1.5 Peaks - Learning the Hard Way

Well there's a first time for everything and yesterday was it. My first (and hopefully last) DNF.

The promised low cloud and rain thankfully failed to materialise to be replaced by the most unpredictably weather ever. Is the sun going to break through or are the promised clouds going to appear? What to wear? In the end it was shorts and long sleeved Gore top. Half a mile into the race and the sun was burning me up on the climb up to Pen-y-ghent (ascent 465m). I'm wearing my old Adidas Swoops. Last time I wore these I tore a calf muscle towards the end of a race. I put this down to not having used my orthotic insoles. So this time I had them in the shoes.

Lesson #1: Never use new gear or untested gear in a race.

I'd only used the insoles in these shoes for 40 mins prior to the 3 peaks raceday. Going up Pen-y-ghent I could feel my toes rubbing on the front of the shoes. Not good. Looking at them afterwards it's pretty obvious that the heel cup on the insoles pushes the foot forward about 5mm. I didn't have 5mm to spare in those shoes.

The 3 Peaks course comes back on itself after the Pen-y-ghent summit so we mere mortals got to see the front of the race as the elites came down. The two Bingley Harriers runners who had ruled the 3 Peaks roost for the last 5 or 6 years, Andy Peace and Robb Jebb, had company this year (due to the internationals here as the 3 Peaks was hosting the WMRA World's Long Distance Mountain Challenge). The first woman was also way up front.

Coming down off Pen-y-ghent I did my usual and passed half of those who had passed me on the way up. Obviously they didn't learn about gravity at school. Nutritionwise I was carrying plenty of isotonic drink and energy gels. I was taking a gel every 20 minutes as recommended but the drink was a bit sickly.

Lesson #2: Make sure you get the mixture right in your drinks.

In making up my drinks I'd over filled the powder and ended up with an 8% solution instead of my usual 6%. It'll be alright I thought but it was not nice to drink.

The route from Pen-y-ghent to Whernside is a 7 or 8 mile slog over undulating tracks, bogs and fields followed by farm track and road for a couple of miles. This wasn't kind to my feet and as I was running along the road with my toes subconsciously curled up I could feel my calf muscles tightening in that 'turning to wood' sort of way they do just before they tear (I'm getting used to this feeling having done it three times). I decide that if there's any massage service at the Ribblehead control I'll get my legs seen to. Needless to say there wasn't so as I fill up my camelbak with the drink I'd forwarded to the control, I massage my muscles myself. They feel a bit better so I set off up Whernside (ascent 440m). After crossing Winterscales Beck the trudge starts.

As usual on any uphill section I start to get passed. This time it gets a little worrying as those passing me look a lot like the tail end charlies you see in most races. I though I was carrying a little surplus weight (I'm currently a very heavy 12st 10lb) but some these are decidedly unfit looking. Something's up I think as my legs get weaker and weaker. It was a weird feeling as I feel I've plenty of energy but no strength. Lactic acid? Then, about two thirds of the way up, just before the really steep (hands and knees steep) bit to the summit, my legs cramp up. First my calfs then, as I try and straighten these, my thighs. Not good at all. I take some salt to see if that works but to no noticeable effect. The cramps return whenever I try to move uphill. I check my watch to see that I've got an hour to get up to the top then down to the Hill Inn check point.

Lesson #3: Take heed of warning signs. I'd been having cramps in my feet at night for a couple of weeks prior to the race and took no notice of them. Some mineral imbalance may have been the cause.

Decision time. I either keep going and try to make the cut-off and then still have Ingleborough to climb, coupled with the risk of doing my calf muscles some damage, all followed by a 200 mile drive home or I cut my losses, learn from the experience and live to run another day. I've never not finished an event before but maybe I'm getting a little wiser with age and I opt for the bail out. So, I get the waterproofs on (cramping up more in the process) as I'm starting to freeze in the wind, and contour across the face of Whernside and pick up the race route descending down to Hill Inn. On the way down I get more cramps including one in my inner thigh. Very painful and unusual. I got talking to another runner who's also packed in and a spectator who offered us a lift back to the race finish.

I'm at the finish to take a picture of my mate Dave finishing. "What kept you?" I ask as he leaves the finish tent bedecked in his Yorkshire slate finisher's medal. "Nice trip in the drop out bus?" he asks.

Lesson #4: Prepare properly. After resuming training in February I found that I could run hilly 20 milers in the Chilterns feeling strong at the end and with no after effects. This gave me a false sense of security so I didn't bother putting in the necessary training.

All in all some lesson's well learnt. I need to do a bit more research on the cramp aspect but most importantly I just need to get more quantity and quality back in my running and show a bit more respect to a decent race. Loosing a stone in weight wouldn't go amiss either.

And the race result? Well the Bingley lads didn't win this year. A young English guy by the name of Jethro Lennox won. In fact the first three didn't appear in the list of elite runners in the race programme. Jebb and Peace came 4th and 10th respectively. Billy Burns, a regular on the Jungfrau Marathon podium finished 8th. Of the 25 elite runners listed in the programme only 4 made the top ten.

I'll be back.

Winter, spring, summer or fall.....take your pick

Two days after biking and running on a glorious warm spring day I was out running in 2 inches of snow. This was a long road run round the back lanes in the Chilterns. It was bitterly cold but it had stopped snowing and despite the cold, by the time I got home the snow had all but melted. I picked a hilly route and was fairly pleased with the run but felt a little jaded having been out dancing at a Northern Soul do 'til gone midnight the night before.

It was the second time that I'd been out in my new waterproof top and I must just say how impressed I am with it. It's a green Salomon Paclite Jacket. It's very minimalist in design with a rolldown hood, waterproof zips and just two hip level pockets but it is great to run in. You forget you're wearing it which is exactly what you want from a running jacket. No chaffing or scraping just excellent breathability and wind and waterproofness.

I'm also very impressed with another recent purchase, my Gore running top and tights. Same thing as the jacket. They do their job brilliantly without making their presence felt.

Bring on the weather.

What is it with Tonys and Tumours?

On Friday I met up with an old friend and colleague Tony for a bike ride in the forests south of Bracknell. I hadn't seen Tony for several years and recently I spent a whole year thinking he was dead after the last email I received from him said he was going into hospital for a major operation to remove a tumour from his gullet and then I heard nothing. I assumed the worse and was too much of a coward to get in touch with his wife to confirm my suspicions.

Eventually Tony resurfaced having had a successful operation and recovery. This all occured in the same period that my brother Tony (see previous posts) had his fatal brain tumour, so to find that my friend Tony had survived had a great impact on me having thought I'd lost both Tonys. It was as if he'd literally come back from the dead to my enormous relief.

After many months emailing trying to arrange a gettogether we finally managed it on Friday. It was great to see him in the flesh. So off we went into the forest catching up on our different but equally life affirming sagas. The weather was warm and sunny and we lapped up the simple pleasure of biking through the trees with the sun streaming through the trunks. Bliss.

Inspired as I was by the bike ride, later on the same day I took the dog out for a run round Wendover Woods. I chose an up and down course and was pleased with the way I'm handling the hills. I'm tackling them very differently than I was a year ago. I reckon that the Jungfrau experience has not only put the Chilterns into proportion mentally but that I've actually grown stronger since last year. I can actually attack the hills now which is a new experience for me. Another factor I believe is my improved knowledge on hydration and nutrition.

Still can't shift that superfuous 5 kilos though.