ITERA World Series Adventure Race

Stage 11 of the ITERA is almost over! In the last week or so, in between sleeping, eating and working, I have finally managed to put the finishing touches to my PhD thesis which is currently being bound in time for my final deadline on Friday, phew! No mean feat given there were two chapters missing at the start of the week....whether the last 10,000 words of it are in English remains to be seen at my viva....

Stages 1-10 of the ITERA were a little different...from the 11th-15th August I was making my way across Wales by foot, bike and kayak from Caernarfon to Cardiff . I was racing with Tim Higginbottom, Chris Near and Bruce Duncan as Team Haglofs Silva UK.

The race started on the Saturday evening with a fast and furious prologue in Cardiff, a 10km run around the bay stopping off at the white water centre to get a bit wet. Unfortunately, within 500m it was very obvious that my lungs were having a bad day, making running fast rather difficult. We got round, 7minutes or so down on the leaders, Team Adidas Terrex. This time would be multiplied by 3  and serve as a penalty in the main race.

White Water Centre....I am in the boat, honest!

After the prologue, my chest was really sore and I was more than a bit worried that there was only just over a day until the main race.
Thankfully by the time we'd caught the coach up to Caernarfon on Sunday, I was feeling a lot better.


The Start in Caernarfon Castle

The main race kicked off from Caernarfon Castle at 8am on Monday 11th and day one was an action packed day.
A couple of laps of the walls and it was into kayaks, up the Menai straits to Bangor. There was a big tide and the wind was behind us, making this far faster than on our training weekend in May which was straight into a headwind.
Originally we were going to paddle to Conwy, however given the conditions post hurricane Bertha it was onto the bikes from Bangor to Conwy, pretty much cycling past Chris' front door. So far, our pre race training had been very relevant!
At Conwy we did a short orienteering section around the castle, baffling tourists along the way. Then it was back on the bikes for a trip to Zip World.

Me and Chris heading down the zip line at Zip World

Zip World is the longest zip line in Europe. Heading down through a quarry and over a lake, you reach speeds of up to 100mph! As with jumping off cliffs into water, this doesn't rate as one of my favourite activities in every day life, however it certainly was a highlight of the race! Having done it, I'd certainly give it another run :-).

Arriving at Ogwen (Photo Mick Kenyon)

A short section of biking and we arrived at Ogwen for the start of the first trekking section through Snowdonia. Summiting Tryfan, Glyder Fawr, Snowdon, Yr Aran, Cnicht and Moelwyn Mawr this was a stage that we were looking forward to as it should suit us well!
At this stage we were a bit unsure where we stood in terms of race time as we'd had a timed out section at Zipworld (as had Adidas and Sweco, the two teams to arrive there ahead of us), but we were all there for different lengths of time. So we made quick work of Tryfan and Glyder Fawr in an effort to catch back up to the teams ahead, reaching Pen Y Pass just ahead of Sweco. Time for a bit of a race up Snowdon. We aimed to summit with enough of a gap that we could disappear off the other side before Sweco summited. In the last of the daylight we did just that and were rewarded with some excellent views of the sunset.

Setting off from Pen Y Pass with purpose

I think somewhere along this leg I got the first warning signs that my chest was a bit unhappy again, feeling a bit rough and finding it hard to eat. But we got off the trek and onto the water well and were off onto the estuary in the early hours of Day 2, heading for Portmeirion, a unique little Italian style town tucked away in the middle of Wales. After collecting a few orienteering controls we had about half an hour of time out before we were allowed back in the kayaks. Not to waste an opportunity, we lay down for half an hours sleep. As soon as we lay down I started coughing, sounding quite a lot like I had a chest infection. This wasn't going to work. Chest officially unhappy I found a bench to sit on instead, disturbing the Rounsley's sleeping arrangements instead of the rest of the team, sorry girls!

Italy or Wales?

24hrs into the race we set off in the kayaks again with Adidas, heading for a control across the bay. I say in Kayaks, the best way to move forward against the tide and headwind was to pull the boats along in the water, directing the back using a paddle. Using this technique, we made it to the point we needed to head out across the bay. Just as we set off we were informed this part of the stage was cancelled. That would have been hard work!
Heading back with the tide and wind we transitioned onto bikes and headed for Barmouth. Again we set off within a few minutes of Sweco who had arrived at Portmeirion for the orienteering just as we'd started paddling.

Against the tide and the wind

The second big trek of the race started from Barmouth, heading straight up Cadair Idris. We set off just behind Sweco, overtaking them on the run over the bridge and along the flat, hitting the climb once again with the aim of gaining some ground before the summit so as to disappear off the top.
I was struggling with climbs at this point, now taking ventolin ever 4hrs in a bid to keep things under control. We got up Cadair Idris ahead of them and put in a good descent to disappear, keeping a good pace for the rest of the stage. By the final two summits I was having some real difficulties, now coughing like I had a chest infection again, almost to the point I couldn't catch a breath. If it had been a fell race and I didn't have Chris towing me up the final summit I'm not sure I would have got up it under my own steam. Thankfully I did have a tow rope and we made it to all the checkpoints and down to transition, where Charlotte checked me over.

Coming into transition after the trek

Due to the amount of Ventolin I'd been taking, my resting heart rate was 105bpm (therefore my racing heart rate was.....well, pretty high). However, the only way to improve things was to take more ventolin, sending me into the salbutamol shakes for a brief period. Since the race, Charlotte told me that me oxygen saturation was also not as good as it could be at this point (not too surprisingly), which might explain my inability to transition. Imagine finishing an intervals session where you really pushed yourself into oxygen debt and on the finish line being presented with a bag full of things from which you have to select everything you need for the next 24hrs+.....needless to say I was not slick!
Eventually, at the start of Day 3, we were off on the bikes for the big stage of the race, 220km of MTB with a stop offs at Devils bridge and Elan Valley. Within the first few km we found a nice bit of forest for a quick, well needed sleep.


The long MTB stage

One of very few James Kirby photos in which I am not smiling

I don't remember an awful lot from the first 110km of riding. Generally I was concentrating on breathing. I lost the ability to talk and eating was getting progressively harder given my inability to breathe. A lot of towing ensued.
At Elan valley we arrived 15minutes or so behind Sweco and once again, managed to pull back this deficit during the trail run in which we caught and overtook Sweco with the incentive of food and sleep at the end of the run.
At this point, we served a compulsory stop aimed at getting everyone back into race order and time on the ground. We had 1hr42 to eat, sleep and be ready to go again. The eating part didn't go too smoothly for me as, from half way round the trail run, my stomach was now rejecting anything put into it. I think I had enough oxygen to either move forward or digest food.

Elan Valley

Leaving Elan Valley it looked like we should make it to Glasbury with 4-5hrs before we were allowed on the river Wye at 8am. Free sleep!
However, a combination of my inability to eat food and the terrain (some river wading and bracken hacking in the dark) meant the second half of the MTB route took a bit longer than planned. At 7am on Day 4 we had breakfast from a lovely bakery in Builth Wells, just as Sweco caught us once again. After the last stretch of biking, we arrived in Glasbury just as Walhalla, who we hadn't seen for the rest of the race, came flying past. Although we didn't have free sleep, we did have sleep at Galsbury as we all needed it!
 

Sleeping arrangements at Glasbury - barely noticed it was raining...

After 2hours we got up and ready to go down the river Wye. Whilst getting ready to go, I realised my chest was in the worst state yet, I was struggling to breathe just walking about. So another less than slick transition, enough ventolin to send me into uncontrollable shakes and a bit of food and Charlotte gave us the go ahead to leave.

I was now also taking 2 puffs of ventolin every 2hours and this, paired with a less than urgent pace down the river (we almost had a grade one sit on top capsize after Chris fell asleep) gave my breathing a bit of a chance to recover. We passed through Hay on Wye for the street O, picking up some food on the way.
After our drift down the river we hit the bikes with a bit more purpose, trying to get as much out of the remaining daylight as possible. We were sitting in 4th and our target now was to get to the Brecon Beacons and try and reclaim a podium position on the last trek of the race. Thankfully all the ventolin was paying off and my legs had a bit more in them.

What we weren't expecting was to hit the final trek ahead of Sweco, in 3rd. We'd overtaken them at transition strangely, but pressed on to make the most of this advantage. We made it over Fan Y Big but before we reached the top of Cribyn  four lights started gaining on us at an insane speed. We couldn't hold them off, so on top of Cribyn we sat down.
Sweco arrived and asked 'is there a control here?'. We gave nothing away, they found the control and headed more slowly down the hill to the col.
It appears their race tactics involved following us, as at the col they stopped to get their maps out. We headed down behind them and got the bivvy out for a 10minute nap to give them a bit of time to do their own thing.

Classy sleeping location next to the bins

When we set off again, we thought we were stuck in fourth position. The pace certainly wasn't what it had been, we were tired, Chris had damaged his knee somewhere along the river Wye and the motivation to push hard evaded us a bit. We stopped for another couple of sleeps and after the last of these made a decision to try and move at least a bit better or we wouldn't even be fourth!

So it was a complete surprise to find Sweco leaving the caving section just as we got there. We were then informed that Walhalla were just ahead of them! The race was back on!
A quick whip around the caving and we set off on the final 6km of trekking, overtaking both Sweco and Walhalla along the way to reach the final transition in 2nd.

Off on the final bike section

We hit the last stage as hard as we could, giving it everything to stay ahead of Sweco and Walhalla. It was a lovely morning and the views from the singletrack were ace. From the top it was a matter of heading down to the Taff trail then following it all the way to Cardiff. One small bit of nav confusion and we reached it. By the sounds of it, following the Taff trail was much easier in the daylight and we managed to hold and even grow the advantage we had to the finish line, finishing 2nd!

Finishline

This was my first full course expedition race finish and my first podium position. Thanks to the guys for keeping me going and to Tom and James for a great route. Also thanks to Charlotte and Jacqui for getting me in a state to continue and letting me back out on the course!

Time for a bit of a rest now before the Mourne Mountain Marathon in September!


 

Going Incognito

Last weekend was the final Open 5 of the series, but instead of racing with Rosemary, I was hiding on the bottom of the results table having raced with Bruce, Tim and Chris as a non comp team of 4. Just to make sure I really was incognito, I'd even changed my name to Lucy Spain!

Mark Sullivan Photography

Me and Wil got married on 22nd March and thanks to all our great friends, we had an excellent wedding day. Extra special thanks to Wil's cousin Mark who captured the day on film (Mark Sullivan Photography) and Hannah Whitelam who is a fantastic 'cake dresser'!

Hannah's amazing cake complete with climbing couple! Only took 5Kg of sugar paste....

We had a 'relaxing' (well...for one day at least which is good going for us!) honeymoon in Tenerife, complete with cycling and then walk/jogging Teide - that is a big volcano!

Then it was back to a rather wet Lake District for a weekend of fun with Haglofs Silva :-). After getting wet in sit on top kayaks on Windermere (I could certainly feel I had not been in a kayak since the C2C), we headed across the ferry for some MTB around to Hawkeshead and back. This is probably the first time I've ridden the 29er on more technical terrain and there was some getting used to just picking a line and letting it roll... by the time we got back, it looked like we'd just been kayaking again we were so wet!

A quick stop in Bowness for chips and we headed round to Coniston for the Silva 10K. I hadn't really looked at the route before we got there and looking at the map about 15mins before the start I kind of regretted finishing eating at about 8pm. Never mind, 8:30pm came and we were off. The route followed the trail by the road out towards Skelwith bridge, before taking a left up a minor road and then heading onto the trail over the shoulder of Wetherlam before heading back down to Coniston. The climb up Wetherlam is one of my favourite, however I'd never done it from this side of the hill before, good to get in a new route!

Trail running by night - the Silva runner 550 lighting the way

I set off and was leading after the first 500m or so, although the chips were certainly weighing heavy... I had a bit of a 'back and forth' with another lady from 2-3km at which point I thought I'd leave it until the real climb to run a bit harder...keeping her in sight I trotted away up the hill and at 6km caught her back up - right, time to press on! Unfortunately the combination of chips and having already been paddling/cycling didn't really let me do this so I settled into 2nd, staying there until the finish. I won a silva trail runner II headtorch for my efforts and Bruce and Chris also won some lighting, finishing 2nd and 4th.

The next morning we were back on the bikes for the Open 5. We planned to clear the bike and then get what we could on the run due to various ailments. First off - Walna Scar Road! By the time we started it was once again pouring down. It was fairly warm however so a Haglofs intense long sleeve and scramble Q jacket were enough to keep me toasty on the move.

The top of my left fibula was sore pre wedding, but I hadn't had any trouble for the previous couple of weeks. The 10K seemed to have started things off again though, so the hike a bike up to the top was not that welcome. The descent was a good reward though and my leg was fine when riding! We whizzed down to the next checkpoint, but were one short at the bottom. Chris appeared running out of the mist - puncture repair time...a good learning point from the weekend here as between us we had 1x29er inner tube and 1x gas canister. As Chris has 26" wheels we crossed our fingers as we inflated the tube with our one shot gas and luckily it seemed to work :-).

On we went, I had no role in the nav so not entirely sure where to, but I do know there was a LOT of water on the ground! Ant had planned a challenging course, which was ace fun as we mainly intended to bike and didn't have to think about tactical route choices. I think a few people (including Rosemary and Heather) got caught out by the slow going and tough riding....



Haglofs Kit brightening up a dismal day :-)

I got caught out on my summer tyres a couple of times. The second time of hitting the deck I hit my head off the floor and gave myself an array of beautifully coloured bruises down my right hand side....My jacket also now needs some fetching elbow patches....I took it a bit more carefully from then on....time to get some big size tyres to deal with mud!

We were back in just over 4 hours and opted not to walk to the nearest run control just to bag a non competitive score. A good day/weekend out, looking forward to May and a run about it Wales!

Although I didn't race with Rosemary this time, we had done enough in the races we had done together to secure the series win for a second year! I'm sure we'll be back racing together again in November (unless of course I am now ditched for inconsistent team mate duties :-P).

Series winners 2013/2014

2nd at the Dark Mountains

Tired but glad to be back in the warm

I'm back! After the OMM last year I had a bit of a break from racing, managing to fit in a house move, new job and half a thesis of writing instead. Me and Rosemary did start our open 5 series well in December, with a good score in the Forest of Dean (http://planetbyde.com/2013/12/02/haglofs-open-5-forest-of-dean/) to take the win and another win at the start of January at Hamsterley Forest (http://planetbyde.com/2014/01/11/haglofs-open-5-hamsterley-forest/). One more good result needed to complete the series next weekend, however it probably won't be as smooth running as usual after the Dark Mountains Mountain Marathon this weekend.

Most mountain marathons require navigation over pretty unforgiving terrain, carrying all the kit needed to eat, drink, stay warm and camp for a night. An Elite course has a typical winning time of about 11 hours split over two days, with an (often rather soggy) overnight camp in between.  In terms of concept, the Dark Mountains is no exception, however there is a twist. Competitors start racing shortly after dark and race through the night, completing the '11 hours' in one go. Having spent more than enough soggy nights in a tent at mountain marathons, this did sort of appeal (although the fact that it was January therefore it would probably still be soggy and I wouldn't be in a tent sounded less good).

Elite Course Route Map

Me and Bruce raced the Elite course as a mixed pair, starting at 7:21pm on Saturday. The route started from Old Glossop and ran up Doctors Gate before dropping off to the left of the path to Mill hill and heading straight up to the edge of the kinder plateau. From there it was a lap of kinder, visiting Red Brook, Kinder Low End (both Pennine haunts), Ringing Rodger and Fairbrook Naze before crossing back over the A57. Into Dark Peak territory with several complex controls in Alport Valley, the next couple on the moor above Howden Res and then a trip over Bleaklow followed by 2 controls at an old quarry to finish!

Before the start we were debating what to wear. The weather forecasts varied between 'calm and clear' and 'horrendous snow storm' so anything was possible. After last year, we didn't want to take any risks.
I settled for hat and gloves, Puls Q Tights with their windstopper material on the shin to protect my legs when bashing through heather, a base layer and long sleeve intense Q top with my shield comp Q windproof over the top. I also carried my Stem II Q fleece and Essens down gilet just in case! Thankfully I didn't need either and at some points was verging on too warm, but in general I think I got it spot on.
In combination with our silva runner headtorches and compasses we were set to go!

We ran through number 1 ok, having caught 2 of the three teams to have started before us. At snake summit we caught Joe and Sharon and had a bit of a chat, finishing with the line 'see you at number 2'. Number 2 was probably the most technical control of the race so there was lots of room for error...which we duly made. It was positioned on a stream in the middle of some streams, with not a lot to use as an attackpoint other than the path and a bearing. We set off well, hitting a stream we thought was about right, however the sides steepened and it was clear this was not our stream. No worries, looked like we'd gone a little too far, so we set off back towards Mill Hill a bit. Mistake, we were not too far but too short of the control, which we quickly worked out, but this cost us a km or so. As predicted we arrived at the control with Joe and Sharon.

Off to the edge of the kinder plateau and we made up for number 2 by cruising through 4 & 5 (3 was removed from the course) and onto the edge path. Now we were on my territory, I know this part of kinder like the back of my hand, but at night things do look a bit different....
The next control was at a site used previously in the kinder trial and I was well aware that I had spent a fair while hunting around the boulders on this plateau in the light looking for controls. We ran around to Red Brook and took the direct line down the hill, hitting the plateau. Thankfully Shane hadn't used Andy's 'boulder' as a control, but instead used a crag which we found without too much difficulty.

On to kinder low end, keeping a high line as I was well aware of some of the rubbish there was to run through lower down. We popped up and saw a control, yes! We'd spiked it! Oh wait, no there was no SI box, clearly this was a control from the kinder trial earlier in the day. We had another small faff here in order to find the control, I think we nearly did hit it spot on but then dropped too low, relocated on the path before finally finding it.

Heading across to kinder low end I started to feel it was a bit tough going and my legs weren't functioning too well. I was eating and drinking well, however not too long after that I realised it had been around 2 hours since I'd taken my inhaler and I was now wheezing my way along. Not that effective when trying to move well through terrain. At the control I stopped and took my inhaler again, crossing my fingers for a good result. This has gone one of two ways in the past and one way would have been the end of the race. Thankfully it wasn't a repeat of Jura and I was able to pick my legs up properly again! Unfortunately this did start a pattern for the race and every two- three hours or so I had a bit of a wheezing session and had to take my inhaler again. Tomorrow I get a drug I ran out of about 3 weeks ago (the hazards of moving house and doctors) so hopefully this will sort things out...

From here to Fairbrook Naze the clag had descended making staying on the edge path difficult enough. Towards Ringing Rodger we were caught by Tom Gibbs and Steve Birkinshaw and we ran with them down to the control and back out to the three minute crossing (which I was very happy to identify in the clag, although it took slightly longer than 3 minutes). It was a bit of a slog to Fairbrook Naze and it certainly payed off that I knew where the path should be. We were happy to be off the hill and across the A57 without incident.

Half  way crossing the A57 (photo - Ian Corless)

It seemed like a long leg down to Alport, but once there we got the three technical controls without too much faff. I was less than impressed with the steepness of the hill to number 15, but we got there in the end! Now, on to Howden. Unfortunately I knew what was coming, tussocks, tussocks, a bit of marsh and some more tussocks. I certainly was not running the pace I was last time I was there last summer.... In fact, I'm not sure there are any other sports where competing in the 'Elite' category can make you look much less Elite....

Once out of the tussocks, the customary MM shuffle was implemented along the Pennine way over Bleaklow and down to the final two controls. The last control was a bit complex, but we took it steady and just when we were starting to wonder where on earth it was....it was there, phew!

After Tom and Steve had passed us, there were a twinkling of lights behind us for a while, however by the time we were at Alport, these were nowhere to be seen. We ran all of the second half alone (occasionally seeing Tom and Steve ahead) so we thought we were running quite well. By the time we had got to the finish, walked to the sports hall (legs not able to even shuffle any more) and had a shower, there were still no more teams at the finish... Hats off to Shane for creating a really tough and technically challenging course.

This meant that not only were we first mixed pairs on the elite, but also 2nd overall! A result that probably makes some of the type 2 fun we had worth it :-)


 

The OMM - finally reaching the finish line :-)

Since the C2C I've given my ankle a bit of recovery time, however October has been busy! 
Briefly - It started with the Hodgson Relays, mixed emotions of revisiting the Langton Centre, running up Hart Crag (but missing Daz's cairn in the mist),then racing over leg 2 in the mist and wind with Rachel. Good fun and good runs from the team but it just wasn't our day.... 
Next up - the FRA relays in Llanberis, racing the Nav leg with Holly, a good route over some rough terrain, really testing my ankle in prep for the OMM. A great weekends racing by the Pennine Ladies, finishing 4th in a strong field, improving on 5th of last year - bring on 2014!

Me and Rachel at the deceptively warm start to the Hodgson's - could have done with more than shorts and vest by the end!

Two things came out of these races 1) my ankle had improved considerably! From tottering downhill at the Hodgson's, I was now able to not only run downhill but also contour over rough ground  - two skills critical to mountain marathons. I'm pretty sure the consultant at the Northern General Hospital didn't envisage this when he said he'd expect me to be able to run in 3-4months... I learnt my ankle's strengths (contouring to the right) and weaknesses (contouring to the left or running downhill) over terrain and was happy to finally be confident that entering the OMM with Zoe Proctor was not going to be a big mistake!
2) My breathing was rubbish - dropping the strength of my asthma medication, as the doctor had done mid September, just isn't a good idea. After the Hodgson's I struggled to run at all and the Wednesday before the FRAs I was put back onto the higher dose after demonstrating my inept breathing to the doctor (peak flow 70% of it's max = not conducive to running up hills). 10 days on and things were looking up!

Smiles before the start of the OMM - definitely wearing more than shorts and vests for this!

So on Saturday I found myself on the start line of the OMM B class in the Brecon Beacons with Zoe.
I've got a bit of unfinished business with the OMM. Seven years ago, as soon as I was old enough to enter, I completed the long score at my first attempt (although we might have been last after my partner had a small energy level failure on day 1 and we ended up with minus 144 odd points...). Since then I have started the A, then the B.....and then the C...and failed to finish any of them due to A) hypothermia, B) Borrowdale (need I say more), C) freshers flu. So I really needed to get over this streak of failures!
 
 After a classic late night/early morning arrival and pitching the tent in a good rain storm, we'd slept well and were up, packed and ready to leave for the coach by 8am! As I picked up the first days map, I immediately noticed the deciding leg. Hard to miss, leg 3-4 spanned the entire width of the map - better get that one bang on then!

OMM Day 1 - spot the deciding leg...

We set off well, maybe a bit too well, reaching number 1 within 3.5 minutes of the eventual winners (Hoddy and Joe), who lead by over 30mins after day 1....I then undid this good work by losing us 5minutes on number two, being drawn too far right by the masses. Time to screw my head on!
We reached control 3 in the lead of the female race by around 6minutes, I'd had one eye on the 4th leg up until this point and here we took a minute or two to consider our options. We decided there were two options - north or south of the summits that stood between us and number 4. I was swayed primarily by my strengths or rather, lack of strength for contouring left and the fact that up until this point we'd mainly been doing just that. So we opted for the south option.

 Thus began our undoing...it started well, the first bit of contouring followed by the descent past number 1 and the climb and descent that followed were speedy enough under foot, we took good lines and made good progress. All despite me starting to feel the pace a bit, a handful of jelly babies fixed this slightly.
At the descent, we noticed Hazel and Joe, who had caught us after our number 2 time wasting, had other tactics, but we stuck to our guns. Over the next climb and I had studied the map a little more. There was an option, we could carry on as planned or contour right to switch from the south to north route. This looked like a good idea but we decided that seeing as we'd got this far and the going was ok we'd not make the mistake of changing our minds mid way. Just as we came to this conclusion, Hoddy and partner whizzed by contouring right.....hmmm, hadn't somebody told me they were doing the B course?

A brief hesitation and we took the descent and climbed swiftly to the next fence crossing at the corner of a wood. We reached the corner of the wood, almost half way through this leg, about 1hr35 after leaving 3. One hour, 3km (that might be generous), a hell of a lot of tussocks and a low point for Zoe and we'd lost stacks of time! Oh, and I made another slight nav error, dropping us too low and adding an additional km or so of tussocks as I'd heard Zoe really enjoyed them....

Both of us were very relieved to escape this section and took on new tactics for the final two sections (we broke the leg down by fence crossings) - avoiding orange coloured areas (mainly tussocks) and sticking to green (nicer grassyness). This meant we adopted more of an up and over approach which seemed to pay off as we were apparently on our own in finding the last two sections to 4 relatively pleasant! By the final climb and descent of the day I was feeling great - an unusual feeling after more than 6hours of running so I pushed us on up the hill and down to the finish. Whilst the rest of my body was having a good time, my ankle was a bit sore by this stage and my descending wasn't quite what it should have been.

It had been a day of many stages, stage 1 - the fast first 2-2.5hours felt great, stage 2 - I suffered the pace from 2.5-3.5hours while Zoe still had pace in the legs, stage 3 - I got over that and felt ridiculously good from 3.5+hours, just as Zoe started to suffer. We crossed the finish line in 6hrs45, 20mins down on the leading female team with teams to chase 5 and 10mins ahead. On closer inspection, it turned out the North route included a road and a path we'd completely overlooked and the fastest females had found an entirely different option, a very South route, involving a lot of path.....never mind, we'd got there in the end!

To continue the theme of the weekend, the heavens opened just in time for us to pitch our tent but it was nice and cosy once it was up and we had the stove heating water/ acting as tent sauna. I had kind of wussed out of the minimalist MM plan and we were 'glamping' OMM style - while this doesn't mean I'd packed a pillow and full on air bed I had packed lots of luxuries. By the time I'd put on my dry buff, running tights, active Q base layer, Stem II Q fleece and Essens down gilet I was actually almost too warm - not sure I've ever felt that on a mountain marathon over night camp before!

Day 2 - Bad weather course = controls 1,2,4,8,9,10 and 11

After a night of high winds, rain and even a clap of thunder, the morning dawned dryish... We had a bit of a last minute dash but made our 7:22am chasing start time. The bad weather courses were adopted for day 2 and, although this made our chances of catching the 22minutes to first slim, I think this suited us both.
I set off and my chest was tight, but other than that I was feeling just as good as when I'd finished day 1 which was nice. I don't think Zoe's legs appreciated this as I lead the way up the hill to set the fastest female time to number 1. Taking it a bit steadier we made quick work of number 2 before taking a good line direct to 4 (3 was out). After that, controls 5,6 and 7 were out so it was another big climb up and over to 8 before the last few km through the forest and home. We took our own route up here, keeping further right of the stream bed than most and hitting the path leading to the lake on the other side of the ridge. We overtook Alice and Alex on the descent (10mins up at the start of the day) and had a good run down to 8. This was just about enough for my ankle, so after climbing to 9 I looked incredibly out of control and like I'd never seen a hill before on the descent to the forest. Here Zoe had a second wind and pushed the pace down the track which my lungs were rather unhapppy about (where had all the tussocks gone, I liked that bit!). Finishing in 3hrs 30, the two strong climbs payed off and we took the fastest day 2 time, finishing 3rd female team overall. A fun weekend of running around in the mountains, just what was needed after staring at stats for 3weeks, thanks Zoe! And I broke the curse of the OMM by getting to the finish :-) although I might have passed it on to Ingrid and Rachel who finished day 1 half a shoe down and had to abandon....sorry girls, it only lasts 7years....

Ingrid's shoe

Coast to Coast Adventure Race

8 weeks on from demolishing my ankle and everything was good to go for the Open Adventure C2C, not that I could quite believe it. After 2 weeks of non weight bearing I was let loose on a bike and had been clocking up the miles on holiday in the Alps. Once back in the peaks, I added aqua jogging to the agenda and 6 weeks on I was out running again (albeit a bit carefully). After a week or so of build up I knew the C2C was possible without damaging anything, especailly if I took the downhills steady. The uphill felt abdolutely fine, like my ankle was 100% so my plan was to paddle, bike and run uphill hard and hope this would keep me in contention after I'd jogged the downhills.

The Start from Whitehaven - heading for St Bees

The C2C is a great event, starting in Whitehaven on the west coast and heading to Robin Hood's Bay on the east coast with competitors crossing the country on foot, mountain bikes and in kayaks.

The first day takes you from Whitehaven to Keswick via St Bees, Crummock Water, Buttermere, Robinson and Derwentwater. The second day, from Keswick to Kirby Stephen, takes in Thirlmere, Helvellyn and Ullswater along the way. The third day crosses the Yorkshrie Dales, over Nine Standards, through Swaledale and over to Castle Bolton before hitting the road to Northallerton. To finish, the route goes from Northallerton, up Clay Bank and over the North York Moors to Whitby with a final run along the coast into Robin Hoods Bay.

Day one was always going to be my weak point, greatest amount of water based sport vs land based sport. As it turned out, it was weaker than planned after I turned the sea kayak into a swim one too many times....so 120% of the slowest time by way of penalty for being rescued within sight of the beach at St Bees and I was off on the bike - this was more like it. My legs felt like they were a bit lacking but got me over to Crummock Water alright where it was back into the boat. This time, despite it being a bit blustery, I remained in the boat! The killer on this leg is a portage between Crummock and Buttermere. Here I learned my second mistake, it turns out 1km+ is too far for me to carry 1/3 of my own body weight. I'd shot myself in the foot, taking a heavier boat I was more confident of paddling on the sea, then taking 120% of the slowest time anyway and having to cart its extra 5-6kg weight (compared to the alternative) over the portage. Ah well, it was only day 1! I'd been out what felt like an age by the time I set off up Robinson so, after 1km or so of warming the ankle up and eating a banana I instigated the plan of running fast uphill, taking queen of the mountains for day 1 in 43:37. My legs were feeling ok so the pace felt good and I cruised over to Dale head before following the plan again and jog/walking down it. Heading up High Spy I started to feel a bit rough but kept a reasonable pace over to catbells before the slowest descent I think I'd ever managed down to Nicol End - my support crew should be proud (they didn't stop telling me to be careful). The swim across to Keswick went more smoothly than 2009, then it was just a short trot over to moot hall. On the last run feeling rough most definitely turning into feeling sick.

So, my weakest day complete I was raring to go on day 2, the only way was up! Setting off early due to my long first day, I rode over to Thirlmere, legs feeling fairly empty but still arriving a bit too close to my support crew.I put this down to the early morning and had a good paddle down to the second transition, however undid all this good work carrying my boat up the transition (portages over!). I set off up Helvellyn but immediately knew there was something definitely wrong, I was feeling sick again.

Suffering coming off Helvellyn

 I tried eating as that normally fixes things. This time it didn't...and I knew this wasn't your normal working too hard kind of sick. I'd had a stomach bug the previous weekend and clearly was not over it. Approaching the top I almost turned around, but somehow staggered my way over Helvellyn and down to Patterdale, feeling awful by the time I hit swirral edge and giving in to a walk shorly after hole in the wall. In Patterdale, smooth transitions were over for the day and I sat, trying to drink and eat something. Kirby Stephen couldn't come soon enough, but there was still 4hrs of kayaking and biking to go. I finished just after Helen who had had a bad crash coming into Kirby Stephen. Not that that stopped her smiling (well, not yet anyway).

After force feeding myself a meal over about 3hrs I went to bed still feeling awful, hopeful that a good nights sleep would sort me out. I almost didn't start day 3 when I woke up and found out it hadn't. But I got myself on the move, up Nine Standards. I made a mistake here, not adding extra strapping to my ankle for the rough ground, so was reduced to a jog/ walk for a large portion of the way. Like 2009 the clag was down so I am still yet to see the view from the top!

Riding through Swaleale - thanks to Kerry Pilkington for the picture

Once onto the bike through swaledale I started to enjoy myself a bit as there are some awesome off road descents to be had around there and I'd resigned myself to a steady day out. This meant a lot of people came past on the road from Castle Bolton and at one point I realised I'd really let my mind wander and was putting almost 0 effort in, as Alan Hartley came whizzing by looking a bit bemused at my pace. The slow and steady pace started to pay off in the last mile or so into Northallerton though and I actually could stomach food after the finish!

Setting off early on the last day was stunning. The mist was down but lifted as I biked and started the run up Carlton Bank. By the top the view was beautiful and to top it off I'd actually been able to run up it! I'd held back a bit, not wanting to push it too far, but all seemed well and the run along to the second transition was stunning.

Mick Kenyon's amazing picture along Carlton Bank

 I was pleased to feel good on the bike as well. Whilst I was still struggling to eat, I could at least get something in and I made good progress over to Glaisdale, only hindered by my chain hopping down the back of my cassette a couple of times, jamming well and truly and taking a bit of faff to get sorted each time. I attacked the climb out of Glaisdale (boy is it steep!) and suddenly felt my chain pull. I hopped off and ran to the top before sorting it out. A link had almost snapped so I delved into my bike kit for my spare link.....it wasn't there! Thankfully I managed to get the bent link back into working order and pedalled very carefully over to Whitby, trying to minimize gear changes and keep the strain off the chain as much as possible. It made it!
Onto the final run and I was still feeling alright so ran into Robin Hoods Bay, overtaking the last few people to have started before me that day, only one team made it there still ahead.

So, not entirely to plan but I made it across the country and my ankle is still intact! Thanks to James, Nicki and the open adventure volunteers for a great event, and my super support crew, Cath and Harriet, who I threw in the deep end.

At least I've reccied it for 2015 now ;-)

Not the Open 2 Day

Two weeks ago I was up in the Lakes, marshalling the Darren Holloway Memorial Buttermere Horseshoe fell race. It was an ace day organised by CFR with Pennine support, lots of Pennine turning out to run and some fantastic cakes decorated with pennine coloured flowers made by Amanda Holloway. The course was punishing one,a combintation of teenager with altitude, Borrowdale and Ennerdale, but one I certainly want to have a go at next year!

Hopegill Head - Buttermere Skyline in the mist

The next day I decided to do Arnison Dash, at 2 miles with 300m climb it's one of my favourite kinds of races, lung busting climb then fling yourself off the top - a short race I can do well! Plus it was a beautiful day so would be rude not to. I set off with Hazel Robinson, aiming to stick with her to the top and give my calves, which had been knotting up pretty well since the last Open 2 Day, a proper test. Great news, they were spot on :-).

At the top I was 30s-1min down (no watch so a bit of a guess) and decided to cut my losses and not chase Hazel down the hill as there was a big gap to 3rd and I wanted to stay in one piece for the following weekends 2 Day.
This turned out to be a big mistake, I ran relatively slowly down the hill, overthinking the rocky ground and about 2/3 of the way down went over on my ankle. Lesson number 1, never run slowly downhill! Straight back up on my feet, I knew I'd done a good one but could still just about hobble my way down.

Immediate swelling above the lateral malleolus

On closer inspection I knew it was bad. My ligaments are a bit too stretchy and normally the bones in my foot hit the floor before I tear anything and I don't often get swelling. This time the swelling was immediate and after sitting down I could no longer weight bare. In addition, the swelling was above the area that has previously swelled and so it was off for an xray. No break could be seen but they put me in a pot given how swollen it was.

Back in Sheffield I was given a splint boot thing and told to weight bear when I could, however it wasn't until day 11 that I finally felt like I could put my foot on the floor let alone put weight on it.

And the swelling spread

Yesterday I saw the physio and the good news is I can bike and aqua jog and, after some rather painful mobilisation, can walk! Well....sort of. Still got some swelling to get rid of and theres a bit of a question mark over wherther there is fracture at the bottom of my fibula that was missed on the first xray given an area of localised pain, but this is progress!

So last weekend I went to the open 2 day but was the one with the start/finish boxes. Me and Fi got out for 10mins in a team injured/pregnant kayaking pair and me and Sarah went for a bit more of a paddle Sunday afternoon. That combined with crutching around has given my upper body a good strengthening whilst my left calf is slowly disappearing.

Not sure if it was more or less painful than racing...

Hopefully by the C2C I'll be back to racing.

3rd at British Universities MTB

Last weekend was the British University MTB Champs (BUCS), held once again on Birchall, an area just outside Sheffield. Last year it had rained solidly for a few weeks before, creating a mudfest rivalling Mountain Mayhem. I thought I'd pulled off a good race to finish 4th more due to my running ability than my biking skills...

3rd in the individual and 2nd team!

However, this was probably the last time I'll race a BUCS race and I still had one target to achieve. I'd won BUCS medals (and even a BUSA medal I think - yes I've been at Uni long enough for them to change the name of the sports association) as part of a team, but I'd never quite made it onto the podium in the individual race, so I was going to have to give it a go!

On a preride I was very pleased to see they'd removed the killer grassy grind up from the start, inserting an even steeper singletrack one. I'm not joking, this was much more fun! The course was also dry! YES! No hike a bike this time :-).
The start of each lap had a section of field to hammer it across, then you hit a rutted track before you entered the forest. Straight into the singletrack and up a steep hill (with one 'unridable' for me section) then the rest was a whole lot of swooping fun. They'd also kept my favourite bit of the course in, an excellent bit of downhill with a good speedy burm followed by a steep drop/jump.

So I set off with my new race tactic for this year, race at the front until you can't anymore! Well...that was approximately 100m, thanks Helen Clayton for that steaming pace off the line!

 

Andy chasing me down!

My lungs were burning entereing the forest, this is the first properly fast effort I've put in since being prescribed drugs that seem to work for my asthma. Turns out they do work, I didn't actually have to stop, but it did take 1.5laps (30mins) for my lungs to warm up properly...hmmm think I might need to change my warm up in future if I'm going to race for less than 5hours...

Trying to put as many guys between me and 4th

 The first lap was spent changing position, 4th - 5th - 4th. The first 3 disappeared after I almost lost it on some roots. I pulled away from 5th but I really didn't think I stood a chance of catching them again. Then we hit the finish/start field and there was 3rd! I caught her half way through lap 2, just as my lungs started operating properly but just as we went from open field to singletrack. I decided to stick on her wheel for a bit.

Too fast for the camera. My favourite bit of the race, downhill!

 Mistake! She used the best tactic available in the girls race, namely putting guys moving slower than you between you and your opposition. We'd started 5mins behind the mens race so spent most of the race catching and overtaking guys - both good in terms of having a target and bad in terms of getting stuck...

Team Sheffield!

No need to panic though, once on the field again I reeled her back in and overtook, putting the hammer down and trying to employ the same tactics in reverse for the last 2 laps.

It was such a fun race, the route was much better than last year through just a few tweeks, less soggy grass sections, some logs in the uncrossable wheel eating trench....

I managed to stay ahead, finishing 3rd and getting that elusive individual medal! As a bonus, Becky Bright had an ace ride to finish 8th, meaning we won silver in the team competition as well! The guys team had a good day at the office getting the silver medal in the team competition. So I had to squeeze a quick celebratory drink in before heading off to a great evening of dancing at my friends wedding!