Training Log Archive: rcroIn the 7 days ending Apr 29, 2017:
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Saturday Apr 29, 2017 #
8 AM
Running - off road (The Fellsman) 16:40:00 [5] 95.0 km (10:32 / km) +3530m 8:53 / km
slept:0.0 weight:71kg shoes: inov8 Mudclaw300 Blk/Gn2
Disastrous.
Failed to sleep at all on Friday night or on the bus on route to start so surviving on 4 hours sleep from Thursday night. Not a great dinner on Friday evening (chicken nuggets at a service station...) so the energy levels were running very low before the top at Ingleborough. Pretty hot day and ground was fairly firm for the most part.
Think the first ascent was done too quickly (for me at least), but wasn't going to let Ben get ahead on uphill. Quite a nice way to start. Steep descent, and was going well once I abandoned the queues and the path. Only brief stop at food station at bottom for biscuits.
Whernside was a bit of a slog, but steady pace and overtook many. Top path was rough rocks ankle hard on ankle. Descent was nice - and again I was flying. So after a longer break at Kingsdale due to them running out of squash, was back with Ben again on the brutal climb up Gragareth. Overtook a huge amount of people, but lost a lot along the top as going wasn't great, sun was out and wind dropped making very hot. Tiredness becoming far more noticeable now.
Rough descent off Great Coum - may have been better to cut more sharply. Rough descent down into Dent - took it slowly. Another fairly speedy stop at Dent food station and eating as left. Had I known how hard the next section was going to be would have drunk bottle of squash there and then, and refilled before leaving. Climb back up Whernside for Blea Moor was hard work, and again sunny, mostly a struggle to walk so Ben and the other guy we'd ended up with got away a bit. My line for Blea Moor was very good, so recaught them for last climb, and was ahead on descent down as I ran to the massive air-shaft next to the footpath down rather than 90 degrees in the wrong direction...
Complete exhaustion had set in by now and didn't see any way that I'd be able to get round - and definitely not running. Walked most of the road to feed station, stopped 10 mins, ate pasta, biscuits, cake, drunk 1.5L and then plodded up for Great Knoutberry very slowly and feeling sick. Felt awful but pace off the track seemed comparable to others and was able to jog back down the wall. As I turned on the stile at the bottom saw the helicopter coming in to crash back at the top...
Short bursts of jogging but mostly walking to Redshaw. Again drunk a lot, ate hot dog, banana, cake, biscuits. But did this quickly so was on the move again in about 3 mins. Knew that was capable of very little walking from here on so didn't want to waste time at stops and seize up. Took good line to Dodd Fell and gained another place, and had to navigate for myself to find the one legitimate route to Fleet Moss (Ben and other guy were the next in front, and they took short cut avoiding two compulsory gates here). Quick bean stew and downing/refilling drinks and was on the move again for the hard section - just behind Ben, as wan't navigation aids, and was a bigger group not too far ahead.
Said big group seemed to be struggling with their navigation, so we caught up after about 2k. I went my own way following the Gary line so cut a corner and held on to them, and then we split 50:50 where half crossed the wall which the instructions clearly stated "DO NOT ENTER THIS AREA" https://www.fellsman.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/201... to significantly cut the corner and also skip a hill. I was one who didn't cheat, took my own cut (which wasn't a great line), but once over on Middle Tongue had a good cut to bring back forward. Was now ahead of people who really should have been far ahead of me - clearly good routes and minimising the stoppages more than making up for absence of speed. Only 1 min behind Ben at Middle Tongue checkpoint despite his two illegal shortcuts :-)
The plod was far less fun up to Hell Gap, and was starting to get properly cold. Not able to run by now and rough going and slow - took a very long time to get through it. Descent to Cray hugely unpleasant. Quads cramping all the way. I felt confident I was able to plod to finish but this was when I got the message that I really couldn't "run" any more at all.
Long stop at Cray to put gloves layers on, get torch out, change map, eat soup and warm up. Grouped with some people with experience (16 Fellsmans between them) who were initially annoyed when I said I couldn't run any more, but were less so when they saw my walking pace was good (particularly up). As it got darker it became less fun and after Buckden Pike was just wanting to be finished. Glad I had people to lead me in to Top Mere as could have been hard in the dark.
Downside to being grouped was that it meant I had to sit for 20 mins at last feed station and wait for them, when I was ready to move on immediately after topping up drink. Result was I got cold and seized up completely, so heading up Great Whernside was harder than it could have been, and the strong headwind was really chilling me. OK route descent, but in the tussocks, two of the group decided to veer well left and insist on going back up the hill - where we'd came from, and took a lot of time (10 mins?) to persuade them that we probably should be going downhill. The group that was with us at the time went the right way and wasn't enough of a hint. The last section would have been a nice run - if early on and in daylight. Took a long time to power-walk but the beacons kept on coming and knew the end wasn't far away. Degrouped at Yarnbury and once it started downhill was alternating "jogging" and walking for 30 double paces to the bridge.
Finished at about 1.15 - or about 43 hours after I'd woken up. Truly exhausted, barely able to stand once had finished - had to sit on floor waiting for food, and so little energy to even pick up knife and fork took 45 mins to eat half a jacket potato before I gave up. Showers had got cold by time I went in and that woke me up a bit. In bed at 2.30 and probably asleep by 2.40 - woke twice before waking properly at 7.15.
End state:
Quads fucked
Arse sore from considerable chafing in last 6 hours.
Just the one (small) blister - on heel (shoes weren't fully broken in)
Both big toe nails don't feel right, so may be on way out.
Could have been a lot worse.
Expecting to be a mental wreck given how I have been pretty much every weekend since Llanbedr-Blaenavon - but given this was 60k further than I'd ever been before, I finished despite being fatigued even before starting, and was still in at 2/3rd distance when it all caught up with me again - think I've done as well as I could have hoped.
Really well organised race and you get a huge amount for your £40. All the marshals, without exception, incredibly cheery, even 10 hours into a 24 hour shift in a gale in the dark on top of Great Whernside. Lovely carnival atmosphere at food stations. Recommend this to anyone looking to do 60 miles off road, but will really have to think carefully before I sign up to do something similar again. Know that on current fitness I should be able to knock an hour off if fresh so not going to rule out doing this again some time.
My full route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=7065585
GPS for first 58km: https://www.strava.com/activities/964354227
No running during the week this next week, and not racing next week either (so Gary - happy to marshal/sweep if you need :-) ). Think May will be an easy month.
Failed to sleep at all on Friday night or on the bus on route to start so surviving on 4 hours sleep from Thursday night. Not a great dinner on Friday evening (chicken nuggets at a service station...) so the energy levels were running very low before the top at Ingleborough. Pretty hot day and ground was fairly firm for the most part.
Think the first ascent was done too quickly (for me at least), but wasn't going to let Ben get ahead on uphill. Quite a nice way to start. Steep descent, and was going well once I abandoned the queues and the path. Only brief stop at food station at bottom for biscuits.
Whernside was a bit of a slog, but steady pace and overtook many. Top path was rough rocks ankle hard on ankle. Descent was nice - and again I was flying. So after a longer break at Kingsdale due to them running out of squash, was back with Ben again on the brutal climb up Gragareth. Overtook a huge amount of people, but lost a lot along the top as going wasn't great, sun was out and wind dropped making very hot. Tiredness becoming far more noticeable now.
Rough descent off Great Coum - may have been better to cut more sharply. Rough descent down into Dent - took it slowly. Another fairly speedy stop at Dent food station and eating as left. Had I known how hard the next section was going to be would have drunk bottle of squash there and then, and refilled before leaving. Climb back up Whernside for Blea Moor was hard work, and again sunny, mostly a struggle to walk so Ben and the other guy we'd ended up with got away a bit. My line for Blea Moor was very good, so recaught them for last climb, and was ahead on descent down as I ran to the massive air-shaft next to the footpath down rather than 90 degrees in the wrong direction...
Complete exhaustion had set in by now and didn't see any way that I'd be able to get round - and definitely not running. Walked most of the road to feed station, stopped 10 mins, ate pasta, biscuits, cake, drunk 1.5L and then plodded up for Great Knoutberry very slowly and feeling sick. Felt awful but pace off the track seemed comparable to others and was able to jog back down the wall. As I turned on the stile at the bottom saw the helicopter coming in to crash back at the top...
Short bursts of jogging but mostly walking to Redshaw. Again drunk a lot, ate hot dog, banana, cake, biscuits. But did this quickly so was on the move again in about 3 mins. Knew that was capable of very little walking from here on so didn't want to waste time at stops and seize up. Took good line to Dodd Fell and gained another place, and had to navigate for myself to find the one legitimate route to Fleet Moss (Ben and other guy were the next in front, and they took short cut avoiding two compulsory gates here). Quick bean stew and downing/refilling drinks and was on the move again for the hard section - just behind Ben, as wan't navigation aids, and was a bigger group not too far ahead.
Said big group seemed to be struggling with their navigation, so we caught up after about 2k. I went my own way following the Gary line so cut a corner and held on to them, and then we split 50:50 where half crossed the wall which the instructions clearly stated "DO NOT ENTER THIS AREA" https://www.fellsman.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/201... to significantly cut the corner and also skip a hill. I was one who didn't cheat, took my own cut (which wasn't a great line), but once over on Middle Tongue had a good cut to bring back forward. Was now ahead of people who really should have been far ahead of me - clearly good routes and minimising the stoppages more than making up for absence of speed. Only 1 min behind Ben at Middle Tongue checkpoint despite his two illegal shortcuts :-)
The plod was far less fun up to Hell Gap, and was starting to get properly cold. Not able to run by now and rough going and slow - took a very long time to get through it. Descent to Cray hugely unpleasant. Quads cramping all the way. I felt confident I was able to plod to finish but this was when I got the message that I really couldn't "run" any more at all.
Long stop at Cray to put gloves layers on, get torch out, change map, eat soup and warm up. Grouped with some people with experience (16 Fellsmans between them) who were initially annoyed when I said I couldn't run any more, but were less so when they saw my walking pace was good (particularly up). As it got darker it became less fun and after Buckden Pike was just wanting to be finished. Glad I had people to lead me in to Top Mere as could have been hard in the dark.
Downside to being grouped was that it meant I had to sit for 20 mins at last feed station and wait for them, when I was ready to move on immediately after topping up drink. Result was I got cold and seized up completely, so heading up Great Whernside was harder than it could have been, and the strong headwind was really chilling me. OK route descent, but in the tussocks, two of the group decided to veer well left and insist on going back up the hill - where we'd came from, and took a lot of time (10 mins?) to persuade them that we probably should be going downhill. The group that was with us at the time went the right way and wasn't enough of a hint. The last section would have been a nice run - if early on and in daylight. Took a long time to power-walk but the beacons kept on coming and knew the end wasn't far away. Degrouped at Yarnbury and once it started downhill was alternating "jogging" and walking for 30 double paces to the bridge.
Finished at about 1.15 - or about 43 hours after I'd woken up. Truly exhausted, barely able to stand once had finished - had to sit on floor waiting for food, and so little energy to even pick up knife and fork took 45 mins to eat half a jacket potato before I gave up. Showers had got cold by time I went in and that woke me up a bit. In bed at 2.30 and probably asleep by 2.40 - woke twice before waking properly at 7.15.
End state:
Quads fucked
Arse sore from considerable chafing in last 6 hours.
Just the one (small) blister - on heel (shoes weren't fully broken in)
Both big toe nails don't feel right, so may be on way out.
Could have been a lot worse.
Expecting to be a mental wreck given how I have been pretty much every weekend since Llanbedr-Blaenavon - but given this was 60k further than I'd ever been before, I finished despite being fatigued even before starting, and was still in at 2/3rd distance when it all caught up with me again - think I've done as well as I could have hoped.
Really well organised race and you get a huge amount for your £40. All the marshals, without exception, incredibly cheery, even 10 hours into a 24 hour shift in a gale in the dark on top of Great Whernside. Lovely carnival atmosphere at food stations. Recommend this to anyone looking to do 60 miles off road, but will really have to think carefully before I sign up to do something similar again. Know that on current fitness I should be able to knock an hour off if fresh so not going to rule out doing this again some time.
My full route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=7065585
GPS for first 58km: https://www.strava.com/activities/964354227
No running during the week this next week, and not racing next week either (so Gary - happy to marshal/sweep if you need :-) ). Think May will be an easy month.
Friday Apr 28, 2017 #
Note
slept:4.0 (rest day)
Final prep for weekend and long drive up in evening (although traffic quite clear). Trying to eat and drink a lot through the day to get energy levels up.
Thursday Apr 27, 2017 #
Note
(rest day)
Prep for weekend. Picking up map bag heat sealer from Mark's - with a detour into Bridgend first to buy long sleeved base layers as missed the requirement for all 5 tops to be L/S. Bit hectic.
Wednesday Apr 26, 2017 #
7 PM
Running 33:23 [3] 5.24 km (6:22 / km) +90m 5:52 / km
slept:5.0 shoes: Mizuno Wave Rider 19
A final easy run before the weekend. Taking it very gently.
For Mark Two's benefit, came back through Cadbury Camp.
https://www.strava.com/activities/959264070
For Mark Two's benefit, came back through Cadbury Camp.
https://www.strava.com/activities/959264070
Tuesday Apr 25, 2017 #
6 PM
Running - off road 1:01:06 [3] 7.71 km (7:55 / km) +315m 6:35 / km
slept:3.5 shoes: inov8 Mudclaw300 Blk/Gn2
With Ben and Will - up the Garth to watch the race, and back down - from Taffs Well. Nice and (very) easy pace.
All getting very cold at the top - really should have taken gloves.
Up: https://www.strava.com/activities/958026943
Down: https://www.strava.com/activities/958026971
All getting very cold at the top - really should have taken gloves.
Up: https://www.strava.com/activities/958026943
Down: https://www.strava.com/activities/958026971
Sunday Apr 23, 2017 #
12 PM
Orienteering (Kings Wood) 1:20:38 [3] 9.38 km (8:36 / km) +380m 7:09 / km
slept:4.0 weight:73kg shoes: inov8 Mudclaw300 Blk/Gn2
Welsh League at Kingswood. 7.8km Brown course.
Green map and lots of brambles, but planning meant we avoid most (except near the start) - and most of the green blocks were passable. Did 2 as a very long dog-leg as it started out quite bramble. OK through the low vis at 9 - but left 10 thinking I was going south when was actually going SW so was wrong side of "crossing point" (no idea why it was there - brambles no worse than anywhere else...) and the ride I found was inpenetrable bramble so gave away I was in wrong place.
More time loss on 12 - had a bit of mental blank and forgot I had to cross a path. Unsure on rote to take to 13 so decided to chance the green and found a nice track through. Worst was getting through to control at end.
Didn't spot the flatter route to 15 (didn't look) as went back over the hill as what I had planned earlier on. Reasonably quick.Then slow walk up hill for last time, slow down through the brambles. Biggest loss of the day on 20 (c. 60s) as it seemed a lot further down than I would have expected.
Quite a nice course. Feedback for next time this is used... The start and finish were on Offa's Dyke Path only 2k out of Monmouth - it would have been far nicer to park in Monmouth and walk/run out that it was the 20+ mins stressful drive each way on a track that wasn't suitable for cars at all.
https://www.strava.com/activities/954714032
Green map and lots of brambles, but planning meant we avoid most (except near the start) - and most of the green blocks were passable. Did 2 as a very long dog-leg as it started out quite bramble. OK through the low vis at 9 - but left 10 thinking I was going south when was actually going SW so was wrong side of "crossing point" (no idea why it was there - brambles no worse than anywhere else...) and the ride I found was inpenetrable bramble so gave away I was in wrong place.
More time loss on 12 - had a bit of mental blank and forgot I had to cross a path. Unsure on rote to take to 13 so decided to chance the green and found a nice track through. Worst was getting through to control at end.
Didn't spot the flatter route to 15 (didn't look) as went back over the hill as what I had planned earlier on. Reasonably quick.Then slow walk up hill for last time, slow down through the brambles. Biggest loss of the day on 20 (c. 60s) as it seemed a lot further down than I would have expected.
Quite a nice course. Feedback for next time this is used... The start and finish were on Offa's Dyke Path only 2k out of Monmouth - it would have been far nicer to park in Monmouth and walk/run out that it was the 20+ mins stressful drive each way on a track that wasn't suitable for cars at all.
https://www.strava.com/activities/954714032