CM33 Personal Training

The Beyond Marathon Offa’s D**e Path race report

The race report would be too long for Instagram so I have posted the full race report on Facebook
You can read the full race report on on the page

Not the post I wanted.

Beaten and broken, My path cut short at checkpoint 2 at 34 miles.
I will do a longer report on this over the coming days.

For now it's just heading home, recovering and deciding on where I go from here

**e

From the chaos on the floor or all the kit, into an organised chaos in bags.
The stress of going through everything and thinking what have I got, what haven't I got, do I need more, do I need less.
Going through different bags trying to work out which one is best to take as my drop bag and is it within the limits of what we are allowed.

Just a few little bits remain, mainly food and drinks shopping this morning to help fuel me through.

As I got up this morning the rain is falling as well, another thing to factor in, for most this can be a good sign with cooler temperatures as long as it doesn't rain too much on the days of the race.
For me an absolute nightmare as I now have to think more about my feet and how I keep them in good shape as that's where I suffer most.
The feet prep has been going on and more will have to be done.
The adventure starts tomorrow with the travel down to chepstow and an overnight stay before the start on Friday

**epath

The chaos before the organisation.

The amount of time that gets put into getting mandatory kit and spare kit together.
Then it looks like a chaotic room full of kit and clothes.
What is mandatory and needed, what is spare, what is safety behind your issues (as we all have them)
Making sure everything is charged up and ready to go

Then sorting it into piles, clothes, certain drop bags, fuel, medical.

They say packing for a holiday is stressful, packing for an ultra run I would say is more stressful because you always want to take more but have to sort through everything so your not carrying too much and have enough to get you through.
Once you leave the house heading for the ultra there is no going back, if you have forgotten something that's it.
If you have packed too much, you could be weighed down.

Its always an experiment and 1 that will be happening between tonight and tomorrow night to try and get it right

**epath

Here we go, the build up begins.
On Friday 28th I will be on the starting line of Beyond Marathon offas d**e path race 185 miles
This is the Offa’s D**e Path from chepstow to Prestatyn a continual race with a 90 hour limit and just under 25,000 feet of elevation.

I will be raising money for the The Diana Award helping to raise awareness for anti bullying.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/craig-mitchley-antibullying?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL

Or click the link at the top of my Instagram page.

In June I had the fantastic event of representing Wales in the last team standing in Ireland.
I did a race report but for some reason it wouldn't upload and I forgot to write another one.

This was a great opportunity surrounded by fantastic people and a team that surpassed all expectations.
It was an awesome weekend out with a captain who inspired us all.

That was my last big run, I managed to cover 75 miles in 18 hours on a 4.167 mile loop being on this start line in the hour every hour.

Why does this post come now.
Well that run was part of a process and training onto what is coming next week.

You will find out tomorrow what that is and I will be posting all the build up to it.
An exciting week ahead

Not quite the post or result I was after.
They say if you can walk the walk then don't talk.

But the other side to that is challenging yourself in ways you couldn't imagine possible.
Taking on the tunnel I knew would be one of my biggest challenges not only because of the tunnel but because it's was fully pavement (tarmac)
Which meant I knew my quads would get very sore at some point.

Well they did and sadly I had to call it a day at 50 miles.
I will do a race report but for not yes this is a DNF because if you don't reach 200 miles then it's a Disney not finish but at the same time it was a did not fail.
Why?
Because I put my body and mind on the line where very few get a chance to.
I went for the challenge and gave it my best shot.
Currently my quads and calves are in bits.

But there are a strong group of runners still going.
When I had to drop out, of the 37 runners there was only 1 other runner who had to drop out and again that was at 50 miles.
That tells you how strong the runners are.
Sometimes you have to put yourself on that line and see what you can do and I did that

I have been rather quiet.
Training has been small and infrequent but here we go.
Tomorrow the big event of
The combe down tunnel to be exact. A 1 mile tunnel, darkness and the chance to attempt with others to reach 100 out and backs, 200 miles in total in the tunnel ultra.

Timing link will be put on tomorrow

Abingdon marathon

It has been a while.

This year my running had to go into the background as things out of my hands happened at the start of the year.
I was supposed to be chasing 12 fkts. I did go out to attempt 1 but my body was nowhere near in condition for it.
Running has been little this year with this marathon being my only official race so far.
This marathon was in the plan to meet up with my good friend as we had been trying to run marathon together for the last few years.
Both of us were a little run down but no excuses we were out on track.
The first half went well pacing wise for a 4 hour marathon but I'm the second half our bodies let us know that wasn't going to happen but we stuck together and ground out the last few miles and completed in 4 hours 29 minutes.

Does this mean I'm back?
Yes and no.
My body has been struggling for the past few months due to a lack of folic acid.
I'm now slowly building that back up but right now the focus is on getting my body right.

What does this mean?
This means that racing competitively and any fkt attempts are out for the rest of this year, as I need to get my body back to the right conditions to be able to train properly and have the energy and efficiency to do that.

Looking forward
I'm already in planning for next year and will look to announce my plans towards the end of November.

For now this was a great marathon to run and catch up with a good friend

A celebration of making 2500 miles on and also the sadness of it being the 5th anniversary of losing my younger brother.

In 2020 we lost Paul to a heart attack. I was already doing treadmill training and through found zwift.
Since 2020 I have been stepping on the treadmill doing various workouts from tabata to sprints from 5k up to half marathons. Flat and hill work.
During Covid I even did a marathon on the treadmill but that was before I had my footpod.

In just under 5 years 2500 miles and just over 341 hours of being on a treadmill doing training.

Focusing on keeping fit and healthy and trying to keep my heart in good shape.
If you feel you need a check up please go and get 1 done.

This isn't just me and the treadmill though. Yes it's just me on it but so many others help to keep me on it by inspiring actions and companies with their products as well.

There are so many people who keep me stepping up to that challenge.
Training is never over in running or life.