I got back from holiday on Tuesday night and didn't run again until Sunday. Despite an almost overpowering urge to take part in the 'In Pendles Shadow' event that I was going to do on Saturday, I resisted. A 20 mile fell run may just have upset my foot whilst it is still healing. I hate missing training runs, let alone events, but it was for the best.
On Sunday I drove up to my parent’s house, and ran from there whilst my parents looked after my son. I didn't plan any route, but had a rough idea of where I would run in my head. I guessed it would be around 15 miles. There was plenty of undulation, but no more than 1200ft of ascent in total. I packed a 6kg pack but only took water, and almost as an afterthought grabbed a 100g pack of salted cashew nuts on the way out. I had only eaten three round of bread and marmalade all day, which it would become clear later on, was woefully inadequate.
The first 10k was straightforward enough but I was concerned about discomfort in my knee and hip. I ran up into and around Swynnerton Old Forest.
I'd been running at around 5.5mph, so a fair pace for the terrain and weight I was carrying. At this point I was feeling hungry, so slowed to a walk for a couple of minutes at ate half the pack of nuts before running on. This picked me up for a while, but a couple of miles later I ate the rest. The route then climbs gradually for 3 miles crossing a marked path clear through the middle of farmland. I'd heard what I thought were motorbikes half an hour earlier, but then I saw a large marquee a few fields ahead and freshly ploughed fields dotted around it. Gathered around the marquee were a lot of vehicles, pickups and tractors on trailers. As I ran towards the gathering, I noticed than the public footpath had been ploughed through in sections in two separate fields. As I drew near about 100 pairs of farmers eyes turned towards me. So I now had a decision:
1. Divert off the public footpath, around the ploughed areas and rejoin it later. I was unsure if this would be preferable to the farmers, or anger them? (Imagine a bunch of fist-shaking men shouting 'Oi, get oorf my land!')
2. Run through the ploughed area and possibly fall flat on my face. This is what I suspect most of the 100 farmers had their fingers crossed for.
3. Run straight through it and face the consequences!
Naturally I picked option 3. This was a public footpath after all. I was still some distance away from the farmers when my first footfall entered the ploughed area. I'm sure I heard a cheer from the farmers, but wasn't sure. This was only a short section and I managed to run through ok. I then entered the next field where the whole field was ploughed across, not any more than a couple of hundred metres from those gathered. As soon as my first foot went in, up went a louder cheer from the farmers. I knew it was for me, but I still have no idea why. They were either glad I was going through, and hoping I would fall over, or they were just thinking 'yeah there he goes, knew he would, typical hiker/runner sticks to the path no matter what'. I raised my hand to wave as they cheered, which will have either pacified or angered them further, I still don't know which. I felt 100 pairs of eyes burning holes in me as I increased my pace and leapt through the ploughed field at pace. You could almost hear the groans as I danced through and made it safely to the other side, with my honour intact!
I ran through the collection of cars and tractors next to the marquee and out back onto the path and into Swynnerton village. I took these photo's of the event as I ran past on the loop back. You can make out the marquee and freshly ploughed fields I ran through.
I'd already guessed what the event was, but here was the confirmation.
Talk about obscure sports eh? So farmers plough the fields all week and then at the weekend for fun, they plough fields. Talk about busman's holiday! That would be like a runner going on holiday somewhere hot, for a week away, and then running all week. Err hang on...?!?! erm, moving swiftly on...
This was around the 10 mile mark, and I was beginning to tire badly, but managed to maintain my pace for the next mile or so.
I had stopped a couple of times already to stretch out my right ITB too.
At 11.5 miles I really hit the wall. I just had not taken on enough calories that day to see me through the effort. I only had water and no electrolyte, so I only had myself to blame. It was about 4pm at this point, and 3 rounds of toast at 9am were not going to ever be enough. I ran on , but only in bursts, managing a half mile here, and a quarter mile there, before slowing to a walk. My knee and hip were hurting, and fears of a full on ITB problem haunted my thoughts and made me feel generally miserable and sorry for myself.
You know you are truly out of energy when you can't even run downhill. I was really beaten, with still a mile and a half before I got back. I walked (probably weaving from side to side) for 3/4 mile and then reached the bottom of the hill which was the last section before my parent’s house. At this point I was welcoming the misery. I had reasoned no matter how bad I feel now, I will feel 1000 times worse in the desert, so I had better get used to this. I gritted my teeth and started running up the hill, determined to make it without stopping. It's only a reasonable hill, and not even steep but it felt like a mountain as I dragged my tired legs up it. If I could not make it to the house without stopping, how was I going to make it through the desert? It's all a mental battle really. Your mind is convincing you that you are on the verge of collapse and must stop, but really your body is much stronger. You just have to fight those urges and keep plodding on, which is ultimately what I did and got home without stopping; a minor victory, given my poor performance that day.
I literally dropped my pack and lay flat on my back on my parent’s front lawn for 5 minutes. I got up, stretched out painfully and raided the cupboard for sugar. I was pleased to be at my parent’s house because I would have no luck at finding a quick-fix sugar hit at my house. Everything in my house is 'low' something; low fat, low sugar, no-sugar usually! As it was, I claimed a Mars Bar and went for a shower. Another sure sign I am totally exhausted is the smell of ammonia. This hardly ever happens to me, even on long runs, so I knew I was truly exhausted. I showered then went downstairs and immediately fell asleep on the floor for an hour, again very unusual for me.
I went home and got a call from my Uncle. I suspect my mother had called him and told him of my hip and knee problems. I wasn't too keen on phoning him and asking for more help so soon. Despite me offering many times, he won't let me pay for any treatment, and I feel guilty that I am taking up his paying-patient appointment slots. However, he's insisted and did tell me that we would need to see me again to sort out my back/pelvis when he treated my foot two weeks ago. We've come to an agreement so I'm going to trade some of my professional skills for his, so it's all worked out well.
My pelvis is twisted again, and my right foot is turned out when I stand/walk/run. This is stretching all those muscles and causing the hip and knee pain. Left untreated this turns into a full on debilitating ITB problem. I had this at the same time last year and lost about 6 weeks of training. I could not run further than 2 or 3 miles, which subsequently ruined my chances of a fast New York marathon time. I did complete the marathon (4:10), but amazingly without ever running more than 3 miles in the last 7 weeks before the event. I know I'm capable of a 3:30 or better. I'll revisit that one day, you'll see!
I can't let that happen now. I can't drop my distances down and lose 2 months of training, so I'm going to go and see him possibly this week or next week. He's also said he wants to see me as often as I need until the MDS, ideally once a month to keep me in good shape. If you don't know my medical history from my blog, basically I have a slightly curved spine (a scoliosis) as a result of my left leg being 8-9mm shorter than the right leg. My body compensates in various ways, all of which mean that various back and leg muscles get tightened, and nerves get pinched. I'm not really doing a suitable sport I guess!
Unless you are medically trained, you'd be hard pressed to say there is anything wrong with me from looking at me, but you'd see my pelvis tilted when viewed from behind. I didn't even know I had this problem until I took up running, so it just shows how my body has adapted over the years.
Anyway, the important thing is that I'm going to get fixed before it gets too bad this time. I still hope to be able to do the next major even in 2 weeks ' Grin and Bear It'; a 23 mile fell run near Huddersfield.
One last thing before I go: Autumn has definitely arrived.
Have a good week.
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