It was all going so well...
I ran leg 7 of the Welsh Castles Relay for Tattenhall and it could have gone better...
I think the roadrunning gods have punished me. Revenge is clearly a dish served boiling hot on the outskirts on Dolgellau. All I did was have a mild and jocular dig at roadrunning and roadrunners during the chairman's speech at the recent running club awards evening. I can tell you now, those words had so recently come back to haunt my every tarmac treading step!
Actually, a dig at roadrunning was not all i did. I did loads of training before this run, including 10 railway climbs on Tuesday (3300' ascent and descent in 1hr 20 mins) and a brisk run on Moel Famau on Weds, all this after the Welsh 3s last weekend and 3 huge weeks climbing-wise before that. This is the real reason why my stage of the Welsh Castles went so appallingly. Quite simply - i was knackered on the start line.
I don;t think i;ve ever ran so badly in all my life. Leg 7 was a brutal leg in very hot weather, which of course didn't help. I started briskly enough but knew within half a mile that my legs were feeling very heavy. As soon as the climb started, i drifted back through the field. I was already reeling before the heat kicked in. The temperature was about 26C and there was no shade and no breeze. The more i plodded, the more i felt like i was being dragged backwards. Quite an eerie experience! I decided to walk to get rid of some stitch (too much water you see?) and to take on some more water (doh!). It was sooo hard to start running again. It became clear after three miles that this was a day to just get through. Don;t bin it. Don;t even think about it. There were people wilting into ditches by the side of the road (6 people from 59 didn;t finish) and one was very poorly indeed. The conditions were the same for us all, but i didn;t seem to be coping at all well with them. It was becoming a trial.
I ran leg 7 of the Welsh Castles Relay for Tattenhall and it could have gone better...
I think the roadrunning gods have punished me. Revenge is clearly a dish served boiling hot on the outskirts on Dolgellau. All I did was have a mild and jocular dig at roadrunning and roadrunners during the chairman's speech at the recent running club awards evening. I can tell you now, those words had so recently come back to haunt my every tarmac treading step!
Actually, a dig at roadrunning was not all i did. I did loads of training before this run, including 10 railway climbs on Tuesday (3300' ascent and descent in 1hr 20 mins) and a brisk run on Moel Famau on Weds, all this after the Welsh 3s last weekend and 3 huge weeks climbing-wise before that. This is the real reason why my stage of the Welsh Castles went so appallingly. Quite simply - i was knackered on the start line.
I don;t think i;ve ever ran so badly in all my life. Leg 7 was a brutal leg in very hot weather, which of course didn't help. I started briskly enough but knew within half a mile that my legs were feeling very heavy. As soon as the climb started, i drifted back through the field. I was already reeling before the heat kicked in. The temperature was about 26C and there was no shade and no breeze. The more i plodded, the more i felt like i was being dragged backwards. Quite an eerie experience! I decided to walk to get rid of some stitch (too much water you see?) and to take on some more water (doh!). It was sooo hard to start running again. It became clear after three miles that this was a day to just get through. Don;t bin it. Don;t even think about it. There were people wilting into ditches by the side of the road (6 people from 59 didn;t finish) and one was very poorly indeed. The conditions were the same for us all, but i didn;t seem to be coping at all well with them. It was becoming a trial.
But howcome? 1200' climbing and 9.75 miles is an easy run for me? I know now that running fast on the roads demands lots of training that involves running fast on the roads (or a track). I guess i knew i was strong but not being rested and not having put in much speedwork exposed me terribly. It seems that i have a newfound respect for road running!
I'm trying desperately to prevent this appalling run from affecting my confidence for the BGR. One look at the results for leg 7 show someone who wouldn;t have a hope, and it's hard to escape the starkness of results like that.
But, i know i;ve done really well on the big long days out on the fells, and my legs have been relentlessly programmed to keep going on rough ground for hours and hours at a steady pace.
I started this blog to make sure i could see how far i've come and how much i;ve put in when it got to moments like this. I'm sort of surprised it's taken this long to need to call on it in such a way which i guess is a good thing, i.e. things have gone well for so long. I now just need to keep the faith.
With under 3 weeks to go, i've got to keep it together and start resting more. And stay off the roads!
Week summary
Mon - rest
Tues - 10 * railways (3300') 1:20 - 5M. Went really well, a bit jaded from the weekend, but some good quality climbing there.
Weds - Moel Famau - 5M, 1300' - slight niggle in foot, gone by Friday.
Thurs - rest
Fri - rest
Sat - Welsh Castles leg 7 - 9.75M, 1300'
Sun - Relay support
Total - @20M, 5900' ascent
2 comments:
Hey that leg was an agonising grind for those of us whose legs are programmed to run fast on roads too!
I heard similar reports all weekend, partly down to the conditions, partly to the very tiring nature of the event, and all the jumping in and out of cars.
Don't let it put you off. One hot weekend doth not a BGRounder unmake!
Marcus.
Hi Mark
I've just discovered your blog on Simon Neville's BG and it was most interesting. Your training looks very good, although I'd be inclined to rest a lot more in the two weeks run up. There again this all depends on the "specialised" advice we get given by those around us.
By the way you DID sense wrongly my feelings about Simon's progress up to Brackenclose. I know I didn't say very much and I might have appeared a bit frosty but Gerti had given me my orders and I was feeling very nervous having such a responsibility on just one pair of shoulders; I wanted to get going. By the time we got to Honister I was mentally very tired.
I'm looking forward to joining you on the early stages on your BG attempt. I've been around leg one a couple of times and "cairned up" a route heading SSE of Blencathra missing all the scrambly bits on Halls Fell. Some friends ( 1 a BGer) have tested it and really prefer it if the weather is crap.
Anyway all the best for your attempt and I'll see you soon.
Simon
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