe the line in another stage of the tough Endurancelife Coastal Marathon Series. South Devon was stage 4 of 7. Race start was at the coastal resort of 'Beesands' approximately 8 miles from Kingsbridge. A really beautiful part of the world. To be honest, seeing the weather forecast on Thursday and Friday, I had some concerns about Saturday. However, despite torrential rain during Friday night and early Saturday morning, the day turned out to be quite stunning.
Of course we all came prepared and I would imagine that probaly 90% of the field were a little too hot during the event (me included).
Race briefing was 8:30 and then we started on time at 9am. We headed west on the coastal path, clicking to the rock face to our right and vertical drops to the sea on our left. To be honest I am pretty sure all entrants felt like stars.... the race was being covered by Sky Extreme Sports and we were regularly buzzed by a helicopter with cameraman hanging out and filming the action.
The first 12 miles was narrow, muddy, rocky, technical and quite tough, but to be honest many thought that this was 'easy' in comparison to many of the other Coastal Trails. Of course I knew that we had to have a sting in the tail and of course, after a section of road we were soon back on rutted muddy trail.
The sting was hills and lots of them.... nothing too steep but the ups and downs came regularly. It was all a matter of pacing and many of the early ''Hares' were reeled in from around mile 20.
I had decided prior to this race that I would not push too hard BUT I would 'race' today. I ran a consistent pace and it was only in the last mile (the 27th) that I suffered a little cramp. This was primarily due to dehydration. I was way too hot during the event. I crossed the line in 4:22:49 for 7th place. Cat came in on 5:0010 for 44th place and Mark shortly after in 5:02:16.
Both Mark and Cat had great races.mark has consistently improved his form over the marathon distance. Cat had a tough start to the race after a few muscle issues but she pushed on through and ran a very strong second half. A great weekend. All three of us will now line up in Paris on March 20th for the 80km EcoTrail de Paris - can't wait!!
Other News:
Some really key training news from the last week! Firstly, Richard and Julie racked up 50+ mile weeks in preparation for Paris Marathon in early April. Great work guys! You know as I do, getting those miles in now are going to make race day so much easier.
Laura went out today, Sunday. and knocked out her longest run so far.... 3 hours! Not only was this a major mile stone for her but I got a text message to say how well it had gone; perfect!
This coming week on March 4th is the 5th annual training camp at Club La Santa in Lanzarote. This camp always comes at a perfect time. This year the timing seems to be even better! We have had the most disrupted wet, cold and snowy three months for a long time, so, 7 days of Sun is going to be perfect. March is always perfect for an early season run, triathlon or multi-sport campaign and so 7 days of training and rest is ideal. 2010 sees the addition of Martin Yelling and Olympian, Liz Yelling on the coaching staff. This is a major benefit for all involved. Places for 2011 are going to go fast; guaranteed.
The next update will come live from the sun, so watch this space. Have a great week.
Ian
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