Laura and I did a “relaxed” pace marathon on the trails, with a fair bit of elevation. It was very cold when we started off but I dressed much better than last year (we both nearly froze) so was comfy throughout despite the windchill. Set off from Pevensey in the morning following the 1066 Walk. It got claggy pretty quick with the thawing mud but it was fairly flat for about 8k. There were not any bastard hills until halfway, these were all walked. I tended to run further than Laura then wait at the top so I got plenty of rests.
The last 1/3 was challenging as the mud and steep climbs were annoying but manageable, the fields by Marlin woods were un-runnable due to the slippy mud and my Altras are worse than useless in clag. I ran more of the hills in the last bits to keep warm and get a bit of a workout in. I felt surprisingly fine once we finished, no worse than finishing an easy 10k. Only had two gels plus some twiglets, 2/3 of a sausage roll and half a chew bar. Didn’t need more, drank plenty though.
4:50 moving time at 6:49 min/km but we were out for 5:39 so it was a long day! 825m of elevation too. No niggles, just tired (more from the early start I think).
Sounds like a good adventure and a great way to start the year. Difficult to gauge exactly how many training points that is worth, but you definitely don’t need to be doing 100 mins Sunday if you just fancy a shorter easier run. Will drop you a message to confirm, weather might also play a part. Well done Sam, glad it went well. And congrats to Laura as well.
Coach Simon ๐