Dark Peak Ultra 30

After the success of the Ladybower Trail Marathon,  the R.O. David Riley asked me if I would like to run the inaugural Dark Peak 30.  One look at the route, and I was sold!

The route starts and finished in Edale, and takes in Lords Seat, Mam Tor, Lose Hill, Win Hill, Stanage Edge, Ladybower Reservoir, Win Hill (again!), and the Kinder Plateau. An epic day out.

As race day approached, some interesting names started appearing on the start list - Paul Grundy (3rd in Lakeland 50 2014), Dan Milton and Richard Bardon from The Endurance Store Trail Team (winners of Grand Tour of Skiddaw Team category), Stuart Walker (Just back from the Alps, and rapid enough anyway!), and Ste Lord (current record holder of the Hardmoors 60).  I figured at worst, there should be at least one of us from Team Mountain Fuel on the podium at the end!

After an incident-free drive up, I arrived with plenty of time to drink my pre-race Mountain Fuel Xtreme, pay for parking (ouch!), have a coffee, catch up with everyone and lay out my best pre-race excuses.  I had everythin packed and ready to go, 1 bottle of Mountain Fuel Xtreme made up ready, 2x sachets ready to make up at the checkpoints and a small stash of jelly babies to get me between feed points.

Ste asked me if I was going to be taking pics on the way round.  Not this time, as I was confident my sports hernia and rib would hold out.  I was racin'!

After the briefing, where we were promised over 7000ft of ascent, we were off.  Stu Walker, myself, Ste Lord, Matthew (Breakall?) and Paul Grundy trotted off out the front.  A steady trot along the road to the start of the Pennine Way, then it's a steady climb up towards Broadlee-Bank Tor before descending down to Upper Booth.  Stu and Ste both made a small gap on the climb, which Paul and myself closed up a bit on the descent.  From there, it's about a mile on the road to the Chapel Gate track up towards Lords Seat.

Chapel Gate track.   Photo courtesy of Rob Graveley.

It's the first proper climb, about 1000ft over 2.5 miles.  Paul and I kept a steady pace up here, not forcing a run, keeping a good power hike going on the steeper bits, running the gentler inclines.  Both Ste and Stu pushed hard up here, with Stu opening up a good gap.  I guess training in the Alps makes a small difference here...

Just before the high point of Lords Seat (second highest point on the course, and only by 20ft or so), I had to stop for a quick wee, and Paul got a bit of a gap on me.  Not much visibility up here, but didn't see anyone sneaking up behind, so pace appeared good.  I wasn't too bothered about thrashing myself to catch up to him, as I thought I'd be back with him before we got to Lose Hill...

View along Lords Seat, with Mam Tor, Back Tor then Lose Hill in the distance.  Photo courtesy of Rob Graveley.

There is some great running along the ridge, so I just enjoyed myself along here, slowly closing the distance between myself and Paul, gaining occasional glimpses of Ste in the distance.  I think I was about 15m behind Paul when we summited Lose Hill, before he got a rush of blood to the head and charged off the side like it was the end of a fell race.  I was a bit more sensible, trying to make my descent as smooth as possible to save my quads for the descents that I knew were coming.

Down into Hope, there is a short road run before the left turn to the road up to Twitchill Farm.  It was at this point that some low-life had removed some race signage, which had temporarily confused Paul - he was a lot closer to me going up the road than I had expected, and when I caught him just above Twitchill Farm (he waited for me at a gate) he filled me in about his minor misadventure.  Onwards, and upwards then.  Literally.

From Hope to the top of Win Hill (our next high point) it's just under 900ft, in just over a mile.  It was mostly a power hike, with little bits of running until nearly the top.  Some amazing views back towards Lose Hill, and over to Ladybower Reservoir, then straight back down Parkin Clough to checkpoint 1.

This bit is steep.  900ft of descent, in half a mile.  Both myself and Paul were restrained down here, to save both quads and faceplants.  Then it was the checkpoint, and feed station!  Sachet of Mountain Fuel into bottle, filled, face stuffed with choc-chip muffin and a few other bits and pieces that I can't remember (careful to avoid the Flapjack of Doom), a small handful of Haribo, then I was on my way again, with Paul following just after, trying to decipher a confusing conversation about the leaders - on his own about 10 minutes ahead?

No rest for the legs as from here it's another 1000ft climb up to Stanage Edge.  The first part on road was great, found some rhythm, then I found a cyclist on a ~£4k Cervelo to trot past on my way up.  It's the little things that keep me happy!  I think I surprised Amanda Riley and another marshal at the car park beside Dennis Knoll, then carried on up on the bridle path towards Stanage Edge.

Just over 3 miles of climbing, and about 900ft of climb later, I made it to the edge.  Here, you sort of turn back on yourself and run along the edge, still ascending to the high point of High Neb.

The path up to Stanage Edge (left) and the path along the edge towards High Neb (right).  Photo courtesy of Rob Graveley.

As I turned the corner, I looked back and saw Paul about half a minute back, along with Ste Lord.  The previous conversation made sense now, as clearly Ste had also taken a wrong turn on the lead up to Twitchill Farm (which he confirmed later).  Now Ste is a much better climber than me, so I put the hammer down a bit and hit threshold effort all the way to High Neb, then maintained it on the descent down to Moscar road crossing.  I was pleased to see I still had a bit of a gap on him.

From the road, there is a 100ft climb, then another short descent down to another road crossing, and it looked like I was holding my distance.  From there, it's a short descent past Moscar House, then a long climb up to Derwent Moor past the grouse butts.  It's about 400ft of up, but I kept running as much of it as I could, not looking back as I didn't want to see how close Ste was!

Descent from Derwent Moor to Ladybower Reservoir.  Photo courtesy of Rob Graveley.

A lovely descent followed, but I was still careful not to go too hard as there was still a good amount of climbing, descending and running to be done, and I needed my legs to be in as good a state as possible.  I still wasn't hanging around, mind, and got on with the job, sneaking a look back at an opportune moment.

Ste was a lot further back than I expected him to be - bonus, looks like I've got the edge (ha!) on the descents.  At the bottom, Ste was nowhere in sight, so I made myself scarce, getting out of sight to try and get some sort of psychological boost on him.  The flattest part of the course it this part, along the side of the Reservoir then back to the checkpoint at the bottom of Parking Clough.  I pushed hard along here, knowing I could refuel soon and have a "rest" whilst clawing myself back up to the top of Win Hill.

Got to the checkpoint, had my powder in my empty bottle ready to go, snaffles a choc-chip muffin, rinsed some salty nuts around my mouth, drank some cola, grabbed a Reeses Peanut Butter thingy for later and a double choc-chip muffin for the climb.  Straight back up Parking Clough.  900ft in just over half a mile.

I was at the top of the first set of steps when I saw Ste heading towards the Cp, so I figured I had about 1-2 minutes on him, depending on how on point his Cp game was - he'd clearly made some ground on me on the flat run in!  Not much that I could do at this point apart from get myself up the hill!

Parkin Clough.  Steeper than the photo looks!  Photo courtesy of Rob Graveley.

I kept sneaking looks back, and couldn't see anyone, so I stopped looking until the top.  I looked back, then there was Ste, about 30 seconds or so back.  From Win Hill, there is a 2 mile descent, with about 500ft of elevation loss, so I figured about here was as good a place as any to try and get a good gap, as I knew there was another good climb from Hope Cross up to the Kinder Plateau.

It was a good idea at the time, but by the time I got to Hope Cross, my legs were feeling a little worse for wear!  There's a steady climb on a bridle path to the path up to Crookstone Hill, which I managed to run, then run/walk up to the edge of the Plateau.  Ste was a way back now, so I let myself start to get a little excited about 2nd place.

Kinder Plateau is not flat on top, however, with another 300ft of climb still to over the next mile, I couldn't afford to let up.  I love running along there though, so it was a really good mental boost and I fell into a great rhythm along the edge, until I hit the descent to The Nab.  I ate the Reeses peanut thingy to celebrate, and then headed down the switchbacks, enjoying the last descent into Edale village.

Across Grindsbrook, then down the road, back to Edale Village Hall, and the finish (5:14).  Stu had almost finished his Pie and Peas, having already been there for just over half an hour (4:41), then Ste arrived 5 minutes after I did (5:19).  It's a massive shame some twazzock moved the sign as it might have made for a great battle at the the end!  Paul Grundy finished an excellent 4th (5:26) with Pete Watson (who looks like he's going to be very good at these, and is from my running club Erewash Valley) number 5 in 5:43.  Dan Stowers achieved his goal of beating everyone from The Endurance Store, coming 6th in 5:46.

And there was a toasty hot Cornish Pastie and Peas waiting for me when I finished....mmmmmmmmmmm!

First lady back was Miranda Singleton in 6:41.

Thoroughly enjoyed my day out, easily the best, and toughest 30 mile route in the Peak District, and one of the best 30 mile races I have done.  Massive kudos to David Riley for yet another event which is destined to become a classic!  Have a look on Facebook for the Peakrunner Trail Series.

As ever, I'd like to thank Mountain Fuel (Link: www.mountainfuel.co.uk ) for fuelling my race, and to TrainAsONE for the dynamic, adaptive online training (Link: www.trainasone.com

Curbar Commotion

To do well in a fell race, everything has to go your way. Some things you can plan for, others, not so much.  Saturday's Curbar Commotion was a mix of both and was the difference between a top 20 and top 10 result.

Everything in the lead up went quite well, with no niggles carried over from the Hardmoors 60 or VO2 max test, and the hernia wasn't really hurting much on the downhills either so I was looking forward to giving it a good test.

We arrived nice and early, I drank my pre-tace Mountain Fuel Extreme and all of the pre race prep went really well (got changed successfully), then we headed into the pre-race briefing.  Usual sort of stuff, but was starting to need a wee.  We were counted out, and onto the start line.  I was having a chat to Chris Perry, when everyone else started running.  Mistake number 1!

Off we went, steady climb up a short road section where I tried to weave my way past the people who were more switched on then myself.  Managed to get clear a little, just in time to stop for a shirt queue at the stile.  My main aim for this race was to beat a club-mate of mine, who was leading our fell-champ series, and he was about 30m ahead of me at this stage.

From the stile, it's a very narrow section until the next short downhill road section.  I made my way past some more people, then it's a short uphill to a long, flat path that runs below the edge.  And I really needed a wee.  Mistake Number 2 (or probably 1, if I'd realised it in time) was not going for that extra wee before the start! It was starting to hurt where the hernia is, but I was closing in on the people in front, so was determined to hold it.

Which lasted for about a mile.  Dashed off the track, instant relief, but my target was now a lot further away, and I was stuck behind some people that were travelling slower than I wanted to.  The flat bit finished, and it was the climb up to Curbar Edge.  I managed to get past the slower traffic, then it was back up to full speed along the edge.

About half a mile along the edge, is a left turn into some fairly heavy going to cross over to White Edge.  I make my way past a couple more people, then up to the trig point.  From here, it's go time.  A beautiful run across White Edge, mixed with some descents, it was my chance to make up some more time on my target up front and I spent the next 1.5 miles at pushing hard.

I was closing the gap, slowly, then it was a quick road crossing, and a slightly uphill drag to Wellingtons Monument.  A chap from Stockport caught me up here, he was moving really well.  From here, there's just under a mile of quality, fast downhill.  I let go, and hoped the hernia would hold.  Just as I let loose though, a bloke falls down just in front.  On go the anchors, check he's ok, he waves us on.  Go time.  I spend most of the descent under 5 minute miling, dragging the Stockport guy along with me, making some good time on my target, who is now only about 30 seconds in front of me.

But there's a hill.  Stockport guy drops me and I push up the hill, until my climbing legs come back.  It's not a steep climb, but after the mad downhill, it's hard initially.  There's about 3/4 a mile of uphill, then it's back to the downhill chase.  These are the bits I love, the technical downhill right on the edge of control.  Or just over the edge of control. Mistake Number 3!  I caught my foot on something, and down I went. cracking my knee, grazing my leg and catching my ribs on a rock.  Managed to keep my face off a large rock though.

Back up and running, adrenaline flowing, grin at the next marshal and angrily fire myself down the next narrow, tricky bracken laced descent.  I'm not quite as close as I was any more, but I still push as hard as I can. There's a short climb, then a fast descent down the road to the finish.

16th place, 1:08:43.

Plan is now to take it steady and hope my ribs recover in time for Windgather, a 13.5 mile fell race from Buxton.

Photo of the leg damage:

Thanks to Mountain Fuel (link here) for the #FeelGoodFuel and to TrainAsONE (Link here) for their adaptive training plan.

Hardmoors 60

This is probably a race that, all things considered, I shouldn't have started.

After pulling out of the Lakeland 50, I took myself to the doc, and was diagnosed with a sports hernia.  That would explain the lower abdominal pain then.  And possibly the small lump beside my left hip bone.

So after easing my way back into training, and updating my TrainAsONE goal to the Hardmoors 60, I decided that I would give it a shot.  I survived the 20 mile Stretton Skyline fell race, getting  20 minute pb with manageable pain from the hernia so my plan was not to go out hard, but to run comfortable.  And not charge down hills with my usual abandon, as that made my stomach pain worse.  I was also planning to manage the pain with Ibuprofen, which had the added bonus of making me more aware of keeping hydrated.

The main checkpoints of the Hardmoors 60 were about 10 miles apart, which made my planning life easier - 6 bottles of Mountain Fuel Xtreme, some jelly babies, (3 bags of approx 20 each), a Clif bar, another bar with dark chocolate and a mars bar.  I was also going to rely heavily on checkpoint food, as Hardmoors always provides some good snap.  My MF I had pre-measured into 4 zip-seal bags, powder in one bottle ready to fill at CP1 and a bottle ready to go.  I also drank a bottle on the bus from Filey, and pegged down my first set of Ibubrofen at 7am.

Everything went smoothly, straight through kit check, a quick catch-up with Kirk Hardwick, Lee Firman, Dave Troman, Richard from Clowne RR and it was time for Jon's classic pre-race briefing.  I also needed a wee.  Managed to get that sorted just before the start, found Kirk and Dave, then we were off.

My plan was to run easy and stay around 132-140bpm the whole way, and both Kirk and Dave were going for the slow start approach which meant I'd have someone to talk to for a bit and run with so I didn't get carried away.  My fallback plan was to stop and take photos whenever I felt I was getting too far "in the zone".

Start to CP1 - Highcliff Nab.  Easy start, mid-pack with Kirk and Dave.  Took it pretty easy, didn't notice Ste Lord shooting off at a sprint, which I'm pretty sure he maintained until the finish.  Kirk and I somehow found ourselves in the top few with Jerome McCulla, Lee Firman.  I started walking prety early on the climb up to the Nab, a brief Hi to Jason Milward up the top, took a photo:

Highcliff Nab to Saltburn Valley Gardens:  Theres a nice, protracted downhill until the first road crossing and everyone else pulled away from me here as I was on a mission to take it easy on the downs.  Nice little hill climb With photo op, looking back to the Nab)

Continued on to the top of the hill, looked like Lee and Jerome had pulled away from Kirk.  Nice downhill from here to Skelton Green, where I was caught by Gary Thwaites and Christopher Bell, who were moving along nicely.  We stuck together until we arrived at Saltburn Valley Gardens Cp (with another sneaky photo!)

There was watermelon at the checkpoint.  It was amazing.  Filled up bottle #2 of Mountain Fuel, had a very brief introduction to Emma Hardwick, Kirk's wife and support crew, and carried on.  

Saltburn to Runswick Bay:  Kirk, Christopher and Gary caught me up fairly sharply, and we formed a foursome that stayed together for a few miles.  We hit the coast, with a stack of supporters at Saltburn, and headed out along the coastal path.

I was doing my best to let the other guys lead out, but every now and again I would find myself up the front, so I'd stop and take a photo.

And what even is this:

Gary, Kirk and Christopher dropped back a little after this point, then there was a nice long climb providing some good views back:

And forwards towards the next CP, Runswick Bay:

Trotted down here past Emma, who told me that Kirk was suffering from Man-Flu - he wasn't far back at this point though.  Christopher caught me up just afterwards and we ran into the CP (down a very steep road!) together.

I ate a lot at Runswick, and had a quick chat to Paul Hamer.  Bottle #3 of Mountain Fuel filled, with half a bottle of water as it was getting warm.  Off to the beach, with Chris not far behind (also was informed I was in 4th.  Made a mental note to slow down.)

Runswick to Saltwick:

Beach!  Ran along here a bit:

Then realised I had no idea where I was going.  Out came the map and directions, and off I went up the narrow gully.  Just up here, my foot slipped a little on a rock, and jarred my stomach in a fairly painful reminder that, as good as I was feeling, all was not well, so I took it pretty steady on the climb up.  Christopher caught me again in fairly short order, and off we trotted.

Don't remember much of this bit, was nice running though!  Looking back towards Runswick:

Along here, and somewhere before Whitby, Christopher fell back a little.  There was some really nice running along here, and I started to get into a bit of a groove.  So I stopped and took another photo, looking along the coast towards Whitby:

And then I kept on trotting, along the footpath around the bay.  Lee Firman made a random appearance from the left - he'd stayed on the beach a little too long.  Had a good catch-up with Lee as we trotted up the hill, past the golf course and then elbowed our way together through Whitby.

Nice place, but far too many people in such a small area.

Up the 199 steps, the crowds thinned out, and I took a couple of pics:

We carried on a further mile or so, and hit Saltwick CP.

They had watermelon.  I think I ate too much of it.  And flapjack.  Swirled some salted peanuts around my mouth and spat them out, then carried on feeling a little full and bloated.  I think Lee must have been starting to feel it a little as he dropped back. (And approx half way!  Yay!)  I filled up mountain Fuel #4.
Saltwick to Robin Hood's Bay:

I don't recall much of this.  There were some cliffs, some fields.  There was a family hilariously avoiding a paddock of interested cows.  I patted it on my way past.  They applauded.  I moved on.  I may have taken this photo :

Or it may have been after Robin Hood Bay.  Or after Ravenscar.  Definitely before Scarborough though.

Either way, I was trotting along feeling quite happy with everything.

The Robin Hood checkpoint had an orange.  I had that orange, and it was amazing!

Robin Hood Bay to Ravenscar:

There was a bit of climb in this section, but it's only a few miles to the next big CP, Ravenscar.  It was quite nice along here, and then a fairly long walk/jog up to the top of the hill where the checkpoint was waiting.

The very efficient people there filled up Mountain Fuel number 5, I snacked and had some rice pudding (hate the stuff, unless I'm running.  Love it when I'm running.).  And off I jogged.

Ravenscar to Scarborough.

Said Hi to Gary Thwaites, who was on his way into the CP as I was exiting.  I was also expecting a flying Dave Troman, who said he was going hit the second half hard.  So I trotted off, making sure I didn't work myself too hard and keeping my HR down around 136ish.  Once I was off the road and back on the Way, I hit the groove and went with it a bit.  Before I knew it, I saw Scarborough:

Well.  Happy days, just a half marathon to go!  Down the hill and onto the seafront, I got a move on along the paved path.  There were some pretty cool waves:

And some strangely colourful sheds:

But mostly it was paved road which, well, started to hurt.  And the CP was still ages away, around the sticky-out bit and around the next bay.

The next bay, I was not so fussed on.  Loads of dodgy people, arcades, and about 7 police cars, all with the common theme of "Let's Kick Anti-Social Behaviour".  Don't think I'll be taking the kids there...

But then I reached the CP and all was good.  Rinsed and spat some more peanuts, ate some stuff (can't remember what!) and grabbed a couple of jelly babies.  I was then directed away up the hill as the normal path was dangerous, as the waves were up over it.

Scarborough to Filey.

Up the hill along some footpaths following the green signs of happiness, then on to the Cleveland Way once more.  Some more fields, some up, some down, and a nice view:

Then onwards, towards a caravan park, and along the coast to my last glimpse of cliffs:

I ran along those, until nearly the end.  Then along towards Filey, past the abandoned(?) red tent, then down some steps (starting to hurt down them now), along the promenade, up a small hill and into the finish.

At last.

Ended up being 3rd male, in 10:13 behind Ste Lord (9:09) and Jerome McCulla (9:44).  Gary Thwaites was next back in 10:31.

An amazing day out, brilliant course, fantastic marshals and great company along the way made it a really enjoyable day.  Bring on the HM30!

Big thanks to Mountain Fuel for the nutrition, and TrainAsONE for the continued support of their online training tool.

Pre-Lakeland 50 Thoughts

In just under a week, I'm going to be toeing the line of the Lakeland 50 for the sixth time.  I'm looking forward to it as I love the race, the people involved and the atmosphere that is not only inclusive for the athletes but the families of the athletes (and has given my youngest daughter an obsession with foxes!).

I'm also pretty excited about testing myself against a really strong field.  Danny Kendall (5th overall at the MDS and ran just over 8 hours a couple of years back), Jayson Cavill (last years winner), Ben Abdelnoor (The Noor, one of my fell running heroes and current record holder), Andy Horrobin (ex elite cyclist and scarily fast oldish bloke), Lee Knight (will actually push himself hard enough to make his eyeballs bleed), Marcus Scotney (Winner of most things, and current fastest person to Troutbeck) is on the entry list, Anthony (Forest) Bethell (King Raidlight and a talented runner), Matt Wilson, Steven Lord, and probably a few others I have missed!

My main goal is to improve on last years' performance - to actually win the damn thing this time.  This means my game plan is going to (potentially) have to change from last year.  2015 was another warm one, so my plan was to take it (relatively) easy to the top of Fusedale, then pick it up along Haweswater and pick my way through the carnage.  That worked up to a point, but even though I took 12 minutes out of Jayson over the last 16 miles, he had built up enough of a lead initially for that not to matter at all.

Secondary goal (if I fail the first) is to get around in under 8 hours.  Unless it's stupidly hot again, I think I'm capable of that.

Fall-back goal:  Get on the podium.

This year, the plan is to stick with the guys at the pointy end, and see who lasts it out.  I'm pretty confident of putting in a good showing.  I've been using TrainAsONE (link here, get involved in the Beta) and it has made a massive improvement in my pace vs heartrate.  I'm also part of Team Mountain Fuel (Link here, it's awesome stuff) and have based my nutrition strategy around the Xtreme Energy carb drink.  It's brilliant, and has totally revolutionised my fuelling. It works incredibly well (for me) when backed up by jelly babies!  It also means that I'm not lugging around 19 gels with me this time.

How I'm fuelling: Pretty much a 500ml bottle of Xtreme Energy between each checkpoint, and top up my jelly babies on the way round.  Most checkpoints have jelly babies, so I'm going to have to carry less.  From Kentmere onwards, it's all about salted flat Cola at  checkpoints as well.  Tastes pretty grim, but does the job.

Both of my daughters are ready for the Lakeland 1, and are perfecting the dance moves as I write.  I think Esmee should get herself a new mile P.B. as well.

Gear Review: The North Face Better Than Naked Long Haul Short

I’ve reached the point in my running life where I’m always on the lookout for new shorts.  All of my old faithfuls are slowly disintegrating, and my shorts rotation is diminishing.  Enter Father’s Day, and a new pair of The North Face Better Than Naked Long Haul Shorts (Long Hauls from here).

The Long Hauls consist of an outer short, with a long, tight fitting internal short with FlashDry™, a proprietary TNF material additive which improves moisture management and temperature regulation.  It also helps them dry out really fast as well.

When you first look at the shorts, they look mostly like normal, slightly longer shorts, with a strange, thick black band running around the top.

That unusual looking band is where part of the genius of these shorts lie.  Contained within the band is a series of elasticated, open pockets to expand your on-the-go storage options.  There are 7 of them, the pockets at either end being slightly larger.  The smaller will fit gels, keys, ipods, whilst in the larger I can fit in a Berghaus Vaporlight Hypersmock.  There is also a zipped pocket on the back which is big enough to fit in a 5-inch smartphone of your choice.

If that wasn’t enough, there are also pockets on the liner short - 2 larger pockets on the right leg, 3 smaller pockets on the left.  I’m not entirely sure exactly what I could put in there, as they would be a faff to get to whilst racing and they aren’t particularly deep.

So how do they actually feel on?  They are fantastic.  The FlashDry™ does what it says – keeps everything moisture free, and breathes exceptionally well.  I have worn them for extended periods in hot weather, wet weather or both combined (English Summer!) and have had no chaffing or discomfort whatsoever. 

I have even tried them out fully laden, 10 gels, 1 waterproof, ipod, phone, keys and was very impressed.  Because the pockets are above the hips and where the draw-cord is, they don’t slip down.  The contents are kept firmly in place from the elasticity of the pockets, and don’t bounce.  The gels are easy to access, and I was able to remove/replace the phone without any faffing which was a surprise.

The only downside to the shorts is that because they are so breathable, in cold weather everything gets a bit…cold. 

These shorts are by far the best I own, and have revolutionised my load carrying, and are a perfect companion for packs without any up-front carrying capacity.

Recommended.

Ladybower Trail Marathon

A little while back, I did the Kielder 50km race (blog here) and met a bloke called David Riley.  He was just getting into organising some trail races in the Peak District.  Fast forward a bit, and he's putting together the inaugural Ladybower Trail Marathon.

David got in contact and asked me if I'd like to be involved and race in it.  I was pretty excited about it as I love that area of the Peaks, and it was about perfect timing for a last long hard effort before the ever-closer Lakeland 50.

Photo: David Riley

And with views like this, why wouldn't you?

So as race day approached I was in the pretty strange position of wondering how on earth I was going to pace it, as it was (relatively) flat, and I have zero experience with long flat races!  As luck would have it, I noticed team-mate Dan Page sneaked in a late entry.  He's a 2:40 marathoner, and a running coach, so I figured I could get a bit of pacing advice off him before he left me in a cloud of dust.

My nutrition plan was pretty simple.  Mountain Fuel Night Fuel the night before, a bottle of Xtreme Energy before the race, then throw down some water and jelly babies at the checkpoints as I wanted to travel as light as possible.  I had no idea if this was a good idea, but it seemed to work for my 3 hour pickup runs, so worth a shot I thought.

On the drive up, I decided that I would run at about 145-150bpm, which is around 6:30/mile (on the flat!) and just below my threshold HR (155ish) which should leave me in a position to push on if I could later in the race, rather than crash and burn (for once!).

I arrive, park up and get registered.  Everything is wonderfully low key and very friendly, with a really nice atmosphere to it.  I spot Dan, say a quick hello, then spot Tony Holland (of The Ultra Runner Store fame and leader of the Ultra Runner Trail Team) and Shelli Gordon (outstanding long distance trail runner and Ultra Runner team mate) and have a catch up.

Tony showing off his new gels.

Comparing our different Scott shoes

Race start time.  Dan and I head off at the front, and pretty soon trotting along solo.  Have an interesting chat about heart-rate, trying to find out if my strategy is a good one.  Turns out I can't actually run at his heart rate.  My max is 179, his threshold pace is 175.  Not going to try matching that anytime soon!

Our pace, to my surprise, turned out to be near identical.  Both running just 5-10 bpm below threshold, and both similar pace.  I'd pull away on the climbs, he'd pull me back on the flats.  The first CP arrived, I stopped to grab 2 cups of water and 5 jelly babies.  Dan grabbed some water and blasted through.  Luckily there was a short climb after so I could catch him back up.

The race carried on like this until the second checkpoint, about mile 10.  Chatting whist we were running together, but no pressure to run at each others pace.  If we were together, fine.  If he was just in front, fine, he'd come back on a climb.  If I was in front, fine, he'd catch back up on the flat.  Fantastic to be running near someone but with no pressure to match their pace, just to keep on at your own.

Spot the dodgy leg action

Checkpoint 2, I stopped for some water and to grab 5 more jelly babies.  Dan blasted through again, and I spent the next mile or so catching up the 20 metres of distance between us.  I caught him on a climb, then moved a bit in front, putting the biggest gap between us so far.  We reached the bridge on the A57, where the terrain suited Dan and he caught back up.  At half marathon distance now, in 1:27ish.

We start heading back up on the lake.  There's a nice trail, and it's wooded.  There's something about running along wooded paths that just relaxes me and I pull away from Dan a little bit.  All too soon it's over, Checkpoint 3 arrives, with salted nuts!  I grab some water, 7 jelly babies (next CP is 6 miles away!) and suck the salt off a handful of nuts before spitting them back out (steady!).

It's a 400 ft climb from here, in the space of half a mile.  Head down, keep the heart rate steady.  Seems to work ok - I get up the hill alright, Dan just behind me and I can pick up the pace straight away along the top.  There's an amazing view off to the left of the Kinder Plateau, and up towards Snake Pass.  Awesome.  A tiny descent, then another climb of 100ft or so, where we run past a couple of mountain bikers.  One of them is a bit sad about it (What's going on here?  This aint right!  I'll get you on the down!) as I trot by, followed by Dan.  Then my favourite bit - a nice, technical downhill.  I let myself relax, and cruise down the hill.

I got to the bottom of the hill about 30 seconds before the mountain bikers (Ha!) and headed off back around the lake.  I put just under a minute on Dan down there, and tried to capitalise on that by picking up the pace a little.  Which worked well until mile 19, where stitch happened.  I jammed my fist under my ribs (sometimes works), slowed down a little (sometimes works), grunted a lot (never works but it hurt like hell).  Stopped.  Walked.  Saw Dan.  Ran a bit.  Got passed by Dan.  Started up some sort of weird, short-stepped fast shuffle and ran along with him.

Really not a fan of this, and right on the edge of too much pain to run, but I wasn't letting Dan get away!  Thankfully a checkpoint was coming up.  No idea what they were going to be able to do to help, but one was coming all the same.

We arrive at the same time, and they have bottles of water.  Bonus! I grab a drink (stitch immediately relaxes!), 5 jelly babies, a bottle of water and head on out, feeling great that the stitch had gone.  I'm out before Dan too, so he has to push a bit harder on the climb to tag back on.  I encourage him to push on if he wants, as I didn't want to hold hands across the line.  He doesn't.

We get to the top of the lake again, then Dan cramps up in his left calf.  I'm just behind him, so I see his gait go a bit funny.  Well, this could be it! I think to myself, and get a move on out of there.  Even though it's a steady climb, I push up to 153bpm, maintaining 6:40ish pace.  We've got 4 miles to go, it's on!

Focused!

Little did I know that Dan had only slowed a little, and briefly, and a mile later I hear footsteps.  Time to push harder!  And hello, stitch.  I back off a little, and it feels like some sort of weird, slow motion race, I feel like I'm moving through treacle but Dan isn't pulling away.  I start to get hopeful.  I spot the dam just by the finish.  I'm still feeling good, and the stitch eases a little with the adrenaline.

Heading in to the finish, Dan Page just behind!

I push harder, then with about half a mile to go hit the gas.  Feels good.  Nearly there.  Push harder.  Finish should be just around here...although we are still up a little high...  Yes!  The road down to the finish!  Massive adrenaline hit, and a little emotion, and I'm near sprinting, fatigue forgotten.  I cross the line 1st, in 3:03:37, with Dan Page 2nd, 24 seconds later.  3rd place Warren Watts comes in 5 minutes later to round off the men's podium.

First Lady (6th overall) is Elly Woodhead in an impressive 3:31, followed by Katey Foster (8th overall) then Shelli Gordon (9th overall).

Ben Brindley finished 46th, in 4:43 which is pretty epic, as it was his 7th in 7 days.  All Peak District based, all very hilly, and all in aid of Buxton Mountain Rescue (donate here)

A very informal prize giving, and I get the surprisingly heavy (9.3kg!) trophy.

1st and 2nd, Team Mountain Fuel

An awesome end to a really enjoyable run.

Things I learnt from the run.

1)  Running to a set heart rate is pretty cool, and worked really well for me here.  I was about 5bpm under threshold, and it felt nice.

2)  I can run faster than I though I can.  See above.

3)  I need to make sure I drink enough for that I don't get smashed by stitch again.  Or get some sort of really light drink carrier thing,

4) Jelly babies + Mountain Fuel = nice, smooth energy delivery (for me, anyway).

5) TrainAsONE really works.  I've been following it, it's adaptive training plan is brilliant.  (website here)

Stuff I need to change for next time:

1)  Push my pace to threshold from the off.  I felt too good at the end.

2)  I need to take some fluid around with me.  Need to find myself a 500ml bottle carrier thing.  Not in pack or bumbag/belt form though.  Some kind of handheld. Suggestions?

Stuff I wore:

x-bionic The Trick top. Coped with the temperature changes really well.
Tight Shorts.  No chafe :)
x-bionic energiser boxers.  No chafe :)
injinji trail socks.
Scott Kinabalu shoes.  These things are comfy, grippy and just work well.

Thanks to Mountain Fuel for fuelling my run.

Thanks to David Riley for the race entry.

I'm going back next year, such a fantastic event.  Also, need my first sub-3 marathon!

Old County Tops

Ah, the Old County Tops.  The classic paired fell race, taking in Helvellyn, Scafell Pike, and Old Man Coniston, starting and finishing in Great Langdale.  There's 37 miles of it (route choice dependent), and about 10,000 feet of ascent involved.

It's brutal.  It takes no prisoners.  If you go off too fast, you'll hurt all of the way to the end, if you make it.  Too slow, you might not make the cut-offs.  Can't navigate in the clag?  Might end up anywhere (god knows I did!).  Haven't experienced any 1000+ ft descents?  prepare for your quads to go numb...

It is, however, my absolute favourite race, and the race I have completed the most often.  This was to be my 7th, one t-shirt for every day of the week.  And what a t-shirt it is.  The most recognisable in fell running.

This year was to be a departure from the norm for me, as I was having to enlist help from outside my running club (Erewash Valley RC) in the form of Chris Baynham-Hughes.  I've known Chris ever since the Welsh 1000m Peaks race, where we both came off Snowden the wrong way at the end.  I've run a few races with him since then, so I knew we would be able to put up with each other.  Expectations were set at 1) complete the damn thing and 2) get in under 9 hours.  Everything else was irrelevant.

I was using the race to test out how Mountain Fuel would work for me over a long period of time, backed up with checkpoint food and some jelly babies.  Plan was 4 sachets of Xtreme over the course, with refills at Wythburn, Angle Tarn and Cockley Beck.

Briefing

Race morning arrived far too quickly.  Kit check, registration, catching up with the usual suspects and some new.  Race briefing, a final kiss from Mel and the girls (Esmee with her head in her book) and then we were off.

A steady trot along the bridlepath, onto the road briefly then up onto the footpath that goes over Thrang Crag and then down into Grasmere.  Still going nice and steady, not sure what place we were in, but wasn't really too bothered.  We head up Tongue Ghyll to Grisedale Hause still going steady.  Almost go the wrong way around the lake as the clag was down, then head straight up the fence line to The Post.  It's properly raining now, and really windy, although not a head wind as yet.  Some good running along past Dollywaggon, High Crag, Nethermost Pike to The Shelter on Helvellyn.  Numbers registered, then the massive descent down to Wythburn Carpark, and Food Point 1.

We go straight down until the terrain flattens out, then across and down to meet the path on the other side of Comb Ghyll.  Not the best route as others take much faster lines here, by dropping down further before heading across the ghyll.  Down the very slippery steps to Wythburn, for a Mountain Fuel top-up, a jam sandwich and half a cup of tea.

We exit out, and get a trot on along the path  to the road crossing.  We pass a couple of young lads and have a bit of banter.  We will see more of them later...

It gets warm heading up Wyth Burn, so I take my smock off.  It's a Berghaus Vapourlight, love it but it gets a bit sweaty on the inside when it's warm.  About 3 minutes later when we hit The Bog (actual name, very appropriate too!) the temperature drops again, so back on it goes, over my pack this time.  A bit tight, but more convenient.

We trog around The Bog, then take a slightly more Northerly route on the approach to Flour Ghyll, which works well.  Neither of us sank.  It's a hard slog up to Greenup Edge, and CBH hits a bit of a low patch going up.  We regroup, then head straight into the teeth of a ridiculous headwind.  It came accompanied with rain, small droplets that hurt.  A lot.  The run down to Stake Pass was just on the right side of exciting - too much more and it would have been verging on dangerous.

The two young lads pop past us, moving well on the descent.  We hit just above Stake Pass then head up towards Angle Tarn.  We followed the main path this time instead of the slightly more direct route as it was easier running in the horrible weather.  We pop past the lads, then on to Angle Tarn for a supply top up and photo opportunity.

Angle Tarn

Waiting for Chris....

Still waiting...

Chris has a bit of a mare with his CP admin, hands were too cold to open packets.  Entertaining stuff though.  From there, it's the steps of doom up towards Esk Hause.  We catch up to Pup (James Harris), who had broken his partner a bit.  He finished tying his shoelaces then ran up the rest of the steps.  That lad is a machine.

Back in the clag from Esk Hause all the way to Scafell Pike, with me risking injury with every footstep - all broken, wet slabs and me in Salomon Fellraisers.  Comfy, hard wearing and fantastic in every respect.  Except they act as a frictionless surface when confronted with wet rock.

We take the direct route off.  7th time doing the direct route, 7th different route down.  Adds to the excitement.  We pick up the trod easily, and head off down until we get to 3 other pairs scratching their heads when it disappears (including the lads).  Where to go next?  James lets slip that I've done it loads, so I point in a direction I hope is right.  And in all fairness, it's OK.  Only a small bit of climbing, although I do put a small hole in my smock.

It's very steep and grassy down towards Great Moss, and the lads hammer down the hill, then...go in completely the wrong direction.  Too far away to hear us unfortunately, but we have a good laugh.  Chris get out some concoction he made earlier, containing coconut, apricots and some other stuff I can't remember, coated in chocolate.  It's amazing. 

Across Great Moss (should be called Great Bog.  Really.) then pick up the trod taking the direct line to Mosedale.  We meet the lads again, have a bit of a laugh then hit Mosedale.  One of the best bits of running in the race, we let loose a bit and stretch our legs. 

Leg stretching.

We then hit the oasis of calm and food that is Cockley Beck CP.

This place is amazing.  The Cheese and Homemade Pickle sandwiches are amazing.  We get our Mountain Fuel topup, a chow a sandwich, cup of tea and a bit of fruit cake (I have learnt not to gorge myself here, sickness does follow...).  The lads pass us and carry on, going slightly to the left of the normal route...  We exit the CP, the Chris spots a lady called Wynne in a campervan.  He tells me she has Honorary BG Club membership because of her amazing support of so many successful rounds.  She also had Brownies.  I had one.  I think it had more calories in that one piece of cake than I had consumed all week.  It was incredible.

We hit the climb up to Coniston Old Man.  It actually feels easier than it has done before.  I credit the brownie.  We look for the 2 lads, but can't see them.  Clearly, they have smashed the climb and going strong.  We carry on, hitting the fences at the stiles and move upwards strongly.  About halfway up we look back... and see the lads quite a way behind.  Wonder where they have been?

At the top, it's undulating all the way to the checkpoint at COM summit.  We run the flats, the downs, and even some of the gentler ups, and get treated to some amazing scenes through breaks in the cloud over towards Windermere.  We hit the CP, then it's mostly downhill from there.  We get caught by a strong descending pair, both in full waterproofs, by the time we hit the Three Shire Stones CP.  A quick drink, and we hit the road down to Blea Tarn.  We pass by the Waterproof Pair again, and it's getting really warm.  Like really, really warm.  We finish the quad-shredding road descent, then hit the path past Blea Moss and Blea Tarn.  We hit the gas, trying to drop the pair, and spot a new pair.  Not in waterproofs.  2 miles to go, and the race is on.  We keep a good pace going, adrenaline carrying us up most of the climbs, until the drop down towards the campsite.  We take the route over the fields towards Side House, and they close a little on the descent.  

We up the pace.  We're holding them.  We get over the last ladder stile, onto the last short road section then increase pace again, and hold them off to finish in 16th place, in 8:34.

All in all, another fantastic day out.  My favourite race of the year.  If I could only do one, it would be this one.

Stuff which worked:

Montane cap.        Kept the rain from blinding me.

Mountain Fuel.      Interspersed with Jelly babies, was perfect.  Didn't hit any low patches, just a                                         constant supply of energy.

X-Bionic kit          The Trick T-shirt and shorts kept my temperature stable, had less faff with taking                                 off/replacing layers over the race.

Injinji Socks         No between-toe blisters.  Yay!

Thanks to MountainFuel for fuelling my race ( https://www.mountainfuel.co.uk )

The Ultra-Runner shop for kit ( http://ultra-runner.com )

X-Bionic for The Trick top and bottom ( www.x-bionic.co.uk )