The Road To Thetford - Day 34 - a run of two half's

Given the last update was Day 21, you might be wandering what happened to the last two weeks?

Those two weeks were somewhat challenging, juggling getting my daughter sorted for holiday club, dropping her off, then cramming as work in as possible in short working days, collecting her, and heading home - quite simply I was exhausted but I have come through that and today we carry on with the training plan.

So this morning having got up at 5.30am, I did my Miracle Morning silence and affirmations before heading out on a planned eight mile run.

The sun was still rising and fighting its way past some clouds.

There was a route at the back of Limpenhoe called Marsh Road that I have always wanted to know where it came out onto the river, as in past river runs from Cantley to Reedham I never found it - I now know why as it is unmarked at the river end and it comes out beside the Cantley Sugar Factory - the road at the river end is for their vehicles.

The view of the Sugar Factory.

The river was very clear and was reflecting everything but I particularly like the The Reedcutter pub reflection.

To continue the exploration theme, I also wanted find out where the station road in Cantley led to, and ironically it was to the other side of the train station.

At Cantley Village Hall I caught sight of the church through the path and thought it was a nice photo chance.

So lots of photos, a nice easy run, and all I now need to do is run home..........and then panic as my bowels decided to give me notice of intended activity.......

I did make it home but it was painful holding on, involving lots of clenching the butt muscles, waiting for the "contractions" to ease etc, and also praying no one would be in the bathroom.

Race minus 6 days - Last training run of note completed, and Planning for the Big Day

Keeping in the spirit of last week's "reverse" run, I ran along the river from Reedham to Cantley.

It is clear summer was here, as at Reedham I saw boats moored, and their occupants enjoying the 20 degree sun, plus I passed a walker along the river, and just as I got to Cantley I was passed by a runner(!) who without a rucksack and longer legs breezed past me.

I tested out some cheap curved sunglasses I had purchased for a £5 in "Pri-Mar-Che", and the fact they were not prescription was no issue, although after 2+ hours they made the skin sore - I will try and wear them in a bit this week for the final two runs.

I had decided that I would run for two hours and then walk for an hour, so I could get that experience as on the day, it is highly unlikely I can run the whole route, and walking briskly requires slightly different muscle usage.

As expected, I did the target 10 miles in the first two hours, and covered another two miles in just over 34 minutes.  I then did a quick test to see if I could get the usual running speed, and it was no problem - if anything I was going faster.....

The key thing is to avoid stoppages where possible, and keep moving irrespective of it being a brisk walk or a run - two weeks when I ran to Great Yarmouth and caught the train back showed clearly that even within 30 minutes of inactivity, it becomes impossible to get those legs running again.

With just two easy three milers left on Tuesday and Wednesday, I now need to focus on making sure I have the kit I need for the big day.
For the Rucksack, I have broken up my requirements into four groups;
1) First Aid - Sun Cream, Bite/Sting Relief Cream, Hand Gel, Plasters, Paracetamol/Ibuprofen, my medication, Wipes - the last three I need to get.
2) Clothing - Spare running socks (3 Pairs), Waterproof Top, Mid-Layer Top, Gloves, Head Torch, Hand Torch, Spare Batteries - All sorted except Hand Torch, which a friend will lending me one of his collection.
3) Food and Drink - Two full water bottles, and Back-up Food (Jelly Babies and Salted Nuts/Trail Mix) - Jelly Babies sorted as are water bottles - just need to get some Nuts.
4) Other - Fully Charged Mobile Phone, Normal Prescription Glasses, Shuttle Booking details, IPad.  Yes, I am taking my IPad with me, so I can photograph the scenery, and as such it is likely to be in my hand a lot.
I have supermarket plastic bags to triple-bag everything as the rucksack is not waterproof but I knew that when I bought it.

I have also drawn up a list of stuff for the handover luggage bag that will be transferred from Lewknor to Avebury which will have Change of Clothes, Wash Bag, Towel, Toothbrush and Toothpaste, Sleeping Bag, a Pillow, and my shuttle booking (7am on Sunday) back to Lewknor.

The next thing I need to do is decide what route to take from Norwich to Lewknor on Friday , where I have a hotel booking.  whilst M11-M25-M40 is the quickest route, it apparently has lousy service stations after the M11, so I may well do A14-M1-M25-M40, or given I have plenty of time to get there, avoid M25 altogether and go for something for scenic.

Race minus 20 days - the last day before three weeks of tapering, plus Achievement Unlocked.....

So today the schedule was 26 miles (plus 6 miles yesterday), which I changed to 32 miles in one go, but all this was thrown out of the window with the virus I had last week, so having done 8 miles yesterday, today was about achieving as much as I could.

Given this was the last opportunity prior tapering occurs, I was determined at least to achieve a personal aim of mine to run from Cantley Sugar Factory along the river all the way to Great Yarmouth - having 2.5 miles to get to Cantley, the section between Cantley and Reedham was 3.5 miles with no nettles of pain this time because they had finally cut it all down on the route!

Another mile got me through Reedham to the Wherryman's route towards Great Yarmouth.
8 miles later, and I am in Great Yarmouth, and once I had bought a bottle of water, I killed some time running around the town centre until it was time to catch the train back to Reedham.

Nearing Great Yarmouth I had a nice chat with someone who was walking out of Yarmouth along the route, and also had to contend with green plastic "flooring" that when has no grass that slippery under foot.

Having navigated the slippery flooring, I made it to "new" haven bridge and then the end of the route, you find yourself at ASDA, but the big disappointment was finding most of the train station sealed off, no electronic displays as to when the next trains would be departing, no staff - what a way to welcome people to the town.
It was finished off with a 2.5 mile run/shuffle home - more shuffle/walk as the 30 min break made running hard, not to mention I think I had hit my limit as well.

9 mile Sunday Run, time to use sun cream, and being more practical about healthy eating

Today I took a leisurely run from home to Limpenhoe to Cantley, then along river to Reedham before returning home - just over 9 miles.

This weekend I truly mastered the the art of running slow enough for it not to be classed as an easy run, the sort of pace where you could just keep on going.

One mistake was not to put any sun protection on, so I now have the "caught the sun" look this evening - time to apply it each run from now on, unless of course it is bucketing it down.

With my weight unsurprisingly continuing to drop at the rate of about 1lb a week, one of the causes is the calorie gap caused by all the running - today I burned about 1200 calories - and this is creating upwards of 1000 calorie deficit, particularly on Sunday long run days.

So yesterday I had a chocolate Rice Krispie cake (150cal) that I made to use up some Rice Krispies that no one was eating, and today I had two plus a small choc ice!  Despite a hearty dinner, I am still below my calories but the gap will at least be smaller.

Photos of long run below;

Fields at the start of the run

Pubic footpath that diagonally cuts across three different fields before you then one more field away from Limpenhoe

Reedcutter Inn pub (Cantley) at the start of the route along the river to Reedham

The first bit passes the Sugar Factory in Cantley

A quarter of a mile of uncut path involving a lot of stinging nettles - a definite don't think about it, just run through as fast as possible and man-up when the stings kick in....

Derelict windmill with a working one in the distance

Reeds that have cut and left to dry.

Reedham Ferry Inn

Converted windmill into a "house" aka Jonathan Creek

End of the river route for me as I then turn into Reedham before heading home.