At 6am on the 3rd June 2022 I’ll be lining up to start the Grand Union Canal Race. That’s just 73 days away. This 145 mile continuous race starts at Gas Street Basin in the Centre of Birmingham and ends in Little Venice in the heart of London. It is regarded by many as Britain’s premier Ultra, and is known affectionately as “The Long Run”. I’m
To Complete the Grand Union Canal Race is number 16 on the Bucket List I drew up in 2014, and I am now regretting the choice of Complete over Attempt. Still, it wouldn’t be worthy of a place on my Bucket List if it wasn’t hard.
There is an overall time limit of 45 hours, with cut-off times for each of the 9 check-points. Competitors are deemed to have retired if they stop for more than 40 minutes at any one time.
Places are awarded by ballot and are always oversubscribed. I was successful in the ballot in 2020 but was forced to pull out due to the recurrence of a long-standing back injury injury in training. The good news is that I am uninjured this year with just over 10 weeks to go. The bad news is that I have avoided injury by a complete lack of training. No, seriously.
I ran just 112 miles in 2021, and the 6 miles I ran yesterday is my longest run in over 3 years.
Getting to the start line will depend on remaining injury-free for the next 10 weeks, while simultaneously putting in enough training to be in with a chance of completing the race.
I now have an MVP*-style training strategy rather than a training plan, per se.
First and foremost every run is to be treated as a long slow run. I need to build up my mileage as gently and evenly as time allows, and will build in a run-walk strategy in keeping with the required pace.
Over the remaining weeks I intend to build up my training to meet the deadlines of the first 3 check-points. This will involve running 10.7 miles in 2h:40m; 22.4 miles in 5h:30m and 36 miles in 9 hours or better.
If, and it’s a big if, I can achieve these milestones without injury I am reasonably confident of making the start (and, who knows, perhaps the finish). I’ll post an update after my long run each week, starting this week with 8 miles occasional updates between now and the race.
*Minimum Viable Plan, as opposed to Most Valued Player
