Bicton Blister 10

I got another off road race in yesterday, called the Bicton Blister.  It's 10.25 mile multi-terrain race on Woodbury Common in East Devon, starting and finishing at Bicton College.  The start and finish are short road sections, with the remainder of the race being on sandy, stony and muddy paths across the Commons of East Devon.  There is also "The Bicton Lite" which is the Bicton Blister's little Brother and is 4.5 miles with the same start and finish but less distance on the Commons.

After The Drogo last week, I searched around for another off road race and this came up as recommended.  I have heard of the race before, but usually don't even look at it as it's off road.  Due to this, I had missed the online entry cutoff so had to enter on the day, which is what I did.

There were 431 people who the 10 miler and 78 who did the "lite" version, so again it's a relatively big event.  I got around in 1:31:51 which I was quite pleased with really, although I did struggle on a couple of the hills.  I covered the last mile, which was on road, in about 7:30 so I was pleased I finished strong.  I got caked in mud though!

A massive highlight for me was when we were winding down through some woods at around 5 miles on a tricky section and in the distance I heard what sounded like bagpipes.  I thought my mind was playing tricks on me as I couldn't see anyone playing, and I had just about convinced myself that it must be someone with a good sound system of some sort.  However, the music got louder and I turned a corner and suddenly these 2 bagpipe players came into view.  It was a great thing for such a local race in the middle of nowhere and really put a spring in my step for the next mile or so!

The profile of the race is below and is quite challenging, I think.

I know I've only done 2 of these and they're not 'A races' for me but I find I'm enjoying them even though I wasn't quite in the right frame of mind for it yesterday for some reason.  For example, I find I turn up and don't have any nerves on the start.  Usually for halfs or marathons I'm quite nervous on the start line so I'm hoping this new mindset will transfer into my 'A races'.

Compared to what I'm used to, they seem more like adventure courses than a 'race' as such.  For example I splashed through some obstacles that can really only be described as bogs, scrambled up and down some very rocky trails and tried picking the quickest route through some thick woods. Great stuff.  Don't get me wrong; I know many people do race them and some are stupidly quick!!

I think because one off-roader can't really be compared to another it's more a case of me just doing my best on the day rather than rigidly trying to stick to a specific pace.  There's certainly no time to relax on these courses and although I'm relatively slow I'm hoping it'll help with my road running in terns of strength, but we'll see.  I am hoping that when I run a flat half marathon, it will seem much easier compared to these off road races.  That's the plan, anyway!

A bit of a break, but I'm back to it

After DMV I had a two or three weeks off, as I was feeling a bit despondent....not to mention very tired!  However, I'm back to it now as I did 38 miles week and 32 miles the week before.

There has been quite a bit going on and below is a quick summary.

parkrun have a London marathon promotion
As I have mentioned a couple of times, I'm getting quite into parkruns.  I have now done 14 parkruns in total, and they have a promotion on at the moment where if you compete or marshall at 8 parkruns in a row between Saturday 26th October 2013 to Saturday 14th December 2013 you're in with a chance of getting a place in London marathon for 2014.  It is Saturday 26th October 2013 to Saturday 14th December 2013 very slim odds, but you've got to be in to win it.  With the marshalling points I got via my Club, I do still have two chances for a place in London.

The only slight concern was that my "home" parkrun was getting very muddy and I was getting no where fast using my usual road shoes, although I was enjoying the events.  However, it is my birthday soon and my wife kindly bought my some trail shoes which have really helped and I've got out 3 times with them.

Speaking of trail shoes...
...I got a 10-mile off road race in yesterday called The Drogo 10, which is a tough trail race around Castle Drogo.

I entered the event on a bit of a whim on Saturday night, not knowing very much about it and had presumed it was a reasonably small event (i.e., a couple of hundred at most).  However, there were well over 500 entrants who had pre-registered so it was bigger than I had expected and with entrants on the day they may have got close the 550 limit.

I bumped into a few people who I knew, and they had completed the event before so there was lots of chat about the course and there was a great atmposhere before the gun went off.  I had checked the route profile before the event and had decided to go off steady and see how I felt on the inclines.  

I had also intended to keep in sight of a fellow club mate who is a similar standard to me on half marathons (he didn't know of my plan to try and keep him in sight!).   However, within the first mile it was clear I wasn't going to keep up with him as he was like a mountain goat going down the hills whereas I.....urrrm, wasn't.

In the first couple of miles I was warned that there would be congestion as we had to cross a stile and also a bridge in single file, but that was fine.  I (and everyone else around me) probably lost about a minute or two here, so nothing to worry about.  However, if this race gets put into the Club Championship (which it has in the past) I'd probably start further forward in an effort to lose less time here.

I got to mile 3 and the hill just reared up, and it was muddy/stoney.  At this point I thought about running it, but I knew there was another massive hill at mile 8 so I decided to walk and conserve energy, as did most other people around me.  There were a couple of people who were gamely trying to run it, but I found myself overtaking them anyway as I walking (I have long legs).

At the top of the hill, I found myself in a group of about 20 people who were all more or less my ability and we were having a bit of banter and it was a great atmosphere.  I was secretly trying to pick off a few people, and I'm sure there were others who were trying to pick me off, which is all fine and to be expected 

At about mile 5 there was a steep descent and this was probably the biggest learning experience for me as I was incredibly wary going down here as it was really dodgy underfoot, whereas other people (who I had just passed) were bounding down and re-overtaking me.  If I'm to get better at these events, I need to figure out how to run down these hills!  On the positive, my new trail shoes were fine and gave plenty of grip.  My issue was a confidence one.

From mile 6-8 it was a flat section along the river (still muddy/stoney) and I repassed a few people and I got into a bit of a rhythm.  There were a couple of small rivers/lakes crossing the path so we got soaked, but it was all good.


Mile 8 came around and I again took on the same strategy and walked it, and even with this my legs were feeling like jelly by this point.  However, at the top of this there is only a mile or so to go and I pushed on at the top and finished strong.


I finished in a time of 1:34:06, which I'm quite pleased with really.  I know I'm not going to break any records, but it was a great event and I'd do it again.

The chap I was going to try and keep up with did it in just over 1hr30mins, so there is room for improvement.  Also, if I had known I was going to do the event I probably wouldn't have run 12 miles on Friday night and a reasonably quick parkrun on Saturday.


Here is a screengrab of the profile from my Garmin:

Here is a quick pic of me snapped my a club mate who was spectating: