Tuesday 30 July 2013

The Lakeland 100

So, the Lakeland 100, and my attempt at it.

A bit of background first.  The Lakeland 50 (LL50) is how I first came to ultra-running.  I saw it advertised in January 2010, in a Trail Running mag.  I thought, that looks interesting.  £60.  Nope.  So used to fell running, and its usual entry fee of £5, I wasn't so keen.  On to the next page, competition time.  Entry to the LL50/100, all the kit, shoes and accommodation.  Called the wife, got her to enter it for me, then promptly forgot about it.  Until I won it.  Bonus.  Also, the longest I had run up to that point was the Elan Valley OMM, and quite a bit of that wasn't really running.  So I also got to experience my first Old County Tops.

Went up for the recce, the classic 2 day Dalemain-Ambleside-Coniston.  Can't recommend it enough, have never had to use map or roadbook on the 50 since.  Spent most of the 2 days running with Dan Doherty (who, I didn't know, is an accomplished ultra-runner), and catching up with Jon Morgan, whenever he waited for us.  We completed the 2 days running in just under 7 hours, so suffice to say I was feeling pretty hyped.  Until I went to the track, got injured and only ran one more time before the race.  A 10k.  Posted my worst time in a long time, a little under 40 minutes.  My ankle hurt, and I didn't get along with my shoes (back then the only choice for long distance was the roclite 315).

I ran.  I was in pain from about mile 4.  By Kentmere I wanted to quit. By Langdale I felt like I was running with shards of broken glass in my joints.  I eventually came 13th, in 10:15ish.  I knew I could do better.  I went back.

2011.  Entry paid for,didn't blink at the price, as I knew by then it was great value for money.  Training went well, Old County Tops time improved. I was ready.  June 6th, Castleton fell race.  Pushed it hard.  10th place, coming down the hill and gaining.  Hesitated over a stile, caught my toe.  Fell about 6 feet, landed on my arm, my ribs, my knee.  My knee hurt.  People passed me, I got it going.  I ran, hard.  About 5:30/mile all the way to the finish.  It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move my arm.  Passed some people.  Finished 16th, with broken ribs, fractured elbow and bloody sore knee.

I was back running a little within 2 weeks, my arm felt weird, breathing was painful, runs were slow.  Still, the Saunders would sort me out..and it did.  Extremely hot, ran ok, not much pain from ribs or elbow, but my partner was suffering badly from the heat and had to pull out for his sake on day 2.

LL50 Race day.  My Saunder partner was also running this, and it turned out to be a scorcher.  The 500ml bottle I bought turned out to be 300ml, I started cramping at Gatesgarth, body started rejecting food at Langdale.  I think the only reason I came 13th again this year, was that we started 1/2 an hour later, and nobody in front of me knew the way down to Coniston.  I'm assuming this from the amount of headtorch lights I could see all over the valley.

2012.  Injury free, all year.  LL50 start line, feeling good, hammered it from the start.  3rd place, 8:35,1 minute behind 2nd (Grant MacDonald, should have one, passed me about 6 times as he kept getting lost) and 5 behind 1st.  Job done.  Time for a year out, back for the LL100 in 2014...or so I thought.

Turns out I had a free entry into the 2013 event.  So I went for the 100.  I also went for a couple of sessions at The Endurance Coach.  I can't recommend these guys highly enough.  I followed (mostly) their plan, my speed increased, pb's fell, I felt awesome.  I became so attached to my training, I didn't race much.  At all, nearly.  But I was alright with that.

Almost forgot to mention, in this time I have also 1) Completed the equivalent of a full time Maths Degree through the Open University.  2) Had 2 beautiful daughters.  Esmee on the 14th of February 2010, Josie on the 23rd of April, 2012.  3) Had a full time job.  Sacrifices were made, Mel, my wife spent every second weekend (my long run weekends) solo babysitting. When I think about it, I have missed so much.  Which has a bearing on my later decisions.

I have also been converted to Hoka-ism by Richard Bardon.  I was originally going to run the 100 in my well worn-in, but big-toe shredding Combo XT's.  Mel said I should take them in and show them.  So I did, and Mark, the Hoka rep was there.  He sorted me out with a pair of shiny new Rapa-nui's (the Racing Model!) and a new pair of Injinji socks.  I wore them, straight out of the box.  They are awesome.  There will be a review to follow.

Back to the story.  2 months out, started hammering the peak district, long runs, big climbs.  3 weeks out, taper.  Going well.  10 days out...norovirus.  Only diarrhoea though.  Slightly concerned, as I had a race that night.  Started well, crashed out at 3 miles and slowed.  Still managed a sub-30 hilly 5 mile, but was drained.  So drained that I didn't do my annual 10k.

Monday came, body was back to normal.  Very tired, though.  Ran on Tuesday, speed session.  In theory.  Wednesdays 8 mile club run felt good.  I was ready again.  Extremely confident in my body, in my training.  The perfect mental state.

Race Day: It all started so well, started running with Chris Baynham-Hughes (also with diarrhoea), and felt good, although I was feeling a little slow on the climb near the top.  Blasted the downhill, came into checkpoint 1 ahead of schedule, 1:08.  In and out, and on.  Again, a little slow on the climb, but not too bad, into CP2 with Chris, and 2 others.  Had some flapjack, and everything started to go wrong.  So slow up the hills, not much go on the flat.  Surely can't hit a rough patch 15 miles in?  It'll pass...

CP3, the group of 3 near out of sight.  Coke, ham sandwhich, Black Sail Pass.  Chris and Co put loads of time on me here.  Also, Chris Perry and his dad Kevin Perry caught me up, and I had a good chat to Chris, before bombing down to Black Sail YHA.  That was so much fun, just light enough to see, absolutely killed it.  Past the YHA, crawled up the next hill.  Another cracking descent.  Saw lights 1/2 way down, caught them when they were 3/4 down.  I do love a good downhill.  Into Buttermere together, and then on the path to Sail Pass.  This is where it really went wrong.  Energy = gone.  Chris B-H had stopped for a toilet, Chris and Kevin Perry passed me, and someone else.  I'll get them on the down I thought.  Or not.  My descending legs had left me.  Not trashed quads, just..no energy to run downhill.  Oh dear.

Chris B-H caught me on the down, and so did Lee Knight (eventual 6th place).  Into Brathewaite, where Chris Perry was stretching out his calf.  Him and his dad carried on, I loaded up with: Rice pudding, sweets, coke, cake, jelly, more sweets.  Left with Chris B-H and carried on.  Made quite good time to the bottom of Latrigg, mostly because of the lack of climb.  Chris left me here (he didn't realise until he was at the top!), as I was once more pathetic uphill.  From there to Blencathra was really hard work, and started dropping loads of time.  Made it, eventually, in 13th or 14th.  Chris Perry was there, retired.  I was toying with the idea, but it was silly o'clock in the morning, and my hotel was locked.  Not much point really.  Then Grant MacDonald came in, so I left in pursuit.  Managed to keep with him until...the climb to the Old Coach Road.  Him and another bloke that had caught up trotted off up there, whilst I struggled.  They were long gone when I was at the top.

I walked the entire length of the Old Coach Road.  Whilst on it, I decided I was definitely pulling out, and I would be getting to Dockray CP at about 5:30, the pace I was going I would get to Dalemain at 9:00.  My wife was getting sms updates, so I didn't want to worry her unduly and have them getting far longer apart than I had predicted.  Dockray it was.  And I was feeling really good.  A bit of light chaffing on my back, legs were fine, spirits good, just not enough energy to raise a run.  Not even downhill.

Dockray, the place of the Great Misunderstanding (also the billion midges).  So I got there, and made my intentions pretty clear.  No more, was stopping.  They said, "you do realise we can't take you back from here".  I translated that to "someone will be along soon to pick you up".  So I made myself comfortable, had some food, got eaten by midges (still got lumps).  Then realised, by the conversations they were having, that I was walking back to Dalemain.  Oops.  So off I set, down a big, long road.  Downhill.  Met Ross Litherland coming back up the hill, almost at the top in fact.  He was pulling out too, his quads were trashed and he couldn't get down hills.  So I broke the bad news to him - he was going to have to go down the hill he was on again, as there was no transport back from Dockray.

At least I had company for the 3 and 3/4 walk to Dalemain, feeling extremely phony whenever anyone cheered.  Got a big hug from Angela Bardon, got fed, watered, then sat in the sun until retrieved.

I'm ok with the DNF.  Despite the hard work, effort, sacrifice, it was due to something beyond my control.  I also made it further than Terry Conway.

I did have one tearful moment, when my daughter called me and said "it's ok Daddy, you can walk, you can come back now." Then "Can you walk home?"  She won herself a medal from the Lakeland 1, ran all the way.  So proud.

So where to from here?  Back in the 100 to show it who's boss?  No.  Beaten.  No.  What I'm going to do is the LL50 again, in 2014.  In 2015 too.  Then when the girls are a bit older, then back to the 100, to do what I should have.

Monday 8 July 2013

Just over 2 weeks to go...

Been a warm one this weekend.  A sensible person would have stayed in the shade with a beer.  On Saturday, I had an hours run to do, and what better time than 3pm, the hottest part of the day.  Went for a nip out over the fields.  Felt great, so I went a bit further and set off a bit faster than planned.  Heat hit me after 45 minutes or so, became quite hard work.  Made it round, but legs felt a bit leaden, which they shouldn't do after 8.5 miles/1 hour.  Still, all valuable training, especially if race day is a bit warm.

Sunday.  Up very early as we (Kieran Davis and I) were planning on running from Hope in the Peak District at 7:30am.  We started running at 8am or so, and already it was a bit hot.  Saw some extremely tired/ruined looking people while we were heading up to the roman road between Kinder and Win Hill.  Followed the Roman Road to Upper Ashop, where we left the road and followed the fence line to Blackden Brook.  Still moving ok, and getting lots of fluids down - 500ml from Hope to the Brook.
We turned up Blackden Brook, and had a really nice run (until it got steep, then walk) up to the Kinder Plateau.  Still feeling great, really enjoyed the climb.  Along to the Seal Stones (about 300m), then down to the sheep fold at the bottom of Fair Brook.
Restocked the bottle (1l drunk so far) and headed up Fair Brook.  Felt like the temperature jumped up about 10 degrees, really getting hot and sheltered from the wind.  About half way up here, my head fell off.  Went dizzy, lost a bit of coordination, legs felt dead.  Walked a bit, sucked an extra gel (was trying to keep to 1 per hour) and walked the rest of the way up to the plateau, even the flat bits.
At this point, we had a bit of a discussion as to which way to go (around the plateau,or back) and we decided the better option was back.  We had been out for 2 hours already, and were nowhere near as far along as I thought we would be.  Also, if we headed back we would be running into a nice cooling breeze.  Amazing how your body picks up when it perceives you are heading home!  Cracking trot back along the plateau to the 5 Minute Crossing, over there to the more popular side of Kinder.  Could see Grindsbrook, and the conga-line of people heading up it.  Snuck left, then Ringing Roger and The Nab, to Edale.  Saw absolutely loads of people, in comparison to the 5 we saws on the other side.
Filled water bottle again (1.5L drunk), and headed across to start climbing to Hollins Cross.  Sheltered over this side, and even hotter.  Was a slow walk to the top, couldn't even raise a jog up the hill.  Stopped to "admire the view" a couple of times on the way up, was just so hard to keep going.  Finally made it to the top, took a photo of a group of D of E's for them.  We were going to nip up Back Tor, then on to Lose Hill, but it was just so hot, we contoured round the side, until we hit the pine forest.  Walked through that, trying to get my core temperature back to normal.
We then trotted down the side of Lose Hill, back to Hope in the car.  17.5 miles, 3.5 hours and 3624 feet of climb.  Also, drank 2 litres of water.
Really enjoyed the run, but was so hard in the heat.  Having said that, I am a lot more confident in doing well in the Lakeland 100, regardless of the weather.
Also,a special mention to my X-Bionic underpants.  Quite possibly the only part of my body that was not overheating, these pants are amazing and will be my weapon of pants-choice on the day.  Awesome stuff X-Bionic, am really tempted to try out some of your other clothing items now!

Tuesday 2 July 2013

The last few weeks...

Well, been a while.  Grab a beer,this could be a long'un.

This one starts way back on June 8th.  Plan said 7 hours, so I had a route worked out, involving a loop around a cycle path, up and down a canal, around a local park and over some local fields. Was going quite well, until I got bored.  Doesn't usually happen to me (man of very little imagination), and it also didn't help that my 3 year old daughter was playing up.  So,when I called in at home to refill my water bottle and grab a couple more gels, after 4 hours of slow running, I lost motivation.  Tried to carry on, body hurt, walked for a bit, tried running again, failed, went back home.  Bit gutted,but enjoyed the rest of the day with the family.

June 9th. Was supposed to be a 6 hour run.  I had previously planned a route involving loops around the above mentioned places. Scrapped that, went up to the Peak District with Neil Weightman (my usual partner for any paired event - OMM, Saunders, O.C.T...), and a route that he had made up.  Awesome. Also, was going to be a good test out for some Saucony Xodus 2.0 sent to me to write a review on by the fantastic crew at At Your Pace (website here).  That is to follow.

Anyways, it was quite warm.  I was wearing a bum-bag (OMM 6l) so had a 500ml soft bottle in there full of water, and fortunately 6 High5 Isogels.  As the run went on, it got warmer and warmer, and my bottle got emptier and emptier, but that was ok as there are a few streams that I figured I could drink out of.  Or at least, I could have if they weren't dry or smelly.  About 3 hours in, with only a mouthful of water left, I crashed a bit, had to drink an extra gel, more for fluids than anything.  Probably didn't help I was running all the ups either.  Perked up a bit, then perked up more when we hit Stanage Pole.  Just a short run along the edge to Burbage, and a stream!  Massive psychological boost, picked up the pace massively, rock-hopping and charging about like an idiot.  Which it turns out I was, as that Burbage Stream was gross.  Wasn't thirsty enough to drink out of that.  So then came the low, and drinking a gel every 1/2 hour instead of hour to keep fluids up, as it was baking,and another few miles to the next potentially drinkable stream.  The ones we ket passing did look increasingly tempting though.

Into Longshaw estate, and tree cover, so it was jog slowly through the shade, fast through the sunlight.  Finally made it to the stream running through Hay Wood, which was drinkable.  Possibly.  Put down 1/2 a litre, filled the bottle with another 1/2 litre, and polished that off too by the time we hit the Robin Hood pub.  Finished the run feeling like I could keep going, and had an awesome time.  Amazing what a bit of company and a change of scenery can do for your attitude for your runs.  After that one, plans for long runs changed, and became far more interesting.

That night, though...food poisoning hit.  Thought briefly that it was the stream, but the wife had it also.  Traced it back to some dodgy trifle the night before (not to be trifled with...).  So had a couple of days of enforced rest until...

Wednesday, 12th June.  Nottinghamshire AAA Summer League, and the race my club (Erewash Valley) runs.  Also, out team is 3rd, very close to second, and depressingly I'm one of the faster runners, and we had all the marshals we needed.  And, I lost out on the coin toss with my wife - loser had to run.  Damn.  Had an ok start, faded, died (or felt like I did), picked up what I thought was a stone in my shoe - turned out to be a carpet tack straight through, ouchies).  Came 31st or something, well down on usual, at an average of 6.08/mile (better than it felt) with some decent climb in.  Survived, felt like crap again on Thursday.

Friday 14th June. Hairy Helmet Relay at Darley Park.  Still feeling a bit off, but mostly ok, and anyway, its only 2 miles.  Will fit in perfectly as training for the Lakeland 100...  I was on second leg, and set off with a bloke right behind me.  Managed to hold him off (just, although he was clearly slightly faster as he gained on me) but managed to average 5:42 (Strava tells me I also have my fastest mile at 5:29.  Happy days.).  Easy weekend, 1 hour run Saturday, 2 hour run Sunday, feeling human again.

Tuesday 18th June.  400m reps.  Feeling good.  Thursday, 10k run in the Hokas, still feeling alright (found some mud though, no grip.  Felt like a cartoon character, legs spinning, going nowhere).

Saturday.  There's a loop we do sometimes, circular, starts at Shining Cliff Woods, goes up through Crich, Lea Bridge, to Cromford, up the Wirksworth Incline the back to the start.  Just under 18 miles, and just under 3000ft of climb.  I did the first loop with Kieran Davis, who eats hills for breakfast.  Feeling good, not running fast just enjoying it.  Completed the first loop in 2:47, which I think is 10 minutes faster than I have ever done it before - and that last time I was going for it,and completely toasted at the end.  This time, quick stop, stuff face, then loop the other way.  Took a bit longer (about 3.5), running down the incline was nice, but the climb back out of Cromfor toward Riber is epic.  In total, 35.4 miles, 5863ft of climb, 6hrs 25 minutes.

Sunday. Kinder Dozen attempt.  Probably not the best to do this on tired legs (23 miles, 10k ft of climb) but I was going to give it a crack.  Weather was different to Saturday.  Bit wet.  Bit windy.  Actually, a lot wet and extremely windy.  Richard Hyde was with me today, getting in some hills for his attempt on the Borrowdale fell race.  We climbed.  We descended.  We climbed some more.  We got slightly disorientated.    We descended.  Climbed Jacobs Ladder into the teeth of a massive headwind.  Ran down the other side, still into the headwind, was really hard work!  Rescued some lost blokes.  Saw the front runners of the Kinder Trog (in vests!), some going the right way, some not so much.  The climb up to Sandy Hays trig, always the killer, put paid to Richard, he headed off there (to be fair, that was always his intention though.)  Map out, found the trig, continued.  Weather got better, but I ran out of puff at the Seal Stones (ascent 7 of 12), so made my way back over Kinder, to the Nab. Faffed around finding the up and down route for the Edale Skyline fell race.  Caught a mouse type thing, took a photo of it.  Fantastic (if wet and really, really windy).  Totals for the day: 18.1 miles, 5893 ft of climb (exactly 30 ft difference from Saturday!) and 5 hours 8 minutes.

Last big run was at the weekend just been.  Back up to the Peak District.  Legs still feeling a bit tired, but in to give it a crack anyway.  Parked in Hope, realised I had forgotten my map, garmin and compass so had to use my phone, headed straight up Lose Hill.  Felling a bit lacklustre, but carried on.  Hollins Cross, Edale, Jacobs Ladder.  Weather worse than last Sunday, visibility down to naff-all.  Thought sod this, I'll head over Brown Knoll and back home.  Great.  Running down the flagstones, hammering it, missed the turn off and didn't realise until I say the sign saying "South Head".  Oops.  Took an arbitrary left down the Pennine Way (the wrong way), and carried on down there.  Saw a train, realised where I was.  Left again, back up the side of Brown Knoll.  Found the air intake for the Edale train tunnel.  Carried on, found the main path, then ran back to the car (slowly).  Total for the run: 20.2 miles, 3232 ft of climb, 3.5 hours and a grand total of 1 gel consumed.

Next day - very grumpy and irritable, and tired.  Overtrained, rested until...

Tuesday, 2nd July.  10x 200m reps, 1x100m rep.  Trying to get some speed back in the legs.

23 days to go.  Ready.