Tour de Helvellyn, and a few extras

Well, it's been a hell of a few weeks.  First the Cardington Cracker, left nothing out on the course there, totally spent.  A week later, the Turkey Trot.  Nipped 3 minutes off my pb there, again, didn't finish with much in the tank.  This'll become relevant later.

Saturday 14th.  Headed up to The Endurance Coach for a VO2 max session on the treadmill.  I was just expecting the usual "run on the treadmill until you can run no more", but it has changed slightly.  Unfortunately.  So there's the usual warm-up.  Next up is a standing jump.  My wife tells me this measures leg power.  Next up, the standard run until failure.  Or, in my case, run until my elbows go tingly - usually a sign that I'm going to fall over and my arms won't support me.

Generously, there is a small break.  Then, the incline gets cranked to max (15%), speed goes up to 10k pace, and they time how long it takes you to fail.  Again.

Felt extremely light headed after this session, so I went into the Endurance Store for a coffee and a chat with Richard Bardon until I felt normal enough to drive home.  Stats remained mostly the same, I lasted a minute longer or so though.  16 week plan to smash the Highland Fling to follow, starts on the 6th of January.  Can't wait.

Saturday 21st December: the Tour de Helvellyn.  As I have mentioned before, there were a lot of fast runners entered into this, so I was looking forward to seeing how I stood with them, although Marcus Scotney was a DNS and Andy Mouncey was taking easy.

The weather I can only describe as "interesting".  70+mph winds, some rain, some surface flooding.  And it was a headwind the whole way out.

So, I was feeling good as I set out at 8:15am.  That good feeling lasted for about 6 miles when I realised that a) I had somehow stopped my Garmin just as I had started it, and b) I couldn't get any real speed up.  I came to terms with that briefly, until Andrew Higgins caught up with me.  We had a chat, and I kept with him until nearly Sticks Pass where he disappeared into the distance.  At some point Ed Catmur trotted past me, and Anthony Bethell passed me just before Grizedale Tarn.

I just kept trotting along, feeling great but unable to race.  On the climb out of Howtown I noticed a funny white thing poking out the side of my shoe.  Great, shoes dying.  At the top of the climb, I must have caught it on something, as the whole Dynamic Fascia Band thing twisted sideways, so I had to stop and remove it.  At this point Tracy Dean caught up with me, and then I had to shift along a bit to keep up with her, as she knew the way back and I didn't!

I finished in 7:24, in 21st place.  Disappointed with both the time and the result, but still very happy with how well my legs fared, and that I can happily suck back TORQ gels for 7.5 hours with no stomach issues.  Looking back over the previous 3 weekends, I can see why I was flat for the run.

Thanks TORQ for fuelling my run, sorry it was a bit pants!

Today (Friday 27th December) The Notts AC Xmas Relays.  Teams of 4, 2.4 mile course.  I hate short runs.  Got round in 14:24, legs felt a bit flat, unsurprisingly.  Our "A" team came 2nd, then team I was in 18th.  My eldest daughter, however, was truly awesome, doing the 2km fun run in 21:22, and running the entire way!  Not bad for a 3 year old...