In reply to gazonk:
Thanks all, so many great replies, so I am very tempted to go for it now.
Stig:
- it's not crew supported. you carry your kit and eat at the controls. Be useful to be used to running with a reasonable amount of kit I imagine.
I should hopefully be good there (to a degree). The fan dance was a 35lb pack + food and water. It was heavy, but I never felt really overburdened for weight. Not being crew supported is good news for my 'no mates' standing
- It's not orienteering so I'm not sure how that would help. Personally I'd recce it all (which is the best training as well). Memorise the route and follow the map. Depends how unconfident you really are in navigating. I mostly use my phone for nav.
Good advice - I have Garmin Fenix , but will get a dedicated unit.
- hard and long fell races in similar terrain would help a lot - three peaks, Edale-marsden, most of the Lakes classics (particularly Langdale, killer), Kinder trog etc. Edale skyline. Again you've missed some of these for 2018. Scafell or Snowdon trail Marathon...
Going to google those, thanks!
- rather than weekly mileage I'd be more concerned with really long days out on your feet. No better way to do that than recce'ing the route. If you think about it you can break the southern part of the PW into 20 mile chunks and do most of it over two weekends. I think you can even do it by rail.
Great advice, thanks
Thanks tall_clare, busyLizzie, pasbury
shuffle:
- Apart from a generally good level of fitness and navigation ability, I think that the main thing that you need to prepare for is to be able to cope with being out in bad weather for very long periods of time, potentially completely on your own. The field can get quite spread out, so if you are not prepared for the isolation the hours can feel very long, especially at night. It is also worth remembering that it'll be dark most of the time - you'll only get about 24 hours of daylight in the 60 hours allowed to complete.
Very good points. This actually attracts me to the race. Its a little scary, but I actually like that part of it. Totally point taken though, so will look to getting some all night out in bad weather experience.
- Something that does seem to catch some faster folk out is the expectation that they'll be able to run most of it. The weight of the compulsory kit, underfoot conditions and terrain mean that for most people there is a lot of walking and that can be hard to adapt to if you're used to moving quickly.
Thanks, so I will definitely plan to do run and walk. I have considered taking some hiking boots for the last leg. I ran / walked the fan dance in goretex merrells and it worked well - the extra support came in handy to stop my popping an ankle when the lactate turned my legs to jelly.
Roadrunner6 - thanks and ack! I think I have the experience more then some, I feel confident. The Fan Dance was a shorter route, but no walk in the park - it was the coldest and harshest conditions the race has ever had. Granted a lack of experience can lead to a nasty DNF I imagine!