Country to Capital 2013

Matt - Yes. Do not drop off your tempo runs and faster sessions too much. A lot of people just go out and run miles and miles, which no doubt is a good way to get fit and capable of completing and ultra. I beleive if you want to properly run one you need to be including faster sessions into your training.

Andy - good info, thanks. Are you allowed to meet someone at CP3 and swap shoes, or would that be classed as "outside assistance"? I know you can't do that sort of thing in most triathlons, but no idea about ultras.

Dill - agreed, he will suffer badly if he goes off too fast and it will be a lot less fun! But if he is very competitive in nature he'll want to race it as fast as possible, which means starting at a relatively decent pace. And even if he does go off too fast, he'll probably be able to walk the last 10-15M and finish well within the cut-off. (Famous last words - I'll probably start too fast now and DNF!)

Padams - I'm not aware of any such rules in this event.  The Fellsman has that rule I think but most ultras don't - happy to be corrected if anyone knows different.

Hows everyone doin? Ready and raring to go.

I'll be fine as soon as i shift the cold i've had since the Portsmouth mara. Had 3 days off gunna try and run tomorrow.

Bet your looking forward to RR now WiB. Not jealous much.

Slow and steady for me too. Hang on i'm always slow and steady.

 Nav looks easy so defo one to enjoy.

All

I am still debating whether to enter this as part of my MDS training - whether I do or not, I think I should note for anyone not doing a recce of the course that the area between CP1 and well after CP2 is incredibly wet and muddy right now

I live a mile or so from CP2 and am doing lots of running on the trails and offroad round here and it is very very slippy, even in my Inov8 roclites which are usually perfect offroad.....was out for over three hours in it this morning and although great fun, is very hard work

The road up to the Dumb Bell pub (think it's called Shire Lane) has also been waterlogged for over a week (ankle deep all the way across the road) - the only way to avoid getting soaking wet feet is to climb the bank into the adjoining field (which is pretty bad as well).....if it stops flipping raining sometime soon, this might clear up before race day  but not holding my breath

hope this helps

Thanks Clive - very helpful. 

I suspect is a very similar story for much of the early part of the course as well.  I ran the Pednor 10 today which shares a mile of road with C2C around mile 6 or so.  That was fine but the surrounding fields and paths look very wet - much the same as the rest of the Chilterns. 

I think we need to hope for a really cold spell so the ground freezes like it did last year.  If it stays like it is now it will be very hard work indeed and I think times will be significantly slower than last year.

Clive - thanks for the info. I never did manage to do a recce but was assuming the first couple of legs must be pretty muddy!

My training's been going OK - managed back-to-back 20M runs a couple of weeks ago, and that wasn't as hard as I had expected. Only running about 3 times a week as the main goal for next year is Ironman, but hopefully the long rides will also have helped for this. Anyway, I'm not too bothered how I do as long as I don't get injured.

Which IM are you doing?....is this your first?

unless you are a very good cyclist already.....I would spend at least 50-60% of your training time on the bike as you sound like you have the ability to run a marathon......it's running it with fresh (ish) legs that counts

my first IM (UK) the bike leg took me over eight hours and my legs were destroyed for the run......in the build up to the race I had run more miles than I had cycled (as I was training for Comrades) and I lived to regret it.....that IM marathon was the hardest of my life......made a slightly better job at Challenge Henley this year and took over an hour off my bike time despite tearing my hamstring after 50 odd miles.....the run was interesting with the tear though....

Did a recce on the first 25 a couple of months back and it was very muddy/slippy then so can imagine what it is like now after all the recent rain 

My training has been minimal since then due to a hamstring niggle so could be a bit of a tester with heavy feet. Last year was perfect and really starting to wish I hadn't got lost and wasted the conditions, although my time was rubbish so would hope to better it this time out even if difficult under foot.

Clive - yes, I've done 2 IMs before so have a reasonable feel for the training required. I'm doing IM France this year. I'm not a great cyclist but managed to scrape under 5 hours (by 2 seconds, nicely judged!) in the second one. A slightly easier course (Austria) than the ones you've done though! My plan was to focus on running endurance for October-December for this race, then hit the bike hard for February-May. I've been consistently doing a 3-4 hour ride every weekend during the winter though.

Forecast for the next week is looking dry so I'm hoping the route gets a bit less muddy before the race. Either that or it is very cold on the day and freezes!

lets hope for no rain......was out on the course by CP2 again yesterday and it was hellishly wet and boggy.....great fun but could be interesting running the rest with wet feet

Just a note that I ran the second half of this race just before Christmas and the Paddington spur of the towpath was also very muddy in places. Could be a bit annoying for anyone planning on changing shoes...

Muddy... awesome

Still cant decide whether to go for road or trail.  I ran Round Rotherham in road this year and it was very muddy in places which resulted in me falling comedy banana slip style in the mud.  Dont fancy that as it doesnt look like there are showers at the finish.

I'd go for trail Catherine.  I ran the 4 miles or so from Chesham to Latimer yesterday and bits of it were very muddy indeed - I wouldn't want to do it in road shoes.

And I think the muddiest bits are actually later on closer to CP2......