Langdale Horseshoe Fell Race 9/10/10

AL 14 miles 4000 feet.
My second run of this race. Last year the weather a bit on the misty side so navigation, because I didn't know the area, was a of a problem. I was lucky to tag along with someone who did know the route so got away with following MG round and not getting lost.

This year I knew where I was going and the weather was forecast to be good. I really wanted to break 4 hours this time (4:05 last year).
Started off at a reasonable pace and continued plodding round. Navigation was not a problem and I was looking good to break 4 hours. It came close though. Going up the last mountain, Pike of Blisco, I started to flake. I started going down the other side towards the finish, which, for me, should have been a fast descent and a chance to catch a few people I had no energy left. I let a few people pass me and didn't care. I even started not to care about breaking four hours.

10 yards from the finish I just manage a pose for the camera

In the end I came in in 3:55 but I felt as if I were ready to collapse. It nearly killed me. I must have got some thing wrong with nutrition and sleep.

After wolfing a load of food and having a nap in the car I felt right as rain (apart from the back) and ready for the next days race.

Borrowdale Fell Race 7/8/10

AL 17 miles 6700 feet.
Or that's what it would have been if I'd have finished.

For a change I had a really healthy week leading up to the race. No booze and healthy eating. I trained a few times but nothing too strenuous. I even lost a bit of weight.

collecting my number
Because Methuselah and I had never done a race of this length our plan was to start relatively slowly and pace ourselves for the first three hills and save some energy for the last two. But not so slowly we wouldn't make the cut off (Honister 14miles 4.5 hours). Or that was the plan. going up Bessyboot
Unfortunately it didn't work out quite to plan.
When the race started we jogged out at a reasonable pace but straight away I felt as it I didn't have enough energy. I'm never quick going up hills but I found the first hill, Bessyboot (check point 1), even more of a struggle than usual. Then it seemed a real battle just to keep up with the stragglers across the top and up a gradual climb to Allen Crags and check point 2.
We agreed before hand that we would need some food to get round and had decided that would be after 2 hours. 1:50 into the race I decided I couldn't wait the extra 10 minutes and shoved a GIANT size snickers bar down me.
Whilst I'd been going through a bit of a mental battle Methusela had been jogging ahead, filling the joint water bottle up from streams and patiently waiting for me to turn up to rehydrate me.
As we ascended towards Scarfell Pike the weather closed in a bit and we got separated. I think I took a poor line at one stage which probably cost me a couple of minutes and a few places as, frustratingly, some of the few people I'd passed ended up ahead of me. I managed to hook up with Methuselah just before Broad Crag and we started the, now relatively short climb, up Scafell Pike together. By now the Snickers had kicked in and I started to feel more normal and found the climb up Scafell Pike to check point 3 much easier. So it seemed that I'd been lacking energy due to a shortage of fuel.
going up Great Gable
The run down to the base of Great gable was pleasant enough and we thought we had enough
time in hand to make the cut off. Going up Great Gable check point 4 was hard but you just had to get your head down and get it done.
Coming off Gable was easy enough and all we had left to navigate was our way over Brandreth, Grey Knotts and down to Honister. I don't think we took a bad line at this stage but it was taking us longer than expected to cover the distance. On the run down to Honister it became apparent we wouldn't make the cut off. I got there 4 minutes too late.
running in at Honister
I had a mixture of disappointment, at not making the cut off, and relief, at not having to continue.
It really hadn't been a good race for me from the start. A lack of energy and when I usually make up time going down hill they were all a bit too steep to really let go. After the race I was really peed off. And, a few days later, I still am. It has however given me some determination to loose some weight. I think it's the only way I'm going to be able to do these longer races with real intent.
I will go back next year to finish the race.

Skiddaw Fell Race 4/7/10

AM 9 miles 2700ft.
A long drive up to the Lakes for this my third run of Skiddaw Fell Race. I met up with Methuselah(who was staying in the lakes for a few days) before the race. And, also, briefly saw some of the Shropshire elite runners, that had also made the trip up, at the start line. These included fellow blogger Jon Bowie of Trailsfellstrophies and Steven Cale current Shropshire hill running champ who I'd bumped into a few days earlier on the Wrekin (see two posts bellow).
The previous two years the weather had been ridiculously hot so I was hoping it would be a bit cooler this year. Umm, be careful what you wish for. The forecast this year was for heavy rain and winds on the peaks of up to 60mph. Which was probably accurate. As a result the marshals decided to shorten the race and not do the final push up to the summit. This reduced the climb by about 400ft and distance of about 1.3 miles. For me, due to my legs usually being shot by that stage, it probably reduced my time by almost 20 minutes. So it was a cheats PB for me that I will probably never better again.
Apart from the weather being a bit miserable the temperature suited me and I seemed to be making alright progress up Jenkin hill when Steven Cale came blasting past me on his way down. At that stage I didn't know the race had been shortened and noted he went past me at an earlier stage to the winner of last years race Ricky Lightfoot. Either I was going a lot slower than the previous year or he was going really really fast, albeit he had missed the short cut at the pile of stones. A few seconds later Jon Bowie flew past and went off the path at the correct place next to the stones. A possibility for him to go past Steve Cale ? Well, it was very "claggy" at that point and one can see how it might have been possible to miss the flags guiding the way across the grass back to the path a couple of hundred feet bellow and go off in completely the wrong direction. So on that occasion Jon missed his chance to get past Steven and has been much ribbed about the navigational error on the FRA Forum ;-)
Later on Dylan from Wales past me with an enthusiastic "HELLO JOHN" and also DazH of Laidbackfellrunner fame. I still couldn't work out how come so many people were so far ahead of me, even when people started shouting something about a gate. It was only when I saw Methuselah come past me (he'd not been that far ahead for most of the race) that I realised we were being turned early "at the gate". I enjoyed the run back down and passed about 10 people on the return route ,via the short cut, back down to Fitz Park and the finish line.
the winner

Steven Cale won the race in a little under an hour. I'm sure the jog with me a few days earlier must have helped ;-)

Although the drive up to the lakes is a long one, I think I'll go back again next year. I do like the descent and actually going past people, for a change, is very satisfying.

More Langdale

Most of the route



The first climb
The first tarn







View from top

Langdale horse shoe fell race 10/10/09

The start




Someone running with a gold fish ? One of the front runners aswell . No body knows why .
Me struggling to get up another hill .

Great but hard race . 14 miles and 4000 ft of assent . The longest one I've done to date . My training partner had to drop out due to a mentle battle with his legs , which he lost . Halfway round the route the cloud came down to shroud the mountain tops with mist which made navigating very difficult . You couldn't see more than 20yards . I was lucky that I managed to tag along to a very experience lady called Mandy that had previously done the race 16 times and seemed to have a built in GPS which guided us through the murk . Thanks Mandy .
It took me 4hours and 7mins to get round .