w/c 12th March - Running on empty

What a truly frustrating week.

I've been laid low from Tuesday to Saturday with a nasty little stomach bug, which basically meant that I absorbed hardly anything from the food I ate, with most of it coming, well, straight back out! Alan at work described my reason for absence from work on Wednesday to all enquirers as being 'a case of the raging sh*ts', which unfortunately sums it up nicely. Well, perhaps not 'nicely'.

I tried to stay hydrated, and used Diarolylte to get some salts in. One slight silver lining is that some have recommended useing Diarolylte during the BGR if it's hot, and at least now I know I can tolerate it! But I lost 4 lbs in weight (my wedding ring kept falling off on thursday!) and it clearly affected my running at the weekend too.

Here's how the week panned (!) out...

Monday - Ran up Moel Famau after work. Felt great! Straight up from Cilcain, the steep way and ran every step very strongly. Came down the Clywdian Hills route - 40 mins all in.

Tuesday - Started feeling tired and poorly Tuesday morning and spent most of the evening on the loo. Not good at all.

Weds - Off work sick, terrible stomach cramps and just shattered.

Thurs - Still not quite right, but a little better? Went for a 3M potter around Rossett and just about got back in time - silly boy...

Fri - No, still not well, stomach still awful so decided to fast for 24 hours to kill this bug off.

Sat - Felt better and contemplated Edale. Decided to do an hour on Moel Famau as a 'test'. If i could do that easily, i would run. Set off from Cilcain and did an hour circuit of about 6M and 1500' climbing at an easy pace. Felt very easy and ran the climbs well. Appetite returned, starting eating again at about 3pm. Had evening out with Cath and friends, still felt a bit rough.

Sunday - 21M 4500' - Edale Skyline. What an EPIC! The weather was extremely poor - with very high winds, freezing temperatures, blizzards (blizzards i ask you!) and some very near sounding thunder. Ran something like 4.15 (not sure exactly) - well down on last year. I actually started well, although felt a bit sick for the first hour. Despite the wind, i got to Mam Nick in 2 hours dead, 15 mins ahead of last year. After that though, the wheels gradually loosened before coming off at Jacobs Ladder, with some distance still to go. Dave caught me up soon enough and although we ran together for what must have been an hour, he pulled away when i had used up the fumes and was running on willpower only.

The last 5 miles of running was a strange sensation because my legs we not heavy or sore, but there was just no fuel. I took gels and some lucozade, but it's clear that my body was missing that base that loading up in advance gives you.

Other lessons from that day - OMM waterproof very good, wear a tight hat, not one with a 'turn up' as it comes down and you can't see - oh and wear really thick gloves on days with strong wind and rain/snow even if they seem at odds with all your lightweight gear. I started showing signs of frostnip on my thumb and middle finger at times and had to keep massaging them as i ran. Horrible.

Monday morning and feeling tired now...

Summary - 35 miles, @7,300' ascent