On Wednesday I did my hill rep session. I did 16 (14 +2 extra as always). I timed the rep. It typically takes me 50 seconds at a regular running pace to do the hill. I always wind up the pace towards the end of the reps to really wear myself out. I managed to do the 2nd to last rep in 38 seconds, and the final one half a second quicker. After this week I think i'll look for a longer hill to use. I doubt I’ll find one that is as steep, but if I can find one that takes me almost 2 minutes to run up I will drop my reps back down to 8-10 again.
On Thursday I did an 8 mile trail route in and around Apedale Country Park nearby. The route took in plenty of small hills, and challenging terrain. So, by Friday, after the gym session I had done a full week with plenty of emphasis on hills.
On Saturday morning I left the house at 6:30am to travel to Harden, near Bradford in Yorkshire for a 27 mile LDWA event called the Harden Hard'un. You will see from the route and hill profile below why it is called that.
The route is mostly moor land. It's Bronte country, a fact you can't escape as the authors names are plastered everywhere you turn. So put yourself in mind of lots of heath and sweeping hills and you are almost there. You are missing one final detail, bogs. The moors are wet places at the best of times, but after what seems like a month of constant rainfall they are, well, boggy.
It took me just over an hour and half to reach the village and register at the Golden Fleece pub. £6 bought me entry, food and water at all 6 checkpoints on route and a meal afterwards. As always the LDWA events are beyond superb value for money.
I met a couple of people I was in the Trans Aq with as it turned out, but I knew they'd be front runners (they finished 2nd and 3rd) so it was a quick hello and goodbye. Of course you have to factor in that I was carrying over 7kg in my backpack too, so I was never going to be keeping up with those anywhere near the front.
There were 124 entrants, but not a great deal of runners, I think perhaps 20?
After about a mile the route entered an old wood, the path became narrow; it was difficult footing. Some short way in we hit a nice waterfall and the path goes into a rock face to the left. You have to climb up and over some jutting rocks, and as if to emphasise the tricky footing a lady in front slipped injured her ankle. She stopped, and of course no one else could pass. The chap she was with stayed with her as we slowly filed passed. I don't know what happened to her, if she carried on or not, but I seriously doubt it. So near to the start, it was probably fortuatous it happened then.
The route then came into open countryside, the best terrain we would experience all day.
The route goes steadily upwards for 5 miles, then turns fairly suddenly into moor land (Ovenden moor). At this point, disaster struck. I dropped my PDA in a bog. I snatched it out quickly and it seemed to work for a while, but then died. I think it’s terminal. That's the 2nd PDA I’ve killed in a few months. So, with no sat nav to guide me I had to pull out the route description and actually start to navigate! I had to take follow compass bearings, which was the first time ever in anger!
I surprised myself and managed it fine though.
The climb continued to the 8 mile mark through some light boggy moorland, before a welcome descent through the delightfully named 'sleepy lowe'. However, what goes down must go up aftwards! The weather on the moors was cold, wet and windy. There was never and really heavy rain, just drizzle and wind. A couple of times I considered putting my waterproof jacket on, but just ran through the wet and cold in the end. I rolled my ankles more times than I could count. I guess I was lucky to escape it without injury. I have some of the stability exercises to thank for my ankle strength.
There was a truly awful climb next, up to 'Dimmin Dale' and across Migley Moor. The terrain from here on in was shocking and continued so for the majority of the route.
Here is what I am talking about.
There comes a point where you just don't try to avoid most of the bogs and just run ankle deep. However, some are beyond that depth, so much of the route was spent leaping watery expanses. This is very tiring to say the least. I was of course navigating manually, so kept pausing to get by bearings. As a result a few runners caught me up, and had done the route before, so I leeched onto them and stayed with them to the very end. These included a guy in his 60's and his grandson, aged 11. This kid was incredible. I've never heard of an 11 year old running 27 miles, including 1250M (4000ft) of relief, and all this by memory! There were 6 or 7 of us in total, and we pretty much stayed together for the whole way. The young lad trotted off ahead with about a mile to go. I guess he wanted to beat us all. Content just to watch we all carried on at a regular pace. The world of ultra running had better look out when he grows up!
The whole route between 10 and 20 miles was just up and down with barely any flat running as the profile shows. I had a couple of slightly low points (usually on ascents!) but nothing major and I felt reasonably comfortable. The last few miles thankfully left the moor land and back into 'normal countryside. I snapped this pretty bridge not too far from the end.
After one short final climb towards the end, the last half mile was on the road. We all strode-out quickly, and finished at pace, all at the same time. We all actually came in from 7th - 13th place. Not a bad effort! The winner had come in an hour and 10 mins ahead of us thoug I believe! We finished in 6hours 35 mins. A good effort I thought, factoring in that ankle breaking and wet terrain. I kept pace with the other runners, and I was of course carrying weight too. This was definitely another character building event. You were cold, wet and running in featureless terrain. It was fairly demoralising, but you plod on. I'll just have to keep this kind of experience in mind for the MDS.
The organisation of the event was excellent. All of the checkpoints were well staffed and stocked with great food and water/juice etc. Everyone staffing them was veyr friendly and encouraging too. There was a meal of fish, chips and mushy peas supplied by the Golden Fleece pub at the finish too. Tough as the route was, this is an excellent event and one I am likely to do in the future. Highly recommended.
Today, I've had a day off. I deserved it after yesterday’s efforts and my knees and ankles will thank me for it next week!
[I did this again in July 2008 and did in half an hour quicker than 2007 - 6:06, and I daresay could have probably managed around 5:45 If I hadn't have walked with someone for a little while. I'm clearly a lot fitter than I was last year!]
No comments:
Post a Comment