Isle of Wight Challenge

Saturday 23rd August was my biggest challenge to date. If felt like every walk and run up till now was a practice for this the main event. A mammoth 56km (turned out to be 54.5km thanks to coastal erosion.) walk, jog and run. If you've read any previous blogs you will see there have been a number of walks and runs this year I've participated in. All of these have been practice events ensuring I'm ready for this event. 

 After a nice drive down Friday afternoon with a good crossing from Lymington to Yarmouth I was getting excited for the following day as the weather was perfect. At the same time it was starting to look very real and large when you could see from the East - Cowes all the way across to the West - The Needles. This being only around half of the event I was participating in. After a little drive we arrived at our friends house who we were staying with for the weekend and time to do one final check that I had all my belongings for the event.

Race Day

A nice early morning to get to East Cowes for registration and the start. I had a bag packed with water, High 5 energy gel packs, first aid kit and a few naughty treats. At this point all I could think was bring it on!!!

Ready at the start line.

One of my clients was also doing the event so it was nice to chat to them at the start line. I walked the first 5km with her and her friend to get into the swing on things and have a read of the map. After seeing one gentleman throwing up and his friend pull out a pack of cigarettes I saw that as my sign to turn a walk into a run.

The first drinks point was at 17km so I ran the 12km to get there asap. The first 5km walking took just over 50 minutes followed by the 12km run in 1 hour 5 minutes. SO far I was very impressed with the organisation, every single km was marked and loads of signs so you wouldn't get lost or injure yourself on any hazards.

Good job for the sign or I would have been close-lined by the branch. 

Bye 17km rest point, bring on the next 38ish km.

From here I ran and walked to the next rest stop and the halfway point at 30km. The views on this section were amazing looking out over the hills to the mainland, the needles and into the island. It was nice seeing other walkers out and about using the paths along the coastal route. Having them wish me luck along the run was a brilliant feeling and hopefully raised even more awareness for Cancer Research UK in my purple running top. 

The Needles and Alum Bay. 

At this point I was going to stop and have some food but my legs were burning. I was currently about 30km in 4 hours. I had run about 20km of that so almost a half marathon with a light rucksack on my back and so many stiles to climb over. Rather than sit and have food and drink where I would have cooled down and started to stiffen up. I just refilled my water bottles enjoyed some sweets and a few High 5 energy gel packs. The Isle of Wight's a funny place as from here it was time to go up the Downs. Setting off from around Warren farm it was a nice gentle walk up to the Tennyson Monument on the Needles Headland & Tennyson Down.  

Tennyson Monument

This point was a great feeling as for the first time in the event I was looking at a different coastline as I was now on the Southern leg of the event. Looking out over the English Channel rather than The Solent was a nice psychological change and felt like a huge milestone. I've visited the Isle of Wight most years of my life and either the sense of achievement doing the event but I've never seen the sea looking as bright blue as it was that day. The next 10km was the part of the event I was looking forward to the most as it's the part of the Island I spent a lot of time there as a child. From Freshwater to Compton Beach so many memories of playing on the beach, and skimming stones into the sea. I think this gave me an energy boost as it only took 1 hour 10 minutes to run/walk the 10km. At college I did A Level Geography and I still love it now even if it's nothing to do with being a Personal Trainer. This helped provide a big distraction along the South coast as there is huge erosion along the coastline. 

Yes the cliff falling down is a little hazard.

I really wouldn't have enjoyed being the event manager and risk assessor for this event with so many sections at risk of slipping. Action Challenge did an amazing job for the event with every little part of the run signed for you to see the correct route, avoid hazards and know how far you had run. 

The last 15km were the hardest by a long way, at this point the event was already at Marathon distance which was a PB distance for myself to have ran/walked. With the uneven ground over the route my knees and hips were really feeling the impact now and the cooling coastal wind didn't help either. BUT as each km passed and the finish got closer and closer managing to run a km, walk a few hundred meters then run a bit again, walk I was soon down to the last few km. All that was in my mind now was let me see the finish line!

Eventually after turning one last corner there it was the bright white marquee, usually I enjoy a little sprint finish. This time my legs have nothing left to give as I walked towards to finish line in what felt like slow motion. I then made myself laugh imagining the Chariots of Fire theme song going round in my head as I crossed the line. 

Finished!!!

Boom race finished!!! 54.5km in the end in 7 hours 48 minutes and 35 seconds. I had a sub 8 hour time in my head but didn't set myself a specific goal as I honestly didn't have a clue what time it would take. At first all I wanted was sleep but then when it hit me that I had finished and I had done an amazing event for Cancer Research UK I was buzzing. Plus it meant it was time to eat and relax, bring on the BBQ. 

After a long warm bath, fluids to stop my left hamstring from cramping up and a load of BBQ food I chilled out with the new Dr.Who and my trusty foam roller. A few of the positions were painful but thanks to stretching post run they weren't too bad. A bit of myofascial release with the foam roller is an amazing stretch when done correctly. 

I found the results a few days later and I was annoyed at the time posted for myself 8 hours 2 minutes but realised they scanned us before we did the warm up so their "official" time includes warm up compared to my actual moving time of under 8 hours. Ignoring the time for now I couldn't believe it when I looked down the list and saw that I actually finished 9th out of 120 finishers of 141 starters. 

That's now 9 races down, 3 to go for Cancer Research UK in 2014.

Derby 10k - 45 minutes 11 seconds.
Awsworth 5k - 22 minutes 20 seconds.
Hull 10k - 45 minutes 46 seconds.
Wollaton 10k - 44 minutes 53 seconds.
Twin Peaks Midnight Walk - 8k. - 2 hours 37 minutes.
Leeds 10k - 46 minutes 8 seconds.
York 10k - 46 minutes 31 seconds.
Birmingham Color Run 5k - 45 minutes 38 seconds.
Isle of Wight Challenge 56k - 7 hours 48 minutes 35 seconds
Wild Warrior 10k
Robin Hood Half Marathon 21k
Men's Health Challenge Nottingham 12k

If you wish to donate please visit www.justgiving.com/adamfretwellpt