Cairngorms 4000's Slideshow

Here it is folks! Another Sunday Adventure Club presentation!

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Adventures in MacChamonix and Other Stories...

It's brass* here and the forecast is even more brass. But, it makes for great running weather!

Here's a wee round-up of the festive adventures, then I'll get onto the boring stats and the New Years resolutions.

A week on from the 100k I ran the Carnegie Harriers Festive Forest Run it's a fast and furious 7 miles through Kelty woods. I really enjoyed it this year even though my time was much slower than my previous in 06, which I ran a week after the Round Rotherham 50 miler so I can't use that excuse! I had a last 1/4 mile sprint finish with club mate Ian Johnson where we swapped positions about 4 times cursing and swearing at each other each time for making the other work hard AGAIN before Ian nosed over the line in front and collapsed in a pile of snot... that'll teach him!!


Mud and snotters at the Festive Forest

Then, after all the weeks excitement of the annual shopping festival and celebration of consumerism, beer drinking and sprout eating it was off to Scotlands very own Chamonix, yes, Tillicoultry for The Lawbreaker Hill Race. What a cracker it was too, 3 miles and 1800 feet of ascent meant it was a real quad busting climb with a ripping descent back down to the finish again, thoroughly enjoyable stuff!

Two days later I was heading up the A9 (yes Scotlands answer to the Autobahn but with speed limits... I think!) to meet Victor in another contender for Scottish Chamonix... yes, Aviemore (at least in both of these places you can buy a bag of chips* for less than a tenner*). We then parked up at Glenmore Lodge and set-off for a winter round of the Cairngorm 4000's (approx 24 miles 8000 feet climb). The thermometer in the car was reading -9 when we left and I don't think it got much warmer all day with the wind making it feel much colder on the tops, this didn't stop Victor from wearing shorts the whole way round though (since he's now a hairy a***d Teuchter !). The views were spectacular as we ran around the tops looking down the Lairig Ghru and over half of Scotland which helped to take my mind off the frozen snotters which were stinging my nostrils for most of the day. We passed a few groups of walkers who gave us strange looks as we trotted past in our trainers, and Victor in his shorts, most were very pleasant but a few were pretty ignorant, maybe we had shattered their "wilderness experience"! We had some fun descending the slopes of Ben MacDui too, the quickest way was to bumslide on the hard-packed snow, at one point I thought I had worn right through the seat of my pants and was on to the first layer of skin but no, it was just the first stages of frostbite... ouch!

Frozen snotters in The Cairngorms

Yesterday I was back in Tillicoultry, no time for croissants in the square though, as the weather was crisp and clear and Tommy and I were out to run over the Ochils to Blackford and back. It was an amazing sunrise as we gained height up to the Maddy Moss and it was good, fast running all the way with the ground frozen solid. A good 19 miler with about 4000 feet of climb... Happy days!

Onto the stats for the year.

Total Races - 25

Total Mileage for Races - 858 miles

Total Ascent - 141 800 feet

Average Mileage per Race - 34.3 miles

Average Ascent per Race - 5672 feet

Total Training and Racing Mileage - 2800 miles (approx.)

The training and racing mileage is an estimate because I don't record miles for taper weeks and recovery weeks so I don't get all mileage obsessed and do too much.

I've raced a lot this year, maybe I should focus on fewer races for 2009??

New Years Resolutions...?

I'm not good at setting myself rules so lets just say I'll try and run the un-runnable bits and run faster on the runnable bits... maybe a good metaphor for the rest of my life too!

Happy New Year!

*Translations for overseas readers and sassenachs : "Brass" = very cold, old chap; "A bag of chips" = un sac de French fries; A "tenner" = quite a lot of money if you live in the UK, but not very much if you live elsewhere in the world... thanks Mr Brown...

Fuego y Agua 100k - Race Report

This year my running has taken me to some strange and exotic places, and not all of them in my head.

The Fuego y Agua 100k was going to be one step further.

I've ran in some varied environments; freezing cold temperatures in the mountains, mud and bogs, athletics tracks, hard packed stony trails, the aggressive heat and altitude of Mont Blanc (which I didn't fare well in) but none like I was about to encounter.

Fuego y Agua translates to Fire and Water. The fire of the active Concepcion volcano and the water of the dormant Maderas volcano, with it's amazing crater lake at the top and the muddy, boggy cloud-forest which covers its slopes. The course can be summarised as a 30k ish undulating trail, then a 1500 metre climb and descent, another 30k on trails then a 1000 metre climb and 10k or so to the finish. Add to this the temperatures and humidity of a tropical climate, some snakes and frogs armed with lethal venom, no such thing as an OS map and a volcano which has erupted with quite some regularity every 50 years, last time 1957.....!

I couldn't wait to get going.

I'd been in Nicaragua for about 3 weeks by race day, travelled around a bit seeing the sights and also recce-ing the two volcanoes. I hadn't ran for more than about an hour at a time since it was so hot but I had made sure I put in some good hard sessions to try to help me adapt to the heat, this was going to be the most important thing. The mileage wasn't a priority since it was only 7 weeks before this race that I had clocked 127 miles at the 24 hour so I couldn't really put in any distance in that short space of time.

The other thing to prepare was my race gear. I decided to go minimalist and run with a bumbag, 2 x 500ml bottles, a couple of packs of biscuits, a few gels and a bag of boiled sweets. I also had 3 drop bags at aid stations with drinks, gels, food and importantly a more cushioned pair of trail shoes for after Maderas when my feet would be sore from wearing my fell shoes. There are also lots of places to buy drinks and food along the trail sections so I made sure I had money too.

As far as tactics go, I felt the best approach for me was to make use of the cool 4am start and push the pace hard to the bottom of Maderas then I should avoid the hot temperatures as I climb higher and therefore not start to feel the heat until about the 40k mark where I would just have to tough it out from there.

The tension was high when the runners started to gather at the start around 3.30am with not much talking going on as we eyed each other to see who might be the ones to watch. There was a local Nica guy there who looked particularly handy, the Columbian guy looked like he knew his stuff too and the two tall Texans, Pete and T.J looked like big strong guys as did the two Italian guys. This was going to be an interesting race.

So with lots of honking of horns from the motorbikes the race was underway and immediately the Nica guy took off like he was in a 10k not seeming to be concerned about having a torch as we headed onto the pitch black trail. I just settled into a good pace and tried to be careful not to turn an ankle as we made our way along the rough dirt trail and soon I had caught up with Nica. We leap-frogged each other all the way until we hit the paved road section then ran shoulder to shoulder at a pretty fast pace for a 100k pushing each other on to see who would drop first. It wasn't until about 5k before the Maderas ascent that I moved ahead and I never saw Nica again although I spent the whole of the race looking back expecting to see him anytime!

Approaching El Porvenir (pic courtesy of Josue Stephens)

When I reached the El Porvenir aid station it was just being set up, so I inhaled a banana, downed a gel, refilled my bottles and since my drop bag food no-longer looked appealing I left it and made for the big climb.

Refueling at El Porvenir (pic courtesy of Josue Stephens)

Keeping my pace up I ran a good bit of the climb until it got so steep and technical that it was hands on knees and hike hard time. The sound of howler monkeys seemed to be getting really loud too, their calls sounding really quite fierce and intimidating. I had a good rhythm going and made short work of the climbing, passing two of the guys who were going up to help set up the aid station in the summit crater. I said hello and carried on as the climb turned more muddy and slippy with each step, the path eroded under the tree roots so much now that I was having to use my hands more and more to climb over and sometimes under them.

The route starts to get tricky

It was absorbing stuff (literally!). I ate all my biscuits now (along with some mud which I was now covered in) since the pace had been slowed by the terrain and I could digest them a bit better. I felt pretty good as I negotiated the treacherously slippy descent into the crater my mind fixed on a good drink of water and a nuun tablet to help me rehydrate at the aid station. As I emerged from the bushes like a madman I realised straight away that the two guys I had passed WERE the aid station, I had mis-heard, there was no-one else here! Ok, nothing for it but to get on and get down to the next one as quick as possible. I carved my initial in the mud in case there was any doubt I had been here, although I don't think I could have gone anywhere else, and started to follow the tagging which marked out the trail. The bushes got really dense as I made my way up out of the crater then opened out onto a neat path on some smooth rock which climbed so steeply I was soon using hand-holds to pull myself upwards. I stopped a few times to look back at the view of the crater with its lake below, I smiled to myself as I realised what an amazing place this was to be racing and tried to take in as much as possible before I pushed on and up.

Maderas crater lake (pic by Amy Sproston)

This was new territory for me, I had been up the previous section but returned the same way on my recce, and it was also starting to become really technical with my arms working constantly now as I was almost climbing through the trees following route markers around the rim of the crater. The wind was blowing quite strongly now and every now and then I would get a view down through the trees and bushes just to remind me that I was on a very narrow ridge and a slip here would be very dangerous. Eventually the descent started and I found my rhythm as the terrain became more runnable, changing as I descended to banana trees and coffee plants as I got lower down. I was also becoming aware of the heat and how much I needed a drink so I started to run really hard thinking if I give a big push here I can refuel at the aid station. I was now back on the flat and had passed a few unlikely looking buildings as I looked around for the aid station, surely it must be near I thought. I passed some locals on the trail and shouted "Merida", the name of the aid station, and they pointed back up the trail. I had missed it and my drop bag with food, drinks and shoe change. Should I turn back? No way! I'll just have to survive in the fell shoes and find somewhere to buy some supplies. I carried on for about 20 mins and as the sun burnt down I could feel I was getting really dehydrated and starting to feel like if I didn't get a drink soon I'd be reduced to a walk. Just then I saw a small shop manned by a couple of kids, maybe about 8 years old. I ran over and shouted "agua y cola!" at the startled wee boy as I stood dripping sweat everywhere fumbling for my money. I also bought a homebaked biscuit and managed to eat it by chewing it along with mouthfulls of water and swallowing the mixture back, the kids were enjoying the display of terrible table manners from the muddy, sweaty, smelly gringo! "Muchos gracias!" I shouted as I fled back to the trail feeling brand new again.

The trail

The next miles were spent running from one side of the trail to the other trying to catch all the shade I could, shouting "buenos dias" and "hola" as I passed bemused locals. One guy on a motor-bike even stopped and offered to go and get water and bring it back to me, I wished I'd seen him earlier! After another few miles Abi, one of the race organisers, passed in a pick-up and stopped to give me some water and gels what a lifesaver that was. Soon after that I hit the paved road and was flying again and kept the pace going all the way to Altagracia (68k) where the next aid station was, I wasn't going to miss this one! By the time I got there the faster pace meant I didn't feel like eating anything and had to concentrate not to throw up. I managed a gel and some energy drink (which to my amusement is called Heed, you have to be Scottish to understand!) but there was nothing funny about the way my stomach felt as I left the aid stop.

After Altagracia the route followed trails which deteriorated more and more until it looked more like a river bed I was running on. It was at this point that I needed to go to the toilet... and quick! I looked around and there was a big banana plantation on my right so I negotiated the barbed wire and got on with, er, business... it's not every race you stop for a dump under a banana tree! I also managed to drop my watch somewhere at this point because it had been clipped to my bag strap and fallen off when I removed it, I wasn't going without it because it had all my splits on it and I'm sad that way, so I hunted about everywhere wasting a good bit of time in the process before I found it.

It wasn't long before I'd passed through the next aid station and was on my way up Concepcion. I still felt strong as I passed locals on horses moving some cattle along the trail and soon I was into the full climb through a real jungle-like environment I even saw a White Faced monkey only a few feet away in the trees, I heard something hit the ground near me and wasn't sure if it was throwing things at me or just knocking bits of the tree off as it moved, I wasn't hanging about to check! I emerged out of the trees at the 1000 metre point, which was as far up as was deemed safe to go on an active volcano, to see the lone aid station guy who, to my relief had water and gels. Since I had no Spanish and he no English he drew a very good map of the route back in the dirt and with that we shook hands and I started the run back down. This is where the route doubles back on itself and I passed Amy, Arturo and Pete on their way up (no Nica!?). It was starting to feel like I was heading for home now, so with a gel in my bag and full bottles I confidently gave it all I had as I hit the flat sandy trails heading for Moyogalpa and the finish. At one point I thought I'd made a mistake emptying all but a couple of mouthfuls of water as the trail just went on and on but eventually I arrived in the town and sprinted as hard as I could to the finish.

It was a strange feeling sitting at the finish line after 11 hours 40 minutes, elated to have come first but sad to be at the end of my adventure.

Josue, the race organiser greeted me with a hug, and I thanked him for the race.

This event has got to be one of the most exciting and unique races I've ever had the pleasure of taking part in, and the work it must have taken to organise I can't begin to imagine. Josue really stuck his neck out putting this event on and it's people like him who keep this sport very much alive so I just want to take this opportunity to say thanks to him and all the volunteers who made this happen. Well done to you all.

P.s I later found out the Nica guy was doing the 50k... so THAT'S why he went out so fast!!

** Update ** Here it is, folks... the musical slideshow!!

Fuego y Agua Update

Just got back home, had an amazing time in Nicaragua, the 100k was an incredible experience with a route like nothing I have ever experienced before.



I had the honour of coming in first place in a time of 11 hours 40 mins. I will post a race report shortly.




At the finish line of Fuego y Agua.
(Photo by Josue Stephens)

Yeehaa... Every Day's a Sunday...

... Well for the next three and a half weeks anyway!

I'm off to Nicaragua tomorrow for the 100k, checked the local weather it's in the mid 80's at the moment so will be a shock to the system. I'm also missing the Round Rotherham 50... but I'm trying not to think about that.

I've had a stinker of a cold all week so haven't managed much running apart from a 20 miler on the roads last night and a 10 miler in the hills tonight so I'm feeling a bit under-trained! But this one is more for the adventure than the competitive side of things so I'm not going worry too much.

So... I'm off, if you don't hear from me I'm probably jogging up a volcano somewhere... (not Arthurs Seat).

Bog Eating, Cross-Dressing and Christiano Ronaldo

I'm finding it increasingly difficult to call my running training anymore. It's becoming more like maintaining fitness or maybe even surviving! The 24 hour has hit me hard, I could probably have done with an extra weeks rest but too late now there's a 100k to do in less than 4 weeks time!


So, I rested for 8 days after Tooting then got in an easy 40 mile/7000' week (hills again yeehaa!) with no long run. Followed that with a 67 mile 9500' week including a 3 mile time trial (18 mins, exactly the same as the one 3 weeks prior to 24hr!), Tinto Hill race (39:02, 35th) and a 21 mile long run. Then last week ended up at 44 miles 7800' only managing to run on 4 days for one reason or another.

There have been some adventures though.

Tinto was the usual fast and furious, lung bursting quad bursting affair only this year I decided to throw in some bog eating too with a spectacular bog dive on the descent.






Then, this weekend was the Vasque Ultra Series awards in the Lakes. So, Lucy and I headed down to Ambleside for the fun event at the Lakes Runner shop. It was a 90 minute score event in which there was also a prize for the best wig! So running through the town centre complete with my long blond wig was worth it in the end as I picked up the prestigous award for my Dave Lee Roth/Bon Jovi look! Then after meeting all the Kryptons we headed off to the "barn" we had hired for the weekend with an hours tour of Kendal and quite a few dead end streets beforehand (it's amazing the difference one letter of a postcode can make to a sat-nav!!). A freezing/boiling shower, some wine, a toast to all things Krypton then it was off to Wilfs to party! It was a really enjoyable night swapping race tales and discussing next years plans with people I don't normally have time or am too knackered to talk to after races, oh and a few beers were also consumed.



Dancing Krypton style


Next morning the good weather had held out so Andy (our new Krypton recruit!), Lucy and I decided to do the Kentmere Horseshoe route. It took the first climb to get myself in gear but after that the running was excellent, really getting into the descents and stopping occasionally to admire the fantastic views. It was one of those days when it was a privilege to be up there enjoying it. I also got to wear my new shoes unfortunately that is the only colour they come in so I felt like the Christiano Ronaldo of the fells until I could give them a good dook in the nearest bog to cut out the glare.

Always remember the camera... great excuse to stop on the climb and get your breath back!

Maggs Howe camping barn with the Kentmere Horseshoe behind.

Vasque Ultra-running Series Races 2009

You heard it here first! The race series for 2009 is a cracker!


Short


1/3/9 Wye Ultra


22/3 Wuthering Hike


5/8 Dark & White Peak (tbc)


?/9 Pumlumon


Medium


18/4?? Calderdale


16/5??Marlborough


5/7 Osmotherly Pheonix


20/9 High Peak 40


Long


25/4 Highland Fling


9/5 Fellsman


1/8 Lakeland 100 & 50 milers


3/10 Long Mynd