Thames Trot 50 Training

NID !!!!!!! how are you?? long time no post *waves frantically*

Stick with the Thames Trot Laura - I've done lots of stuff in the hills and on the coast and love that kind of stuff but the TT is a nice event. Local for you (me also actually) Flat is good when you start into ultra  and its a fine course. The Thames is stunning in nice weather.  It also has the benefit you can train over the course if you want. Getting lost is a possibility (remarkably) and finishing in the dark is likely if you are slow so worth checking out the later stage if possible.

idly checked on the sign up page and panicked when it said no further entries accepted, so entered on the RW website which went through, then after that the race website was accepting entries again... weird...  but it made me realise i do want it  see you there !

see yo there Laura if not before

go do it NID !...see you there?

Not much if its just to the shops and back

As someone else said - time on feet is important - longer is good but you have to balance against risk of injury. If you interspace with walking you can probably go longer. Its really so personal - we can all say what works for us but it may not work for you - there are lots of training strategies. Get to 5 hours on your feet walking where necessary is my advice.

If you intend to walk some then experiment with run walk strategies. On the Thames path its easy to stick with what you choose as the hills don'ty throw you off your timing. People use different intervals - google around for examples. I used to use 25/5 run/walk gradually dacaying to 15/15 run walk eventually ending at 100/100 walk walk. Some like 4/1 run walk - there are lots of options.

When I've been injured I've found value in just walking 25 miles at maximum speed. But watch out you end up with with new walking injuries - its not the same leg action and the blister points are different too.

One of the draws of this game is that its a matter of learning what works. Test the eating bit too! Actually test everything!

Hello all!  Thought I'd check into this forum, as I entered TT a few weeks ago.  I've done five marathons, Beachy Head 4 days ago most recently.  That felt like an ultra, with the wind!  But lots of fun.

I've been chatting to the ultra runners at my club, who recommend doing some long back to backs (eg 20m each), rather than really long training runs (eg 30+).

I'm in Bath, not Oxford, so rather envious of these long runs planned in the forum!

Anyway, I'll just get on with increasing mileage, happily eating and running comes easily to me, and I'm used to carrying a pack etc.

Any other good tips from the others who have done it before?

Thanks

Hi LLB and Laura,

I haven't checked in for a while (too busy at work to spend any time on the forums). My early mornings during the week are really early (4:30am starts), but it would be good to meet up for the occasional long run at the weekend. I'm right next to the river in the centre of Oxford so not too far from Laura and easy to find for LLB (or anyone else).

I tend to run on the road during my early morning runs (for safety's sake), so I definitely need to do some off-road running whenever it's light.

4.30am's pretty impressive. I shall consider my 5am a lie in

NiceIronDad wrote (see)

4.30am's pretty impressive. I shall consider my 5am a lie in

dare i say it NID...thas coz you is a TRI bod and us girls are tough.......*ducks as NID chucks spanner from his expensive bike at me*

jason d wrote (see)

Unfurled= unfuelled, but I was probably pretty unfurled as well

i took them both as meaning the same Jason i felt like unfurled for 2 days after the 50miler

Well done baljc - those are amazing times!

By the way, I ran the path from central Oxford to the outskirts of Abingdon yesterday where it was so flooded that I had to turn round and run back again (luckily just as I hit the half way point of the distance I was planning to run). 16 miles, the first and last 2 of which were on concrete paths, but the rest was a complete mud-fest (with swampy bits). I've never done such a hard run (and two months ago I entered an off-road marathon just for fun!). It was completely draining - not sure I can take 50 miles of that. Anyone know what the path is like after Abingdon?

The bit you did into Abingdon is the worst, after that it does get better. Still mostly off road and it can be a bit muddy in places though, but not the quagmire you get near Abigndon. This year the trail was frozen solid for the Thames Trot which made life easy.

Well it was frozen for a bit until the snow kicked in later on