Training Log Archive: ToddO

I've put all my running and outdoor cycling on Strava since October but I'm logging this here because I feel that it warrants a longer write-up. Just like my big targets usually get.

The Fred Whitton Saddleback Challenge Cycle Sportive (so, technically not a race): 112 miles/180km with 3950m of ascent and descent.

As I lie here propped up on pillows with shards of Easter egg chocolate melting on my worryingly under-insulated belly I reflect that it took a lot to be able to do this event at the speed that I did. The chocolate is relevant because it's the first time I've eaten junk calories for several weeks. I had resolved to cut it all out until after 'The Fred'.
Wind, rain, the cold and darkness were all things that had had to be ridden through in various combinations over the winter and I'd suffered to severe levels on Cumbria's nastiest climbs and in front of YouTube training videos on a turbo trainer. I even threw in a week's holiday to Mallorca which involved 14 hours on a bicycle.
Surprisingly there were very few moments during the ride that I asked myself why I was doing this but there are reasons.
Billed by Cycling Weekly magazine as a 10/10 difficulty sportive and renowned around Cumbria (it seems a rite of passage for anyone who rides a bike in Lycra) I had heard about the event from my endurance-type friends since moving to Cumbria five years ago. I needed a challenge. Not a running challenge for once.
I bought my bike for cross-training because of ongoing Achilles problems. I'd been ground me down over a few years and I was finally fed up of limping for a couple of days after a fast run on a hard surface. So I did a Bob Graham Round!
With that done I could afford to lose my running fitness and concentrate on Achilles rehab. I have all sorts of biomechanics to 'fix'. Knowing this would take ages made me think to enter 'The Fred' and use the training to limit my running losses.
I wanted to start early to avoid heavy traffic (2000 people start between 6 and 8am) because 'following wheels' isn't a skill that I'm good at and I've had no practice at 'swerving around crashed riders on descents'.
At 6:17am I started: 17 minutes after I intended to. Who can get up at 4am anyway? The main thing was that I had done everything and had everything that I needed.
I became a bit concerned that NO-ONE was going as fast as me to Holbeck Lane... On reflection, I should have realised that people maintain gaps when they're going similar speeds! I overtook people continuously to the top of Kirkstone. One guy in pink re-overtook me as I had an IsoGel near the top and a handful of chaps flew past me on the descent (where I was glad I had the gilet on) but I went past them all on the rollers alongside Brotherswater.
I then formed my first pairing and took turns leading with a Scotsman wearing a blue, pink/purple and white Law (?) club kit. This gave me an opportunity to have my Energy Bar, IsoGel with electrolytes and a good old glug of my Hi5 4:1 potion. When we hit the climb to Dockray he'd dropped off and I jumped on the wheel of a guy in a Manchester Wheelers kit who was motoring. He proceeded to take a tow all the way to Dockray and then fly away on the first bit of flat. I think it was him I briefly spoke to on the descent to Calder Bridge!
Overtook a bunch at Troutbeck to then have to overtake them again after the descent towards Scales! Maybe my tucked position can be more aero.
Mum was sitting outside my front door in Keswick and handed me my bottles, bar and Hi5 gels. I'd had a pretty quiet road in front of me as I stopped. There were now 30-odd guys up the road. Where had they come from?
The Law guy pulled up alongside me and said that he'd been in a good gang along the A66. Unfortunately they were now powering away up the road... Chased hard (too hard?) to make a catch by the time we were by Derwent Water and I rested a bit. Found the short climbs a bit easier than the group it seemed which kept me in touch. There were a couple of young guys who seemed to be driving the pace: a guy with Cancellara style hair on a bright blue Giant aero bike with deep section wheels and one with a red bike. I put in a turn to lead the bumpy corners just before the Grange straight and up the little climb towards the 'Jaws of Borrowdale'. Cancellara then took up the lead and I pounced on second wheel as soon as I could to avoid getting spat out of the back. This still happened though! It was because there was a big bunch going through Rosthwaite's bottleneck and the front guys whipped past whilst I followed through at the back.
I decided not to chase back on with Honister a couple of miles away. I drunk most of a bottle of Hi5 4:1 and had a gel. The fast guys hit the climb about 2-300m ahead of me. I went past them all by the cattlegrid, half of them had been 'paper-boying' the steep ramps. Very satisfying to be able to do long parts in the saddle and to keep a straight line without going deep.
The Honister descent was quite fun. Had a chubby Matlock guy nip past after the bridge quickly followed by blue and red bike guys. Drank more around Buttermere and saw the faster guys pull into the Youth Hostel feed-station before churning up Newlands. It was harder than usual, which I tried to ignore, but I had some spinny 'rests' on the less severe sections. There is a timed hill climb here -god knows why- but I was so focussed on 'the whole' that I got funny looks from the timers at the top whilst I did up my tops at a snail's pace.
Overtook a guy in yellow shoe covers (white and blue kit I think) just before Keskadale Farm, warned him "these corners are lethal" and he then followed me until he must've become sick of my pansying descending and sped past at Birkrigg (just before the Little Town turn-off) to whizz through the gravel strewn corners of Rigg Beck.
From the old results I'd worked out that 3:05-3:10 at Braithwaite was 'on schedule for a sub 7 hour time. I had take 3:02 with no problems (I was glad to have some buffer time in case of a puncture or something). By the time I got to Mum at Whinlatter Pass I'd had 2 SIS Energy Bars, an SIS IsoGel + Electrolytes, 2.25L of Hi5 4:1 and 2 Hi5 gels. For some reason she wasn't expecting me quite at that time so the bar and gels were still taped to one of the bottles. Whilst she slathered some sunscreen on me I transferred things into pockets and bottle-cages and stuffed the banana into my gob.
As I started the descent (bone-dry and quiet, YES!) the Cancellara-haired guy on the blue Giant had caught up again. I forced my way into the lead so that I could take my preferred line and give out some hand signals to him. The hope being that I could work with him for a bit after the descent. Part-way down I realised that I'd left one of my bottles at the top. Bugger! Don't dwell on the fact that you've now lost fluid, electrolytes, carbs and protein that you'd planned on having. The Calder Bridge feed-station will have to do...
We'd overtaken a guy in white on the descent, whilst he'd been stretching his back, and my poor cornering at Lorton meant that I was immediately off the back. Chased back with an older guy to join them for the Vale of Lorton. As we hit Scale Hill we ran into the back of a group (the man in pink from Kirkstone being one of them). I shot straight past them on the short climb only to find myself working hard to keep in the line as we skirted Loweswater. Then we hit Fangs Brow and I was up the front again without too much effort. Unfortunately blue bike guy and another took off again and after starting to chase I looked over my shoulder to the guys behind and eased off a bit so that they knew I was handing over the job. We joined them again at Lamplugh Green but pink man and I just couldn't stay with them, pink man fell away and I essentially had a carrot for the ups and downs of the ride to Croasdale.
Lost time on the sharp corners down to Croasdale and some new guys flew past me and led onto the road to Ennerdale Water. I lost 30-odd seconds following them but there were a little bunch (who had gone up there earlier and done some extra miles) coming back from their mistake.
They followed me towards Ennerdale Water, boosted past on the nice road (where I took an SIS IsoGel + caffeine) and then all stopped at the T-junction, another one with no sign.
I just rode at them and straight on through yelling "Left, left, LEFT". I was asked if I was sure. I reeled off my qualifications: "I live in Keswick" and they all followed me again.
Guys on nice bikes flew off up Cold Fell and I was in front of all bar one by the top. Blue bike guy was standing in the road holding his snapped chain after the first dip before heading back to the cattle-grid to ask for help from Honister '92's party marquee.
Yellow shoe-covers caught me at the top and we traded places to Calder Bridge, him getting quickly distanced when we hit inclines and me doing the losing him on tighter corners.
At the feed station I had a few gulps of blackcurrant squash before filling the bottle and grabbed a load flapjack. I was putting it in my mouth as I left and half fell to the ground. Oh well, I'd got a full mouthful of nutrient rich sustenance.
Yellow shoe-covers was taking a tow up out of Calder Bridge from a guy wearing a Mont Blanc Challenge jersey (the jersey said it was 330km with 800m of climb, he said his name was Mark).
We worked our way to Gosforth and the foot of Irton Hill. I noticed that Mark only took the lead at the start of the descent to Santon Bridge. We left yellow shoe-covers on the climb and Mark told me it was his 4th Fred but he hadn't got under 7 hours yet. Today he had made the wrong turn towards Ennerdale Water and possibly blown it. He gapped me a bit on the descent to Eskdale Green. He wasn't pushing it but I didn't catch him until we were on the road to Beckfoot. He seemed happy to follow, again, and I got a bit annoyed. Luckily some guy with a beard, aero helmet and white top arrived and took the lead. It was relatively sedate but I just rested up had my Double Espresso IsoGel and pootled towards Hardknott.
I was worried. I fully undid my gilet (with it's awkward zip) for the first time today and raised the peak on my cap. Get over this in one piece and the hardest part is done.
Some kind soul held open the gate so we didn't have to ride the cattle-grid but I was having to stand on the pedals a lot more early than I have done in my two previous scalings of Hardknott. I tried to sit down for as much of the climb as possible with the top being my worry: a 20% ramp leading to a 30% ramp, followed by a long section of something just under 20%; about 500m of hell, as the crow flies.
It wasn't as hard as last time I went up there but there were twinges of hamstring cramp and my low cadence riding was not very smooth at all. I summited 6:04 after starting. How long does it take to get back?
I stopped after the summit to do up my gilet and told myself to get down safely. I did. I even smiled a bit and asked some walkers if I could borrow their poles.
Overtook a guy wearing a blue Panasonic kit along the road from Cockley Beck. He looked to be going quite slowly.
Little did I know that I was now the first rider on the road! I took Wrynose like I had Newlands. No venom, just trying to be as efficient as possible. Again, the legs made weren't up to a lot of seated climbing but I wasn't suffering much.
There were marshalls all over the descents of Hardknott and Wrynose giving helpful hints like "take it slowly down this steep bit". A Fell Rescue member didn't find it funny when I asked if they'd swept the road.
Got down to Little Langdale without any sketchy moments and set about telling myself that every incline was the last 'proper' little climb. I only fully believed myself after the lump on (Under Loughrigg Road) but it somehow helped.
Coming out of Skelwith Bridge Mark went past with a kind word but I couldn't latch on, or simply didn't want to. I was confident I'd get under 7 hours and 6:40 or 6:45 were looking neither achievable or significant respectively.
Panasonic guy went by just before Clappersgate but I caught up again due to a little traffic jam at the Under Loughrigg Road junction. He pulled away gradually.
The roads were pretty quiet as I tried to be as quick as possible to the finish without breaking.
Mum was a bit surprised at how 'early' I was again. I was surprised that I unclipped from the bike without falling off.
15 minutes later I was jogging across the field to shower and then get a massage.
Whinlatter timed climb 10:21
Braithwaithe split 3:03
Calder Bridge split 4:45
Time of day at Hardknott summit 12:01
Total time 6:47
Saw plenty of folk I know. Martin Mikkelsen-Barron paced a guy from Troutbeck to the foot of Honister and then from Whinlatter Summit to the end at a fast pace. Christina from Barrow Striders had done 7:01. Mark had got 7:02. Blue bike guy did 7:02 and turned out to be a London-based kiwi called William- he had to get his chain patched by Honister '92 before a better repair at Calder Bridge. Rob Jebb was an hour faster than me. Tom Gibbs latched onto Jebby from Gosforth to Rydal and did 6:13. Chris Robinson did 6:16. Pete Brittleton did 7:20 but had been faster than me by a few minutes at Braithwaite and slowing to one minute up on me at Calder Bridge. I don't know if he blew up of crashed or had a mechanical... Rory Black was a minute quicker than me. Harold Wyber did sub 8 two weeks after a 2:39 at the London Marathon. Jon Brown did 7:01 having vomited a large amount in response to a can of Coca-Cola!
Thanks Mum!
Right, now where are all those Haribo from my recent Wiggle orders?!

C • Awesome mate, that's a crac... 3

Legs not feeling great yet. My quads have still been feeling tired on the way up stairs at work.
King Kong by myself. Did a bit of kneeling and squatting between efforts to stretch out the quads and stuff.
Had the place to myself for most of the time after a young guy stopped showing his various flips to a little kid...
It didn't feel like I was doing much tonight but I did get up the yellow next to the sawn-off wall despite sweaty hands. I'd not been able to re-do it last time I was there and describing it to a couple of guys.
The black and green problems immediately on the left as you walk in were still there. I did as well as I ever have on the green and stayed up there for more than a few seconds after releasing the knee-bar. I just couldn't work out what comes next.
Managed to hang around a bit on a new beige one in the pain cave. It was hard and I couldn't campus my way out.
Spent the rest of the time faffing on easy ones. My hands have softened a bit due to less frequent climbing. I'll rectify this after the Fred Whitton and hopefully do a little outdoor climbing.