18th June 2015

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RJSRdg
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18th June 2015

Post by RJSRdg »

Well, I've now gone and booked next Thursday off to do a rehearsal run (Waterloo onwards - I rehearsed North Harrow - Southwark before the last R15). If that goes well, I've provisionally booked 18th June off for the real thing.

Currently looking at a theory time of 16:14 (coincidentally the same as the current record!), though if a certain shortcut works out I may be able to get inside that - however this would of course require almost every train to be bang on time! (Anyone up for being an "independent witness" for me on 18th June? - it would be just my luck to not jump through the Guinness hoops and beat the time!). That said, I'd be happy with a completion and delighted with anything under 17 hours!

In the meantime of course, still beavering away at modifications to the route to try to get under 16 hours! Haven't quite managed it yet, but found some useful catchups!
272 stations in 18:30:32
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greatkingrat
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Re: 18th June 2015

Post by greatkingrat »

Running North Harrow to Southwark? Interesting tactic :lol:
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RJSRdg
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Re: 18th June 2015

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Another recce run taken today - mainly around the Walthamstow/Cockfosters/Mill Hill areas, and also Wood Lane/White City/SB/KO. Unfortunately I didn't get to test the Canons Park - Edgware route owing to engineering work and TfL managing to mess up the replacement buses!

Conclusions:

1: Wood Lane/WC/SB OK (though if I need to do the Shepherds Bush connection it means something's gone wrong earlier on!)

2: The Walthamstow connection was either just within or just outside optimal time (plenty of time for the next train 2 mins later but making the optimal connection helps with the ones below).

3: Think I've discovered the optimal route from Cockfosters to High Barnet (at the second attempt - the first just missed a bus connection and had to wait 10 mins for the nextotherwise would have been better still - not sure I can take the risk though). However I have determined I won't be able to run the full distance between the two stations because

a) I can't do it quickly enough
b) I've lost the High Barnet page of my A-Z!

4: Finchley 0 mins connection probably not achievable but will see what happens. Could be resolved by quicker connections at (2) or (3).

5: A certain other shortcut (nowhere near the locations above!) either just works or just doesn't (if it just doesn't I have time to revert to Plan A) - there appears to be some uncertainty as to whether the train I was running for ran or not - RealTime Trains says it did (in which case I missed it by seconds) a notice on the platform said the service frequency had been reduced, in which case it didn't run and I would have caught it if it had!

6: My knees seem to have held up pretty well but I'll know for sure tomorrow!

So looking forwards to doing a dummy run on Thursday (210 stations).
272 stations in 18:30:32
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RJSRdg
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Re: 18th June 2015

Post by RJSRdg »

Hmm - just realised I messed up the KO-Hammersmith via Shepherd's Bush run I did yesterday - I shouldn't have gone via White City at all!

That explains why the Tube station was a lot closer than I thought it would be....
272 stations in 18:30:32
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RJSRdg
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Re: 18th June 2015

Post by RJSRdg »

Might have to put mine on hold for a little while.... I tripped while running last night and now have a swollen right knee. Certainly in no condition at the moment to be doing Quuen's Road to Central in 3.5 minutes, or a certain other shortcut so fast that the motion-sensitive doors haven't opened before I get to them! So at the moment my practice run for Thursday is looking decidedly iffy and I'm not sure if I'll be able to take another day of for a practice run much before 18th June.

I also discovered that the first off-peak, Network-cardable train into Waterloo is the one *after" the one I need to get to pick up the practice run at Southwark :-(
272 stations in 18:30:32
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Re: 18th June 2015

Post by palkanetoijala31 »

RJSRdg wrote:Might have to put mine on hold for a little while.... I tripped while running last night and now have a swollen right knee. Certainly in no condition at the moment to be doing Quuen's Road to Central in 3.5 minutes, or a certain other shortcut so fast that the motion-sensitive doors haven't opened before I get to them! So at the moment my practice run for Thursday is looking decidedly iffy and I'm not sure if I'll be able to take another day of for a practice run much before 18th June.

I also discovered that the first off-peak, Network-cardable train into Waterloo is the one *after" the one I need to get to pick up the practice run at Southwark :-(
queens road to central in 3.5 mins platform to platform easy even if u have a bad knee
RJSRdg
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Re: 18th June 2015

Post by RJSRdg »

Bailed out of the rehearsal run today and went to work instead!

Will see if I can take next Thursday off instead if the knee's better by then.
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RJSRdg
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Re: 18th June 2015

Post by RJSRdg »

Took the rehearsal run today. Not good :-(

Right from the outset I misread my notes and got in the wrong Bakerloo line carriage at Paddington, which led to me taking the wrong exit at Elephant and Castle and subsequently missing a Northern Line train. No major damage done at first, but the ensuing three minute delay turned into 15 after West Ham and 20 by Aldgate. By Morden that had gone out to 35 minutes (not quite sure where that went), and though I was able to pull back five by Wimbledon, I promptly lost them again, and five more, by choosing the wrong District Line train (two ready to go,one full,one empty - I asked the driver which one was first - his reply "The board says this one buit it could be either." I got on that one, the other one went first and the one I got on wasn't going where I wanted to go)! This led to a hasty rethink and I decided to leave a section til later (in the end it never got done) and join the Central line as it was time for the perfect Hainault. This should have put me back on time for a bit, except that I stopped briefly to check the time and consequently missed the Central Line train by seconds, but again this had gone out to almost 40 minutes by the time I returned to Leytonstone. A quick sprint there got the delay back to half an hour and some more might have been saved at Walthamstow had it not been for a lengthy random ticket check. Delays on the Central line put me 35 late at Cockfosters and into the evening rush hour on the roads. Consequently I was nearer 45 late again at Finchley Central, leading to missed connections for Mill Hill East. Now I had the big decision - do I change the route in an effort to get the last train to Olympia,or do I go on up the Jubilee Line to check out the run to Edgware (one part of the challenge I hadn't tried yet). I took the latter course, as part of the object of the practice was to assess my fitness levels* and consequently arrived at Earl's Court nearly 30 mins after the last Olympia train had gone. After that I pretty much gave up on the practice and headed back to Paddington.

* Re fitness - the Edgware run was possibly one run too far - by then I was definitely flagging and when a bus turned up quarter of a mile into the one mile run, I availed myself of it (it is allowed!), although I think I regained some running ability during later changes. However there are a couple of quite significant runs 3/4mile or so, one of them uphill, that come before Paddington in the full route so weren't attempted today, so still some work for me to do.

Work for me to do too on finding some alternatives if I lose handfuls of time (I have a few that gain back a couple of minutes but not much to stop delays ballooning).
272 stations in 18:30:32
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RJSRdg
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Re: 18th June 2015

Post by RJSRdg »

Just to give an update on this:

Owing to the failure of my practice run, and my knee still not being at its best, I've decided to make 18th June a second practice (though possibly including part of the run) with the real run to come at some unspecified future date. I will keep you posted!
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RJSRdg
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Re: 18th June 2015

Post by RJSRdg »

Thursday now looking unlikely even for a rehearsal as I've strained my back over the weekend :-(
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RJSRdg
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Re: 18th June 2015

Post by RJSRdg »

If anything today actually went worse than last time!

Although I remembered to get in the correct carriage at Paddington, my Bakerloo line train arrived there two minutes late and lost another minute or so before Elephant & Castle. So by the time I got to West Ham I missed the direct train to Upminster, which meant I was 15 minutes late at Aldgate East and 20 minutes late leaving Aldgate (because the Circle Line trains there are only every 10 minutes). By Wimbledon I was 25 down, and already the calf muscles were beginning to complain (even though i hadn't done any real running yet!), with the result that the run to Morden Road tram station was slower than last time (a brief and unsuccessful diversion to investigate a bus with Wimbledon on its blind didn't help!) and consequently missed a tram by 1 minute and had to wait 9 for the next one. By Wimbledon then I was 30 down but at least managed to get on the right train this time, meaning I was ahead of where I was last time.

A quick check of my notes showed that based on my current time I could change to a Westbound Central Line train at Notting Hill Gate and pick up the Epping train there. Unfortunately I just missed it so was in the same boat as last time except that I'd picked up three extra stations, though had still dropped several to come back for later. At that moment I realised my timing sheets were on their way to West Ruislip without me, which made any decisions as to what to do next impossible! Fortunately I was able to find a copy I'd emailed to a friend yesterday on my phone and download the timings from there.

I picked up the next train to Woodford via Hainault, hoping that this would just cost me 15 minutes delay but again a paper connection didn't work out in practice so arrived at Leytonstone over half an hour late. With a quick run to Leytonstone High Road I should have been able to pull this back to 30 minutes, but again my calf muscles slowed me down and I just missed another train - now 45 minutes late, which with more time to pick up the missed stations was probably nearer an hour and a half.

It was now obvious that:

- Whatever route I took from now on, I would end up doing the Cockfosters stretch in the rush hour, and my calf muscles weren't up to playing their part on that one.
- I was sufficiently late that I'd be unlikely to make the last Olympia train.

I had barely started the next run (Walthamstow Queens Road - Central) before my legs made it pretty clear they'd had enough and I headed home.

Rather disappointing as I hadn't done either of the two worst running sections, and I had managed more running on my previous practice. So it leaves me questioning whether or not I have the required level of fitness in me to do this. As I'm getting through my leave rather ore rapidly than I'd hoped and the Victoria Line is shut in August, it may be I don't get any more practice runs in this year. Next year - who knows, though it may be based on today's experience that I'm already "too old" for this!
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