Training Log Archive: AliMas

Headley mileage, first half with father. Feeling much plod but a nice outing, looking forward to when I can run without pain from my feet again.

Steady/tempo type job out and back to Ranmore, not feeling the best and got rained on, bit of a grind by the end. Found some different old shoes to customise, still a bit sore to start with but got used to it.

Norbury loop, old watch deciding to switch it self off the whole time. Not feeling overly fantastic, stomach quite swishy swashy, and feet slipping out my cut-out shoes the whole time. Ah well, wasn't raining at least,.

Reigate Hill then onto Headley. Quite enjoyable but heels were getting quite sore by the end. Saw a man running using poles along a wide gravel track which me laugh, clearly have been too many Salomon trail running festivals in the area.

Didn’t want this to be a massive write up but it turned out very much that way so will be impressed if anyone finishes reading this…

Scottish Mountain Marathon

Tim and I entered this one a while ago and we were hopeful that this time we might have a smooth elite mountain marathon where we didn't have consequential racing dramas resulting in deteriorating speeds. It was a shame the elite start-list was thin, but we were pleased when Jim and Duncan entered as they're always very strong, so it was going to be a good battle. In theory our shape was going to be better than ever, Tim was clearly in hell shape after Jura, and despite myself running terribly at Jura and doing a terrible job at shaking my cold, I was hopeful that my mileage would count for something and I'd be able to put a good shift in to stick behind the big dog. This was my first MM where I knew without a doubt I'd be the weaker of the pair which was a little daunting, but I was willing to suffer.

Day 1

We started out uncharacteristically steady for the first couple, though I’m not exactly sure we knew it at the time. I had a dry throat and was coughing and spluttering a fair bit, which wasn’t the most pleasant, and it was also surprisingly muggy bringing back some spine-tingling Harris feels for both of us. No dramas though, the first 90mins went quickly and we were starting our first big climb up to 5 feeling positive. We quite easily could have run up the first section on the track, but we’d decided we were going to discuss the big leg to 6 on the way up so we just walked it and saved some energies. Think this was the longest I’ve discussed a leg before; my initial thought was that the left route looked quicker but could tell that Tim was more inclined to go right and we were both a little scared of the peat hags on the left line as we were yet to encounter them and flashbacks to the long leg on Harris were occurring. After much toing and froing, we went for right with the hope that most of the running, and especially the ridge, would be excellent. Think this was a good decision, not only because we were running well and won the leg by 20mins (it took us 1hour 50mins), but also because the ridge was dreamy, and we were very much enjoying ourselves for most of the leg.

The climb at the end of 6 was a bit of a wall, and quite a large wall too. I developed some nauseous feels going up here with a bit of a head fuzz/headache, so I was concerned about repeating my stomach emptying experience from the OMM and wanted to make sure I wasn’t getting dehydrated. Told Tim I was feeling sicky, so we chilled a little and had a big drink on the way to 7. I was still gagging a fair bit but was reasonably confident I could keep it down. My legs were happy enough and I was slowly getting a shot block down me, so we kept some good speed across and up to 8 with me just staring at Tim’s lovely legs and trying to cling on. The big hill across to 9 was looking quite daunting, and I cheekily mentioned to Tim that if he’s feeling good it might be best if he takes my pack for that bit. Started my peeing streak on the way to 8, which was rather strange one, had to stop for four pees in the final two hours, so guess I wasn’t dehydrated and maybe even drunk too much. Probably slowed us down quite a bit because I still get stage fright even in the middle of nowhere with no-one else around.

I hadn’t been looking at the map too much because thought that would only slow us down and I had much faith in Timothy. Going into 8 looked a little different to expected but we got it no dramas and I managed to get a bar down just after the control. Nice, just two descents and one big climb to go. First descent was no worries and I perked up a bit, kept my bag for the start of the climb before handing it over to Tim for a little stint with it, perhaps wasn’t too necessary with hindsight but Timbo is strong bean so reckon it saved us a couple of minutes. Cloud came in just before the top and we had to wack our cags on, got the control nicely then was just a quick dash down to the finish. Job done, no nav errors and kept strong throughout, happy days.

Overnight Camp

I was clearly a little dazed in the download tent as a couple of people were asking if I was okay, but I was feeling pretty content and we had some chat with GG (the planner) and a couple of others who seemed to think our routes and time were pretty good which was a nice relief. It was still pissing with rain, so we overstayed our welcome in the download tent (probably spent at least 30mins in there), put all our warm kit on and scranned on three bags of crisps, which were to die for.

When the rain subsided a little we went and found the rest of the Edinburgh lot who were all in good spirits and pitched ourselves with them on an island with some good flooding potential. Our tiny tent was easily the worst pitched tent on the whole campsite which provided some entertainment for people walking passed it, think this is a skill we need to work on… It was raining a lot and my peeing streak was continuing, resulting in something which I think most human beans would be a little put off by, peeing in a bag in the tent then throwing it out, but what can you do, Tim and I were having great fun. Later Tim tried his go at the act, got cramp, headbutted the tent, and ripped some pegs out. This was honestly hysterical but not great for the structural integrity of the tent, thanks go to Robbie for attempting to fix the damage (we were too lazy to get out the tent). Think that’s enough piss chat, the positives to take from our overnight camp were that our cooking was spot on, absolute gourmet gold, the mac-cheese was delightful. We didn’t sleep well (to be expected) and due to the poor structural integrity of the tent, condensation formed on the inside of the tent and we were both quite damp when we woke up. Overall, we can improve our overnight skills, but this was a funny one, shame the weather wasn’t a bit better so we could have more of a social. Jeez, this is long, sorry anyone who made it here.

Day 2

We made it to the start on time, and despite having some slightly damp gear the packs were feeling nice n light, my feet were sore but knew I’d probably just get used to it. Got a bit of track running to #1 which was nice, and we realised that a lot of the climb would be done by the first 3 controls which was also nice. Wouldn’t say the first four controls flew by but we’d got to the two-hour mark and nothing was of concern, I took a while to have my first eat in because I was full of granola brekky but once again, no dramas. Long leg of the day was #5, both agreed some variant of the left route looked best. Had quite a long stretch of contouring but the ground wasn’t so bad and felt like we were shifting well. I started getting a little tired towards the end of the leg though nothing bad. Saw both Louise & Alex, and Freya & Peds within quick succession on the way to 6 which was a good boost and seemed like the end wasn’t too far away.

Climb up to 7/8 was the last big one, I was feeling a bit rough after Tim setting some solid pace but in the end the climb wasn’t that long and there was some cool scenery from up there. Nice speedy descent down to 9 and I was feeling good again, so we were both thinking that sub-5 hours was a realistic target. We initially thought left round the marsh to 10 might be best but straight didn’t look too bad so we went for it. In terms of speed I think this was the correct decision though we didn’t account for the stream in the middle of the marsh. When we got to the stream we were both hesitant; it was quite wide, and we couldn’t tell how deep it was. We then said something along the lines of, suppose it must be done and crawled in. First step seemed to go a long way down, then the second a very long way down, ah brilliant, water up to my chest, slight moment of panic that I might be about to drown in a bog before simultaneously pulling myself out the other side and getting a big spasm of cramp in my calf. It was quite funny really, but we were now two wet and cold boys with heavy packs, perhaps a bag toss would have been a better choice. We were still running well immediately after and continued that to 11 but I was starting to feel bad again by the time we got to the control, so suggested to Tim that maybe we didn’t need to smash it back to the finish which thankfully he agreed, and we had a nice cruise in from there high on life.

Nice feeling to have had two successful and enjoyable days with most things going very smoothly. Cheers to Tim for once again being a superb partner and for slowing down for me. Cheers to organising team for a top event, and a sword, cannot wait for the many duels ahead. Hopefully the event will get lots more elite teams next year.

Cut out the heels of my old shoes so didn't hurt too much. Another fairly rogue route out to Denbies, didn't really intend on running this fast but it felt right at the time. Very wet but still enjoyable.

Very random route round Brockham, legs feeling okay but have some nasty looking heels which are causing me pain. Still feeling meh but to be expected.

Will do a Scottish MM write up tomorrow hopefully.

Broke a big spell, sad times.