North Downs Way 100 - 2015 - Pace analysis

I have crunched the 2015 NDW100 results to help me see what I need to do to get one of the coveted sub 24 buckles. I have 4 sub 24 finishes at the 100 mile distance so far but this one is more like 102.6...

Hopefully this will help you with getting an idea of pacing or give crew an idea of where you will be at certain points in the race. However 100 mile races are far from an exact science.

This is a graph of finish time vs splits - this is useful if you want to see what a typical split would be for your target finishing time. Regression lines are added to smooth through some of the statistical variation.

Next I rescaled the times e.g if someone finishes in 26 hours, then multiply all splits by 24/26. There is a bit of distortion around 24 hours due to the clustering of people chasing sub 24s (or taking it easy to make sure of the buckle) so this should help provide more data points than just looking at people who finished in roughly 24 hours. There is a very slight trend for more even pacing for the faster runners but it is very modest.

Finish position (x-axis) versus rescaled splits (y-axis)

 And finally here is a table of the rescaled splits above with percentiles.

 

I have also done this for some other Centurion races and there is a fairly consistent grouping of splits despite the very different profiles and race day conditions. My 10 hours to halfway for a sub 24 is a pretty good rule for all of the Centurion 100s.

Centurion SDW100 - Cows, wasps, fog and watermelon

Firstly thank you to Aaron, Adrian, Alex, Alf, Alistair, Alma, both Andrew’s and Andy, Ashley, Barry, Ben, Berry, Brian, Bryan, Carol, Catherine, Charles and Charlotte, Chloe, Christine, both Christopher’s, Claire, Colin, Darren and the four David’s (what a band!), Donna, Duncan, Eileen, Ellyn, Emma, Ercole, Francisco, Frank, both Gabrielle’s (you wait for one, and two come along at the same time!), Gary, Graeme and Graham, Helen’s M & P, Helena, Iaan and both Ian’s (or perhaps, the Ian trio?), Imogen, Jake, James, Joanna and the five John’s, Jon and Jonathan, Julian, Karen, Katherine, Kristian, Lauren, Leanne, Lee’s D & K, Leila, Liam, Liz and the Louise trio, Lucy, Lynn, the four Mark’s and two Mary’s, Maryanne, Matt and Matthew, Maura, Michele and Michelle, Mike, Neil, Nicola, Nigel and the two Oliver’s, Paddy, Patricia, the quartet of Paul’s, Paula, Pete and Peter, Phil, Phil, Phil and Philippe, Ray and Raymond, Rebecca’s H & M, Rhianon, Richard’s G & P, Rob, Roni, Rusell, Russ and Russell, the two Sarah’s and three Sharon’s, Sharona and Sheila, Simon’s L & W, Stephanie and Stephen, Steve, Susan and Susanna, Theresa, Tom, Torquil, Vince and the pair of incredible Zoe’s. I couldn't have done this without you.

The weekend started pretty well with a night in the Winchester Hotel and Spa. I was give a free upgrade which meant I had my own tea making facilities which was amazing. A trip to the Tesco garage for an all-day breakfast sandwich, McCoys and a Tim Taylor Pale Ale and I was all set. I believe Scott Jurek has a similar pre-race ritual. I watched the France game and then tucked up in bed for a reasonable night of sleep before grabbing a taxi with Michelle and Dave at 4.15.

I left it late to book my hotel as I waited until I had finished the TP100 so ended up going upmarket for hotel. I would recommend going for the budget option (even if the same price) as it looked like a wedding was taking place which luckily was quiet. I heard later that Joe Delaney had checked into a hotel with a drum and bass wedding taking place which is unlikely to happen at a Premier Inn.

We got there pretty early and I was first to register. Drop bags dropped off and I had a quick chat with the lovely arguing couple and I was all set to go by 4.30. I tried to get some rest as the night had been ok but the nerves were kicking.

I made my way over to the start to catch up with fellow 'slammer Mark Thornbury and met Frank Chu who is a colleague of one of my friends and having got a place on the A100 is also trying for the 'slam.
James did the usual briefing. There would be 137 volunteers looking after us today which is unbelievable. And this doesn't include the kids who get into the spirit of things. There was a hands up for grand-slammers and this time I was a bit less sheepish about putting my hand up.

6 on the dot we were off with a lap of the field. There is a bottleneck after 400 yards but this only cost a few seconds and took the sting out of the early pace.

First 10 miles was pretty uneventful. I had a quick stop as I had forgot to bodyglide a couple of bits. I'm glad I packed a mini one rather than leaving it in my drop bag. In Sam Robson's blog he mentioned a tap just before the aid station so I topped up my bottles with that to save queues for water. I left the aid station with watermelon
I met a guy who had flown over from Brooklyn just for the event. It is a sign Centurion had gone full circle as it was originally set up so people could run US style 100s without flying to the US and now we have people flying from the US for our races.
There were some lively cows on this bit with Stuart March taking photos in the middle of it. It was quite funny at this point but not so much later on. 
I had made a point of hammering down the hills to use my quads less and was absolutely screaming down some of the descents. My favourite was down Butser hill (6:17 / mile!) where I managed to claw a few seconds back on Mark Perkins' course record. I was faster over this 0.3 mile section but Mark had the edge on the other 99.7. 

A most unlikely leaderboard of people I follow with me at the top...

Shortly after this I bowled into AS2 where Graham Carter and team were. A quick chat and refuel and I was on my way. I made it here just over 4 hours which was bang on my 24 hour schedule. I caught Ken Fancett on the climb out of the aid station which was a bit surreal. He is a Centurion legend and either my race was going really well or his was going badly (a bit of both but he would recover and finish in 21:10). In hindsight this was the longest section I had done without an aid station with over a half marathon between them which for many people is the longest run they will ever do.

There was the usual chat from civilians out and about. My favourite was along the lines of

Where are you running to?
Eastbourne
That sounds quite far. How many miles?
100 or so. Hopefully finishing sometime tomorrow
Are you doing this for sponsorship?
No - just for fun.
Oh.

The two older ladies looked pretty shocked and started off on their walk.

S. Harting downs aid station came and went- Import to get the space in there.

I was still ahead of Ken coming into Cocking. I was chatting to Dave Kind and we were comparing our picnics on the Cocking big hill (saying Cocking is always hilarious) and he had a cheese scone. I realised I had forgot to pick one of Leila Rose's scones again but he share his with me and it was a lovely change from the sugar train I had been on so far.
It was very nice of the Worthing air show to put on some air displays which were pretty cool to watch.

One thing I picked up from seeing Ken was that he did little jogs of 10-20 yards going up the hills. We tried this especially when getting near the top of climbs and it seemed to help at the top of the hills as it meant it felt easier to start running again.

Kithurst hill marked the half way point and I was well under the 10 hours mark (about 9:40) I had set myself. I have the 10/24 rule getting to half way in a 100 so was roughly on 23 and change pace.
I made it into Washington in 10:24 and sat down for a bowl of Pasta and dessert of home made wonderful Welsh cakes. I got some stick from Graham Carter for my drop bags saying no expense was spared but actually my two Tesco carrier bags had cost 10p. He mentioned the pig hill descent as one of his favourites and the grassy gentle descent was wonderful and helped pull back some time.

St Botolphs was most notable for the espresso oatballs. Genius idea
The next leg included being stung by a wasp. I heard a buzzing sound and assumed it was electrolyte gas being released and my shoulder was stinging. I heard sunburnt them a week or so ago (not ideal) but couldn't feel any tears in the skin. I looked down a bit later as the buzzing continued to see a wasp attached to my backpack next to the bottle. I flicked it off with a gel and it fell to the floor. Not ideal but took by mind off other things. The wasp sting didn't even rank in the top 3 things that were hurting at that point and the pain subsided quickly.
Next stop the Saddlecombe angels - in a great touch the even had plastic doggy bags for a picnic up the next hill. 
Dave Kind was in front of my going up the hill and he kept looking back. I turned around to see what was behind us and there was a fantastic sunset. I stopped to take a couple of photos and the next few miles were lovely watching the sun setting.

I could see the famous windmills and I had a pre-race goal of getting there before sunset. We ran through a lovely Golf course and before long were at the windmills and my headtorch was still in the bag. Great feeling knowing only 30 miles to go. I met up with Gabriel Flores who I had shared some TP100 miles with and compared notes. It was 8:30 and another 45 minutes until darkness.
I had a relatively quick stop here grabbing a few drop bag things. There was a guy who had dropped chilling under a blanket here. It turned out he had done GUCR only two weeks before so amazing he had made it this far. He looked amazingly comfortable and was chatting away to everyone. I was quite jealous of him later on.
I saw a pacer standing waiting for his runner in a distinctive red grandslam t-shirt. It was Paul Reader and we had a quick chat comparing Ironman experiences - good luck with Ironman Whistler.

I delayed using the headtorch as I was getting the weird dew effects when I first put it which I struggle with. Eventually there was a wooded section so it had to go on. Before long Housedean farm and the famous 76th mile were here. I was feeling good all things considered as I started the trek up another post-aid station hill.

Southease was memorable for the bridge over the railway station. When asked how I was feeling my answer was "tired, but not yet tired and emotional". I was starting to crash but was plenty of miles into the race. Yet another slow sodding hill - no power jogs up this one.

My memory is a bit hazy between here and Bo-peep at 89 miles. I had some sections on my own including a tricky bit of navigation which James had warned about. A herd of cows standing next to the exit of the field didn't help. The raw fear of being on your own easing your way through a herd of cows at 2am not being sure you on the right route is considerable. I had a some headtorches behind me so figured I was doing ok but every marker was greeted with much happiness. The sea fog had come in which made things even trickier. My torch decided to fail at this point so it was onto the backup. Not ideal.

The fog was really tricky and people were forming clusters to survive. I had my first hallucination where I was convinced I had seen Ken in the group in front but he wasn't there when we caught the group. Looking at the results he was 2 hours clear of me. A few of us tacked onto the back of a particularly determined walker and we followed him until he peeled off at Bo-peep to meet his crew.

There was a long descent into Alfriston aid station. I caught up with John who had been manning Witchurch at the A100. Yet again there was a massive climb coming out of the aid station. I had really lost momentum and my slowest mile of the race was here. I had grouped up with Andy from Minnesota who did ski racing with Scott Jurek.
I made my way to Jevington and as we all know "nobody drops at Jevington". The aid station crew were taking times outside so if you are in a hurry, you could load up at Alfriston and power past. I wasn't so stopped in for a final cup of tea, coke and chocolate.
Yet another big climb which was the opposite of a power hike and soon the famous trig point was coming out of the mist. Sharon who I had run with on the Wednesday head torch runs was there and the horrific descent into Eastbourne started. However the end was in sight and a painful walk downhill would be the last tricky bit of the race. I had watched the video on the Centurion website which helped greatly.
I was hoping for an uncompetitive jog in when Ilsuk Han came past. He saw looking strong and sailed off into the distance. On the last footpath, I got overtaken by two guys one who had a GoPro. I was feeling ok and picked up the pace to keep in touch. All was set for a grandstand finish and I somehow my legs picked up a sprint and finish line fever got me home for 91st place in 23:12:09.
I had a cameo appearance in Stephen's amazing video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmiqina9ZRE

I collapsed in a heap at the end after the sprint finish. Shortly afterwards, Dave from my taxi (there were 15 David/Daves running) came steaming past looking like Demaryius Thomas in his orange top (he used to play wide reciever) to finish just after me.

The Centurion machine clicked into action with finish bag returned and a cup of tea from the lovely Donna. I had a shower and collected my drop bag from the couple I had been chatting to 25 hours earlier. It is easy to forgot that it is 5am on Sunday morning with so many people helping out.

It was time for home and I called a taxi and found 3 people who were delighted to join me. The Centurion team usually have the number of a good one so a quick ask around got one. It is amazing to see ultrarunners smash out 100 miles but getting 2 miles to the station being like Everest.

I arrived home to a tin of Heinz Mulligatawny soup and in bed by 9.30am. Quick nap and up just before 12 for the Nici facebook countdown to the close of SDW100 for another year.

I have hopefully made it clear how much the race means to me and how good the volunteers (technical skills and just plain good people) are but I think Vassos puts it slightly more eloquently. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03y5k04

Performance score

Here were my pre-race targets:

A++ 14:02 - This would require a Vaz-tastic effort but unfortunately I didn't have the right puffa jacket
A+ 22:30 - The old Sparta qualification time
A 23:36 - Beat the TP100 on a tougher course (physically at least)
B sub 24 - Obvs
C finish and keep the 'slam alive

I was very happy with the Grade A performance (both time and method) and kept it together right up to the end.

A few things which worked out well

- I ran with my own electrolytes this time. I picked up water at aid stations and dropped in my own tabs. I also drank water and didn't end up with swollen hands as per previous ultras.
- Make use of the taps on course. The first one saved me a bit of time at at CP1 and the second helped cool me down near the 40 mile mark.
- The Ken micro run seemed to work well. Jogging in 10-20 yard bursts up hill seemed to help the legs run better after summiting
- You can wash a UD back pack. Mine was pretty grim and still showing the effects of the TP100. My wife gave the option of washing it in the machine or burning it. Luckily it came out lovely and clean and hasn't shown any ill effects so far.

Two down, two to go. Next stop Farnham for the leg 3...

Thames Path 100 2016 snow, meteors and buckles

He is my race report from the Thames Path. It was my third sub 24 finish thanks to the wonderful organisation of Centurion and the fantastic volunteers. Most of you reading this will be familiar with Centurion running but for those who don't, they run a series of fully supported 4 100 mile races and 4 50 mile races around the South of England.

Short version

It was sunny, it snowed, it was sunny, it rained, the stars came out, there was a shooting star, I fell in a puddle, it was cold, the sun came up, the finish arrived. So long and thanks for the buckle - the volunteers were awesome too.

Longer version

I'm a mid-pack runner (maybe 60th percentile would be more accurate) but if we did cut-offs for writing skills I wouldn't be getting a buckle (C at GCSE English was as good as it got). Hopefully I can share some of the things that went well and not so well. It is also much better to learn from someone else's mistakes so I am sharing some of mine.

I'm usually quite slow at getting my reports out but I thought I would try to get this one out early to remember the details. It will probably come out a bit like a 8 year old's stream of consciousness story of what they did in the summer holidays so you have been warned.

Registration

It was the usual slick Centurion registration process. I had been organised and did all my labels before leading home. Unfortunately I had written the wrong number on every single one of them so had to correct them all. Not the best start.

Next was drop bags and Sarah Sawyer who I had run most of leg 2 with on the A100 was on drop bag duties so nice to see another familiar face at the start. A quick briefing from Team GB's James Elson and we were on our

If you get one thing from this report, there is a bit in the first mile where the front runners go straight on through a little park and through a swing gate. If you are called Craig or Sam, this is a great route. However for people like me, you can avoid the bottleneck by taking the slightly longer route around the outside. You also get to laugh at the people jumping the spike topped fence to save a few seconds. Not worth a ripped pair of shorts (or worse) at this stage.

First 22

I started running with my running buddy Owen and his mate Chris the Physio. I was a bit slow leaving aid station 1 and they thought I would catch up. They would go onto finish together in an amazing 20:02. I ran a few miles with James who I had spent most of the second half of last year's race with. I also met Kate Jayden and Gabriel for a few miles of discussing the merits of a vegan lifestyle. I'm a long way from being vegan (or even veggie) but I've made an effort to get a lot more calories from plants this year. All in all a fairly social start to the race.

I had cramp in both quads just before the crew checkpoint at 28 miles. I added a High5 electolyte tab to my bottle and it went in a minute or so and luckily didn't return. I know a lot of people have their doubts about the benefits of additional electrolytes as food should have enough but the effect (placebo or otherwise) was enough to convince me. Fortunately I was free of cramp the rest of the day.

A few of the highlights of the first 30 miles were Hampton Court, Windsor Castle and a blizzard, A blizzard might be exaggerating but it was definitely snow flurries through Staines. Typical Centurion weather even in May.  I also bumped into a work colleague who had told me in the office that his mate was also running the Thames Path. In a weird coincidence, his mate was the guy I was talking to at the time. What were the odds? (actually about 1 in 294 given the number of starters)

I went through Dorney a couple of minutes down on last year but feeling pretty good. The Sawyers appeared again and helped me refuel and get on my way.

Hurley so arrived and I had my number taken by Graham Carter. Luckily there weren't any drinks for me to knock over this time.

There was a proper shower of rain and before long I got to Henley. I remembered that it was on the far side of Henley so didn't get into a big huff last time as I made my way past lots of pubs and pub goers.

Henley - half way by distance

Fellow Wednesday night headtorcher Louise Ayling was host at Henley. A couple of teas and some splendid spag bol fueled me for the second half. First 50 had been fast aid stations but this was the first proper break. A change of socks and top here and put the trail shoes on. I looked back as I was leaving and had left waterproof behind. Always check behind you when you leave an aid station!

Reading - half way by time and start of the 27 miles of proper night running. The crux of the race is the next 27 miles - get to 85 mile and the (metaphorical) boot of Dan Park out of the 85 mile point should be enough to get to the finish.

I had fallen into running with a fellow mid packer in Rich who as an added bonus had a gadget which told us how far to the next checkpoint. We whiled away the hours through this bit with me asking every 5 minutes if we were nearly there yet.

Whitchurch to Streatley is the fun roller coaster bit through the woods. I had joked about this being the Thames Path's Hillary step which is the key to making it to the finish (or Mount Everest). It is a comically step bit after 70 miles but was over quickly.

The next section was the land of the never ending field. I remember this from last year but this time it was a starry sky rather than torrential rain. The fields still went on for ever.

We had just a fireworks display on the horizon earlier when there was an extraterrestrial firework display. It looked a bit like white firework going sideways but it was a long way from were we had seen the others. I thought it was my mind playing tricks but other runners have mentioned it since.

I had been talking to Rich and about the name of my blog and that the 76th mile is roughly the mile which has the most DNFs. We were part way through the 76th mile when Rich was slipping round the edge of a puddle and he was uncomfortably holding a barbed wire fence to get round it. I went round the other side and promptly fell arse first into muddy puddle. At least it wasn't the Thames but I was covered in cold mud and it was pretty cold. Rich was an absolute gent and help me out of the puddle. He even waited until he was sure I was ok before laughing at me.

I always take a spare pair of shorts and I got changed at Wallingford into a new pair of shorts and an extra base layer. Having done the A100 and last year's TP100 in shorts I thought I didn't need waterproof trousers but this wasn't the smartest decision in hindsight. It was cold in shorts to say the least. I also managed to lose a shoe in the mud at one point so was a muddy mess arriving at this aid station. I am truly very sorry for the mud I left there - I should have cleaned up the mud but I would have struggled to bend down to pick up a tenner after 78 miles. It was also nice to see the heated chair of doom with a volunteer sat in it rather than a fresh DNFer. This is probably the most important aid station in the whole race and I have particular thanks to the guys and girls here.

Last year it was still dark when I finished this section so I knew I was quite a long way behind last year but seeing the sunrise out on the trail was amazing. There was a clear blue sky with a fog over the Thames and frost on the ground. It was absolutely stunning and I wish I had taken photos but it was so cold and I would have seized up if I had stopped to take photos. I will have to keep just my memories. It is a privilege as a 100 mile runner to see the sunrise after having travelled through the night. Whilst this year was a bit slower than last year, it was definitely more enjoyable than the rain and trench foot of 2015 .

Clifton Hampden

The sun was up and thoughts were turning to getting things done. I had a quick chat with Dan Park about his GUCR race plans this year and compared notes on Grandslams. I am sure you will get the big buckle next year.

Abingdon and Lower Radley

The last 15 miles or so were 4 hours of power walking as my hamstrings were unhappy. Last two aid stations were back to grab and go with tea and coke being the order of the day. Rich pulled away from me in the last couple of miles as he could actually run even if they were 12 minute miles.

The end

Finish was 124 out of 207 finishers and 295 starters in 23:36. Just the 9:24 behind Craig Holgate.

It was lovely to see the blue Centurion arch again with the usual multitude of emotions. Louise was again being a great host with a finish line cup of tea. I got a hug from Nici and congratulated James on a great race and Team GB honours and before long it was time for a shower and taxi to the station. Next time I will remember a towel rather than using a base layer...

See you in Winchester for the second installment of the Centurion Grandslam....

Goals and performance

AA Sub 21 for Spartathlon
A Sub 22:40 (current PB)
B+ Sub 23:03
B Finish sub 24
C Finish

I am very happy to have finished with another sub 24 buckle. I had hoped to be a bit quicker but any finish is a good one when the finish line is 100 miles from the start. I enjoyed the night section which couldn't be said for last year. The sunrise and stars were particularly spectacular

It means I have two tickets for the Western States draw and also have 15 UTMB points (or whatever the minimum is) for 2017. And most importantly the Grandslam dream is still alive.

Thanks again to the wonderful volunteers and I particularly thank the wonderful people who give up their Saturday night though to Sunday morning to help people like me to get through 100 miles. And sorry again for the mud at Wallingford...

Thames Path kit list

I've just done my kit list for next week's Centurion Thames Path. I am hoping I can finish the 100 miles in somewhere close to the 23 hours last year. I thought it might be helpful to share some of my kit choices - a few have been learned the hard way.

Shoes. Mizuno wave inspires until 50. These have been described as the Subaru of the shoe world. First 50 has a lot of hard pack and road. At halfway I plan to switch to Inov8 Ultra 290s. A bit more grip as the second half is muddy.

Watch. Garmin 910xt. Almost certainly better choices out there but I have this from my tri days. Downside is the 20 hour battery life. I get round this with a USB charger and lead in my 50 mile drop bag. I put it in my bag charging and 30 minutes later it has enough juice to get to the end. It keeps recording while charging.

Map. Harvey maps are great as waterproof and only show a ribbon with the route so only one map for the route.

Jacket. Salmon Bonatti. It gets mixed reviews particularly the lack of breathability. However it kept me dry and warm for the 10 hours of rain last year. Also packs into a pocket and has a hood.

Gillet. Good for dusk when it gets cold but don't need a jacket. Also back up in case it gets very cold.

Spare Base layer in bag. This used to be mandatory and it does get very cold on the Thames.

Hat and buff. Buff passes kit check and helps keep neck warm. Warm hat kept in 50 mile drop bag.

Bag. Ultimate direction SJ2.0 Does the job well and stops me packing too much.

Torch. Petzl NAO is great. It ran out of juice on the A100 so I pack spare batteries and a Petzl Tikka 2 just in case.

Compressport calf guards seem to work for me. I plan to switch to Hilly full length socks at 50 when elephant ankles start.

Body glide seems to work well for me and a small pack will be there from mile 1

A pack of tissues in case it is not just my nose that needs wiping. I also have a spare of shorts or leggings in the bag at all times.

Food. Hi5 gels and a few treats. Centurion food is amazing so not much needed to be carried in addition.

Centurion SDW100 2015 - results analysis

The 2015 SDW100 was won by Peter Kaminsky in 16:50 with Joanna Turner the 204^th and last across the line 29:58. I have done some basic analysis on the results to see what I can learn about the race. I hope to attempt the race for the first time this June so need all the help I can get. Fortunately Mark Perkins didn’t run this year as his 14:03 course record would have really messed up my graphs.

I hope to have a crack at a sub-24 result which based on sub-24s at the TP100 and A100 is possible but the SDW has quite a few more ups and downs…

My splits look to be roughly

22.6 miles – 4:00

35.1 miles – 6:40

54.0 miles – 11:00

69.8 miles – 15:15

83.3 miles – 19:15

 

 

I have also included a graph which you can use to get an idea of splits for other times. Look up your target time up on the x-axis and then follow a vertical line up and read off your splits on the y-axis. The climbers.net website also has some great tools to use too with splits per mile calculators etc. I have picked out some points which are close to a sub-24 target time.

Good luck if you are running the race this year. Hopefully I will see you there!

 

Centurion TP100 - results analysis

I was interested to see how my pacing at the Thames Path 100 compared with others. Did the average runner slow down more or less that I had? All these stats are purely based on the 2015 edition and every race is different... The race was fairly mild for the first 12 hours and then it rained for the last 16 hours. Generally firm under foot and could have been a lot muddier / hotter / colder / drier / more bacon sandwiches etc.

If you don't have time to go through the graphs, the headline stat is...

If you get to 51 miles in about 10 hours and you have a 50% chance of a 24 hour buckle and 75% chance of finishing.

After 30.5 miles, the 24 hour "par" is 5hrs 30. Those getting here after 6:30 hours probably didn't finish.

At Henley, the "par" is just over 10 hours. If you get here in about 11 hours, you are probably going to finish but have missed the 24 hour boat.

 There is a lot of variation around finishing times but if you take 10 runner rolling average (the red line) you can see a trend.

The other thing I looked at was how much do people slow down. A perfectly even pace would mean multiplying the 30.5 mile pace by 3.27 but the average is 4.3 times. The front of the field took 4.1 times their 30.5 mile time and the pack of the pack were more like 4.4-4.6x. The faster runner were also those that slowed down the least.

Where did people DNF (or refuse to continue)? The second half took the bulk of casualties with the 58 - 71 mile stretch getting the most action per mile. Mount Whitchurch is a brute. The hours of darkness take a lot of people. The last 9 miles had a similar rate to first section which I guess is down to the power of the finish line and also the sun was back up for most people.

My splits were 5:24 / 9:34 / 23:03 with a 4.26 multiplier. I am about as average as I could be. My race was the inspiration for this: http://76thmile.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/how-to-run-100-miles-in-day.html

It is also worth looking at http://climbers.net/race/Thames-Path-100-2012 as they have some nifty stats for this and other Centurion races.

Using Strava labs global heatmap to find places to run

Many people use Strava to record runs and bike rides. Strava has collated all the GPS data points to create an aggregate heat map to show where people train the most. This looks pretty cool but can also help find new places to run.

I was looking for routes for a run in London and the standard map doesn't look too promising. 

However when you add in the run heatmap, you can see a lot of main roads are popular - presumably with run commuters. However Wapping on the right side of the map also glows brightly. Sure enough, there is a nice footpath next to a canal away from traffic.

http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#14/-0.08660/51.50754/blue/run

I was on a trip to New York staying near Wall Street and had a couple of hours free for a run. A quick look on Strava showed the West side of Manhattan by the Hudson River was very popular. There was a cycle path with plenty of space to run. I could probably have found this anyway but it saved me time finding a route. Towards the top of the map, you can see Central Park. It also highlights an athletic track in Brooklyn just below Greenpoint and North of Williamsburg.

I had a look round near where I live, This is an area with lots of great trails including the North Downs Way and the Vanguard Way. Now this is where you can be clever. A bit of spot the difference between the bike and run maps helps find some great trails. The bottom right had corner of the map shows the North Down Way which is a great trail and free of road cyclists and even mountain bikers. It also shows the Titsey Trail and a few other footpaths.

The circuit near the minus sign is  Kenley aerodrome which is popular with cyclists and runners so could be a good place of quiet road training. Parks show up very brightly in run mode - particularly if they host a Parkrun.

It isn't perfect though - the smooth line near the bottom of the map which is apparently popular with runners and not cyclists is the M25 Motorway which is out of bounds to both. Clearly a few runners has left their Strava running for the post run drive home...

Happy trail hunting!