Long Run - 43km (An impromptu Marathon, and getting a new PB)

dannewton just finished a 43.15km run, that lasted for 280 minutes.
This run helped dannewton burn 3195.0 calories.

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Description from Strava: I'd say this Marathon was unplanned, but that wasn't strictly true. With the last 3 longs runs all being 30km (or close to that) I've been thinking about attempting the marathon distance again. The first time I did it was way back in March - The Seaside Marathon at Skegness

While I was ultimately pleased with my first Marathon attempt, the time of 5 hours and 10 minutes was slower than I had expected. THat was partly my fault as I had set off too fast, but also down to the course which had significantly long sections of sand. I had hoped to have completed it on 4 hours 30 minutes, and its been nagging me recently to try it again.

Something else to consider was that as promised in a recent post, I have now signed up to the below endurance running event:

Taking place next February, it will feature a 6km looped course, and the aim is do as many loops as possible in the space of 7 hours. It won't just be difficult in terms pf the overall distance, but having keeping going round the same loop repeatedly will be tough too. I wanted give that 'repetitive loop' idea a try, and I figured that the loop around Bracebridge Heath would be a good place to start.

The loop here is one I've run on many occasions, and is just over 5.5km long. 4 laps of that loop would equate to a Half-Marathon, and 8 laps would be the full Marathon.

As already mentioned, while I thought about trying to do the full distance today, there was room to change the plans. If I felt tired after 4 or 5 laps, then I could easy stop at the end of the lap and end the session. And if I felt good then I could keep going. Another bonus with this set up was that I would be running past my house on each lap. This meant I could leave all the drinks/snacks/supplies at home, and then help myself when needed.

Checking the weather forecast last night, I could see we were in for a lot of rain today... and so I made an effort to go to sleep early last night so I could be up at 6:30 this morning so I could at least get some laps done in the dry.

When the alarm sounded, I opened the curtains to see the gorgeous sunrise out there this morning... pretty spectacular don't you think?

When I left the house an hour later that sky had faded, and I was left with this light mist instead... oh well, at least it was still dry!

I set off at roughly 8:04am, and to begin with I had just a light running jacket on over my t-shirt. I did start with gloves too, but they quickly came off after 20 minutes after I had started to warm up

Depending on heavy the rain became later, I at least had the option to change into a proper waterproof coat if needed

I slowly meandered around the village on a route I've run many times before. Its mostly just a series of housing estates with some longer roads to connect them all up. This is Bath Road, near to where my parents live...

Bath Road leads on to Canwick Road

which in turn leads onto Redhall Lane

The first 2 loops were completed in the dry, with only a hint of drizzle appearing on lap 3

Ridgeview Road - this is one of the older housing estates (the one at Bath Road is only 20 years old, and were brand new when we moved into there).

As I started Lap 4 the heavens promptly opened, and I spent the next 20 minutes getting absolutely soaked.... I wasn't sure when I was going to pause for a drink (and snacks) but with the heavy I knew I was now stopping at the end of Lap 4.

A quick pause for snacks (and a quick bathroom break too I might as well make use of it while I was hear!). I had a Kitkat, and a Jaffa cake bar thing, and a glass of coke, before grabbing a handful of fruit pastilles for the road.

I debated about changing coats into something more sensible, but as I looked out, it appeared the rain was stopping so I decided not to. I did choose to leave my phone at home for the rest of the session, as there was no point risking my phone getting wet.

it does mean that after the below image, I took no more photos...

Right so, 4 laps down for 22km. I still felt good, and my legs felt ok. I reasoned that I'd do 2 more laps for a combined total of 34km, and then I would take another break and reassess if it was still a good idea to continue on to the full Marathon

Its a odd thing running these loops. Lap 1 was easy, and so was lap 2. Lap 3 felt quite difficult (maybe due to me overthinking the amount I still hoped to run), but lap 4 was a breeze in comparison.

In fact, Laps 5 and 6 both disappeared in a blink of an eye, and before I knew it I was back at home taking on more snacks. Still felt ok, although I had noticed that while pausing to eat, my knees had become decidedly creaky! But considering how easy the last 2 laps had felt, it was clear I was more than capable of running 42km if I wanted.

And I did want it, the split times on my watch were looking good, and I strongly expected to beat the PB from the Seaside Marathon

Passing home at the end of the 7th lap, my watch clicked over to 40km, and I realised I didn't need to do another full lap, just a little half lap would do it. And so at 12:40, 4 and a half hours after I had started, I finally finished.

Whoop Whoop!

A new time of 4 hours and 33 minutes... over 30 minutes of my previous attempt!

It wasn't just quicker though... it also felt so much easier than last time, and sat here now typing this up, I don't feel anyway near as 'broken' as I did last time. Over than general tiredness and some stiff/achy knees I feel mostly ok.

That said, This upcoming week will be mostly short recovery runs, I will still need to make sure I take plenty of rest to recover properly. Speaking of which, I'm flippin' starving! I'm off to raid the cupboards/fridge for some suitable snacks (for recovery purposes of course!)

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If you would like to check out this activity on strava you can see it here:
https://www.strava.com/activities/10158380110

About the Athlete: Living in the UK, I am an intermittent Runner, but always striving for more consistency. When I'm not training I can be found photographing insects or listening to really loud angry music (which is the best type of music obviously!)

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