This is my training diary for the 2008 Marathon Des Sables. It was a 2 year program with various events in 2006; including 10K's, New York Marathon to get me fitter, then my first ultra marathons, a multi-day ultra, then finally the MDS itself. I hope you find it useful.
On Tuesday I had my final Chiropractor session (for now). So, I am pretty much straightened out, but I've been obviously running with a strange gait for weeks (maybe more), so my knee is 100% better but not perfect. My theory is that my pelvis twist and rotation has caused some tendonitis or ITB friction on my knee, and has been for a couple of months. The area is inflamed and is going to take a while to calm down. If I could afford to, I'd stop training, but I can't with La Trans Aqu only 5 weeks away. I'm certainly getting a lot less pain when I run, but I am still getting some. I've only had one ibuprofen this week total, versus the 1 or 2 after each session in previous weeks. I am however, partly as a precaution, icing my knee after every session regardless of how it feels. Fingers crossed this will keep things under control and see me through the training for and actual event itself in 5 weeks time.
So, Tuesday this week I had the chiropractor, and I took Wednesday off as an additional healing day. On Thursday I did a 10k mile off-road route, quite undulating; In fact very steep in places. It's is ascent and descent that gives more knee pain (classic symptoms), so I decided to try and plan more flat routes for the next few weeks. I ran the route as an interval session, 3 and a half minutes at 8:00 minute mile pace, 3 and half minutes recovery pace (10 min mile). I didn't use a backpack on this session, because of the faster pace I wanted to run. I was happy with the route and time, but iced my knee (slight pain) anyway.
On Friday I did my usual gym session. I have also been keeping up the routine in my training plan of 3 times a week doing a set of crunches and lifts; without going into too much detail basically building stomach muscles to help with the backpack weight. I am doing 40/45 of each type at least 3 times as week. I am also going a variety of stretches, including lunges (Chiropractor orders!), every day.
I decided to have a lighter weekend that last weeks 15 miles on Saturday and 15 miles on Sunday with full pack, because I want to store some strength for "The big one" next weekend (more information later).
On Saturday I did a 7 miles trail route in Swynnerton Old Forest.
I loaded my pack up with 7 kilos, the most I have carried so far. I should not be carrying more than that in La Trans Aqu I hope. It's a lovely forest with criss-crossing trails, some better than others. I picked a few lesser-used trails and got nettled and brambled for my efforts. So, my legs got ripped up a little but nothing some TCP didn't sort out later. I didn't run a 20 minute, and then 5 minute walk pattern as the distance was too short. I did take a 5 minute break/walk half way through to make some kit adjustments though. You can see some shots of the forest routes I was running through below.
Some of the less-used trails I ran were so bad/uneven that I had to slow to a walk, and in other places trees had blown down so I had a bit of a hold up navigating around. Although flat in places, I did tackle a few steep hills (no walking!). My knee held out pretty well, but again I iced it on my return home.
On Sunday I decided to pick as flat a route as possible for a 12 mile route. I also only intended to walk the whole way. I picked a 6 mile route along the Trent and Mersey canal. I'd assumed it was very flat, but in fact there was a 200ft descent, and 200ft ascent because of the canal locks. 200ft is nothing over 6 miles (one way) though. Once again I packed 7 kilos and set off. You can see some of the route below.
I walked for the first 6 miles to the turn-around point. I had averaged 3.9mph, so I was walking quite fast and using my trekking poles to increase the physical effort. I took an ibuprofen as my knee was sore, but not too painful. I had also used two of the Patt-straps (fabri-foam straps) I own to compress the problem tendons, in an attempt to reduce friction; one just above and one just below the knee cap. At the half way point, I had already made up my mind to run the return 6 miles to make it more of a challenge. It took me about an hour and 35 mins one way, and an hour and 10 mins on the way back. I noted my running speed with the heavier backpack at several times. I noticed than if I ran at 5.5 or 5.6mph I could manage it, but estimate that I would need a walking break after perhaps 30 mins. So, I slowed it down to about 5.2mph, did a 3x3 breathing pattern (3 strides whilst breathing in, 3 strides whilst breathing out), and found that I could maintain that pace for as long as I required. So, I ran the return leg non-stop. Amazing the difference 0.3 of mile per hour can make? Also, at this slightly slower speed, I was bending my knee joint less as the stride was shorter. This irritated my knee less, which is good news. I completed the session in 2:45 mins, returned home and iced the knee again.
I'm happy with this week’s effort with the 7 kilo pack, even though I have done less mileage than last week. As mentioned earlier, this is because next Sunday will be the 1 month to go marker for La Trans Aqu. On that day I intend to cover a distance equal to the distance I must cover for the longest day in the event in France, which is roughly 35 miles!
Now, I have never run or walked 35 miles before. The marathon is the longest I have ever done at 26.2mph. So, new territory next week. However, the La Trans Aqu rules allow for you to finish that stage at a average of 3mph for the total distance (there are other cut-offs at checkpoints though). I need a confidence booster next week. I don't want to try and run it and end up with worse injury. I just need to know that I can cover the 35 miles in the time allowed. So, I intend to walk the route at a pace of 3.6 - 3.8 mph, so comfortably within the Trans Aqu allowed limit of 3mph. I am once again following a canal for much of the route, passing through Stoke-on-Trent towards Leek and then following the Staffordshire Way footpath and River Dane, through Alton (as in Alton Towers theme park) and then onto the town of Uttoxeter. Once I leave the canal, there are some short sharp steep hills, but I am confident I can keep up the required pace. Assuming I do, it should take me a little under 10 hours for the distance. Who knows, if I feel great after 30 miles I might try a little jog, but don't bank on it!
I will no doubt be too shattered to post an update next Sunday, so expect to hear of my big training session on Monday instead (7th May).
I've bought another pair of New Balance 1100 MDs trainers to break in a little for La Trans Aqu. I've done 180 miles in my current pair, so they are probably good for another month to six weeks, but it's always worth getting the next pair started I think.
I've had a very productive week. On Tuesday I did a 6 mile undulating off-road route, then another on Wednesday whilst working away in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I did a couple of laps of the 'town moor'. Both sessions I had a 5 kilo back pack on.
On Thursday on my way back home, I arranged to visit my Uncle's Chiropractic clinic in York. I'd spoken to him about my knee and hip problems and my concerns about my orthotics.
He took one look at me and said you are all twisted. Specifically my pelvis was twisted and tilted down and to the right I think he said. He instructed his massage therapist to massage some specific areas. These included my lower back, which even as he massaged it began to crack and crunch as muscles softened. He also massaged my right knee, behind the knee and one of the tendons on the right side of my lower leg that attaches to the bone below the knee (can't remember its name?). After he had finished my uncle came back in. He also did some massage before doing some spinal adjustments. The very first adjustment he made gave such a resounding crack I could hardly believe it. 'That was an excellent release' said my uncle. He made several more and then made an appointment for the following evening at his Sheffield practice.
At his clinic the following day, I was first seen by his sports massage therapist. A runner herself, she explained what my various pain was being caused by. She massaged my lower back first, and commented she could visibly see the misalignment as I was lying on my stomach. She also told me the cause of the pain I have been getting on the bond to the right and just below my knee was the tendon that runs down to my ankle. She massaged that too and said it was very tight. That was pretty painful, I had no idea it was that tight. I've wondered for ages what was causing the pain on that bone; now I know. After she finished my Uncle Kevin (Dr K P Burns) did more massage, and the adjustments on me again; with some more satisfying crunches. Afterwards he put me on his interferential machine (passes electric current through pads attached to the body). I'm booked in again to see him on Tuesday evening.
The following day I was amazed to find that I was walking without any knee pain. Even just walking has been hurting me recently. I could also climb stairs without pain too. Descending I could still feel a slight twinge, but nothing too serious.
So, being Saturday I planned a route. I now need to build up my multi-day experience so I planned a 15 mile on Saturday and a 15 mile on Sunday; both with 6 kilo backpacks.
The route from Saturday is posted below. It includes the hill profile as well as the speed profile. My replacement PDA arrived this week.
This route looked good on paper, so to speak, but in reality it was much trickier. I attempted to keep to the 20 minutes run: 5 minutes walk routine, but because of the terrain this invariably proved impossible. I had chosen to run off-road wherever possibly. This meant choosing some pretty obscure footpaths, which I doubt are ever often used. It was very stop/go, constantly stopping to climb over stiles into the next field. Also, I was frequently trying to traverse knee-high (or higher) grass fields. It's not easy to walk in these, let alone run! Also, annoyingly land-owners (read 'farmers') had decided the hundreds of year old rights-of-way footpaths had no business on their land and had attempted to remove all trace of them from their land. Many stiles were totally gone, to be replaced with barbed wire or even electric fences. So, trying to navigate was a challenge. Other stiles had rotted, or broken. You can see from the speed profile on the map that my pace frequently dropped to 0 mph momentarily as I stopped to climb fences/barbed wire/hedges. I was pretty annoyed and have a good mind to notify the countryside agency about the farmers in question.
I only took one photo that day; It was a warm day, around 21-23C.
I used 2 x 800ml of SIS Go electrolyte during the route, and 100g of nibbles (cashew nuts, dried banana, dried cranberries, and dried mango). The 800ml ran out after about 2 and half hours. In a warmer climate I would undoubtedly use much more than that. I would guess about 800ml per hour. In the end the 15.2 mile route took me 3:17, with an average 4.5mph. The constant stop/start and tough terrain took it's toll on my pace as you can see. About half way around both my knees were hurting and I realised I'd not put my shoe orthotics back in my trainers. I had taken them out and trained a couple of times to see if their made a difference. It hadn't, but I forgot to put them back in. Still, I'd made it round without much discomfort and was pretty happy with the effort.
I made myself a Rego recovery drink and drank it whilst I sat in freezing cold bath! I don't have enough ice to make a proper ice-bath, but the water straight out of the cold tap was cold enough. The idea here is that it reduces muscle soreness. I withstood about 10 minutes, drinking all the recovery drink, before I jumped out and tried to warm back up again!
The following day I put my orthotics back in, and got my girlfriend to drop me off in the village of Swynnerton so I could run cross-country back home. I learned my lesson from the day before and chose a better route. Below is the route along with the hill and speed profile from the effort.
You can see from the speed profile that this time I managed a proper 20 minute run, 5 minute walk pattern throughout, almost without exception. You can see my running pace appears just under the 6mph line (it’s actually about 5.5mph), and then periodically (almost every 2 miles) drops to just under 4mph for 5 minutes. I did make one exception between 6 and 8.5miles where I did a 30 minute run, before walking. My knee pain was still present, but not as acute. The left knee pain had gone now my orthotics were back in. A couple of photos I took of the typical terrain from Sunday.
Once again, I ran through Swynnerton old forest which includes sandy trails. I may focus some sessions in this forest, as the terrain will match much of what I will encounter in La Trans Aqu in June.
I completed the route which was 14.6 miles in 2:57 at 4.9mph, a much better pace. I was tired towards the end of the route, but after 2 days and 30 miles running effort I'm happy with what I achieved. It's certainly down to the work my uncle performed on me. If you ever have a sports injury or need a chiropractor in Sheffield, York, Hull or Doncaster go and see Kevin Burns. He treats British athletes and footballers, so has a lot of experience with sports injuries, I can't recommend him enough for his help. He visits all of his practices during the week, and has done for about 20 years, a real hard grafter!
I iced my legs and had one ibuprofen, just to keep any inflammation down and today I feel good and well rested. Slight niggle from my knee but nothing serious, plus today is my day off training for recovery, so that's a bonus.
Now, equipment tests: During the weekends efforts I was doing a dress rehearsal almost.
I wore my Railriders Ecomesh shirt, Hilly shorts, Asics Kayano socks, New Balance MDS1100 trainers, Raidlight backpack and front pack with 6 kilos weight, and Timex Ironman watch and GPS unit.
Railriders shirt - As always performed perfectly, definitely going to France and Morocco.
Hilly shorts - These started to chaff my thigh on the Sunday. Either I will have to use cycling style shorts or apply Bodyglide lubricant to prevent this. More investigation needed.
Asics socks - Perfect. Used in conjunction with Leukotape on my toes and soles of feet, I got no blisters. Yes for France and Morocco.
MDS1100 Trainers - Excellent - definitely for use in France and Morocco.
Raidlight backpack - This has never rubbed me once in over years use, even loaded with 6 kilos. Definite for France and Morocco.
Raidlight front pack - Useful for holding nibbles and a 1.5l water bottle to balance the weight in the back. However, I need some kind of a belt to secure it to my waist to prevent the 1.5l water bottle banging against my stomach/chest. I will use this, but the securing method needs more investigation.
Timex watch and GPS - Definite for France and Morocco so I can determine my pace. I must ensure I take spare batteries, probably 2 more.
After I got back from Saturdays run, I used my MSR titanium kettle on the hob at home and cooked up some of the rice I intend to eat for an evening meal. I also bought a Trangia aluminium mess tin to eat out of, and Titanium 'spork' to eat with. The cooking went well, and I learned a few tricks at the same time. Not putting the lid on too tightly as it's hard to get off!
Now, interestingly the rice (455 calories) didn't satisfy my hunger. I had to finish off the nibbles I had left over from the run (about 50g or 100 calories), plus I ate two pop tarts (400 calories. I'm using these for breakfast too) before I felt more full. You must take 2000 calories minimum per day for the event. It looks like I will need about 2500, probably another 1/4 kilos in weight. Still it's better to be well fed, than hungry and not properly fuelled for the next day’s effort. I will try out a couple of other meals to see if they prove more satisfying, as I want to try and keep the pop tarts for breakfast only. However, they are light and pack a lot of calories and carbs, so if I have to eat them at night too I will.
So, I've had a productive week. I’ve had some chiropractic treatment, I've clocked up 42 miles and I've done some useful equipment tests. Let’s hope after another couple of Chiro sessions I will be in totally fixed and can focus on this last 6 weeks of hard training.
Last week I said I would not do any running this week, due to on-going knee issues. Well, that lasted until Thursday. This was brought about by a gym session I did on Wednesday. I did half gym, and half swimming. However, I’ve moved to a new gym recently and the pool is rubbish. It's only 15M long (versus 25m at the old gym), it's also half the width. To make matters worse they had half the remaining width roped off for swimming lessons. It was barely possibly to get two people swimming abreast. However, I swam (mostly dodging oncoming traffic) for 20 minutes. A few months ago I rolled my ankle, once it healed it hasn't given me a moments trouble running but it started to in the pool. I guess it's the wiggling motion of the feet on front crawl. I took that as a sign that it was time to get out. Not sure if or when I'll return to the pool again given those issues. My ankle is fine incidentally.
So, on Thursday I went for a run; nothing too exciting, just an undulating 3.5mile run; half road and half cross-country. My knee did hurt, but less than I expected. On Friday I did my usually gym session, no problems there. Clive went through some back stretching exercises as I feel all these knee issues are related to a tight back. Well, I don't think that's helping, but It may not be entirely to blame as you'll hear later.
On Saturday I decided I’d try a longer session, but I would also try to emulate the conditions I will experience in France in June. I loaded up a 5Kg pack. From calculations of food and equipment, I estimate my pack weight to be 5.5 to 6kgs for the event. I also adopted what I hope will be my race strategy which is a 4:1 run: walk ratio. I run for 20 minutes, and then walk for 5 minutes, and repeat. The other way of doing it is run until you can't and then walk. The problem with that strategy is that once you stop running, you have done so because you are too tired. So, you are psychologically beaten. A strategy of walking every 20 minutes, allows you to recover for 5 minutes, and you also know you are walking because you have planned to, not because you can't run anymore. Another strategy that I have used in past LDWA events is to walk uphill sections, and run the downhill and flat sections. This does work, but again you are faced with potentially running out of steam and grinding to a tired and beaten walk. So, I think a combination of the two is the most sensible. A 20:5 run/walk, but also walking up steeper uphill sections whenever they occur. On the flipside, running downhill sections even if they occur during the 'walking phase' will balance that out.
I took my GPS speed/distance watch with me for pace information. Pack-loaded I run at 5.5mph, and walk at 3.5mph. This averaged out to 4.9mph over the distance for Saturday. I didn't walk any uphill sections though, as being just 7.5 miles I felt I had enough in the tank to keep me going. I also carried only water and no electrolyte. It was a hot day by April standards, 23C. I was covering familiar territory, so no map reading or sat nav required. There are two main hills to take in as you can see on the map of the route below; marked 1 and 2 in the green circles. I've also posted an equivalent satellite image, so you can get the idea of the area where I live.
I start off on an immediate hill climb to '1', a local landmark the Wedgwood Monument. It's a local high point, at 236 metres. Ok, that's not high compared to my 3300M in Tenerife two weeks ago, but it's a challenging start to any route. The route then winds down into Apedale Country Park, a former coal mining site, and then climbs up to the high point in Apedale. The crest is marked '2' in the green circle on the map. It's marginally lower that the Wedgwood monument. I took this photo standing at point 2. I took it looking back to point 1, which you can just see point 1 (the monument) in the centre, on top of the distant hill.
You also see what a lovely sunny day it was too. It's going to be 10C hotter in France in June, but it was a good taster for how I would feel pack-loaded and running in some heat. I actually ran out of water 2.5Miles before the end. Well, that's not strictly true. I was using 3 litres a water as some of the pack weight in my backpack, but I refused to drink it and lighten my pack! I was pretty thirsty when I got home, all good practice for the desert next year!
My knee held up better than I expected, although I did take an ibuprofen and put an ice pack on it when I got in, and continued to ice it periodically all evening. It had taken me just under 1.5 hours to complete doing the run: walk strategy.
On Sunday I wanted to do more of the same, but longer. It was the same temperature, I carried the same 5kg pack weight, same run: walk strategy but this time 11.5 miles. Part of what I need to build on in the next 6 weeks is multi-day race simulated training. So, wearing myself out one day, then getting up the next day and doing more of the same. It's all well and good doing one 25 mile route once a month, but if you can't get up and do the same again 6 days on the trot, then you are in trouble. The route is shown below.
The route through Swynnerton old forest is very enjoyable. Parts of it look very similar to the pictures of the La Trans Aqu. There are some sandy trails through very pretty forest and you don't meet anyone at all in parts. I ran 20, walked 5. However, this time I also incorporated the 'walk steeper uphill' sections, and always run the downhill’s no matter if doing the 'walk phase'. I did make a few exceptions to push myself. There is a particularly short sharp climb just before 7 miles that I pushed myself to run all the way up. I did notice how much my pace slowed. I was running at 5.5mph on most sections, but on the steep uphill my pace dropped to about 4mph, even less of the steepest. This just shows that it is essentially pointless trying to run uphill. Your legs may be going through the motions, but you would lose little time, and save more energy by walking. I pretty much knew this already, but it's useful to confirm it. I managed the 20:5 strategy up to the 2 hour mark, of what turn out to be a 2.5 hour route. The last half an hour, I walked as my knee was now troubling me a little too much and the last 1.5 miles was all on tarmac road, so tougher on the joints.
It was during the last half an hour, when my knee was aching that I really began to analyse the pain I was experiencing. I forgot to mention I was using an older pair on orthotic shoe inserts. This pair is less severe than the ones I have been using. My problems really all started when I had my running orthotics adjusted a couple months ago when I though about it. I assumed it would take time to adjust, but I have given them more than enough time and if anything my knee problems have got worse. The hip pain I get after running (but not during) has also not improved. It was that hip pain that the orthotic change was supposed to target. I've noticed that I have been turning my right foot out (pointing toes out at 2 o clock so to speak). When I point my foot forward, as I should be, I get knee pain. So, I think my body has been compensating and trying to ease the pain my forcing my foot out to 2 o clock. However, when I deliberately turned it out a little further for a few steps, I got my familiar hip pain. The conclusion I have come to is that although my back being tight is a factor, I think the orthotics are causing more problems that they are fixing at the moment.
I am going to try running with either no orthotics, or just a small heel lift on my left foot (to compensate for a slightly short left leg). If that works, then I'll be having words with my orthotics maker. I've had a troubled couple of months with knee/hip pain, and this looks to be prime candidate for the cause.
I'll let you know how I get on next week. I usually post updates on Sunday/Monday, but now and again I will update on a Wednesday if I same something important to log.
Overall I'm happy with how trainng has gone this week, and I'll continue to build this week.
Above is my month 4 training plan. Since we are a couple of weeks into it, i've updated to show what I actually did as my normal training was interrupted by the Tenerife holiday/training and subsequent recovery. This month’s milestone was the 19 mile Tenerife training run as detailed in my previous blog post.
No Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA) event this month for that reason, and also because 2 weeks into month 5 I must do a 35 mile route. This will be exactly one month before I take part in La Trans Aqu in France in June. After that 35 mile, which will simulate the longest distance I will have to cover in one day in France, I will not do another route as long, probably only 15 miles max. For the next 8 weeks, injury permitting, I will also be concentrating on running.
On the subject of injury, I'll move onto my weekly update. I posted last week about my shin pain which caused me several days limping following Tenerife. I still don't know what it is or what has caused it. It was Friday this week before it felt anything even approaching better, so the week was lost with no training. On Friday I did my normal Gym session with no problems though. Saturday I literally tried running a few steps, and the increased force on the joint still caused pain, so I decided it was not worth running.
However on Sunday (today) I have done a 10 mile walking route. I decided that 10 mile was the maximum I should attempt. My girlfriend asked to come along, since it was such a nice day, and I would not be running. I packed some of the equipment I will be using in June, and on the MDS, including my new PHD minim 300 sleeping bag which arrive this week (5 weeks late I might add!!!), and my Prolite Thermarest roll mat. I also added a couple of 1.5l water bottles and some towels and clothes to add more weight. I weighed the pack before I started (and to the finish) was 7kg’s. This is getting towards the maximum weight I could carry in June, which is 8 kilos. However, with some careful packing I hope to keep it down to 7kg.
The route is posted below. You may notice the new improved map.
I'm now using 1:25000 scale maps instead of the 1:50000 I was using previously. This helped especially today as I was not using GPS. My PDA is in for repair after being destroyed by the hailstorm I was caught in whilst training on the 'Spring in Lakeland' event. I forgot to mention my PDA was a casualty in that blog post. Hopefully it can be revived. So, it was map and compass today, although to be fair there was little call to use the compass as most of the route is easy. I did however take a few bearings to practice and refresh my memory. All of the La Trans Aqu France route will require road-book and compass use. It's been an unseasonably good Easter Bank Holiday weekend, with clear blue skies and temperatures getting towards the high teens.
We set off at a slightly slower than normal pace to see how my shin/knee would cope. It didn't feel right, and was causing discomfort, but not serious pain. However I took a 600mg ibuprofen to keep inflammation down. An hour later, and the pain had got no worse, but had got no better, so I had another. That did take the pain away, but proved to me that it's obviously in no shape to be attempting any serious training this week. I will do my gym sessions and replace the runs with swimming. I have to rest it to ensure I am fully fit to training for the June event over the coming weeks. We completed the 10 mile route in 3 and half hours, so a very gentle training session, just around 3 miles an hour. I've since iced my leg and I’m about to do the same again now. The ibuprofen has worn off and no pain has returned, but I can just tell it doesn't feel right. It is still tender to touch in one spot and stings when my leg flex's beyond a certain angle. I just wish I knew what I had done to cause it, or what it could be? I've been pretty unlucky this year so far with injuries, lets hope this is the last one!
So, I'll wisely keep off the running and cross train in the pool this week. Even if it takes 2 weeks to get right again, I won't rush back to running on it. Besides swimming totally tires me out, so must be doing my cardio fitness (as well as muscle tone) wonders. Speaking of muscle tone, I've noticed my upper arms have acquired imrpved muscle tone since I have been doing a lot of work with the trekking poles, which I also used again today incidentally. I'm fairly light build at only 67kg; useful when you run a long way, and I've been amazed how even my slight build has changed over the last 18 months. There really is not an ounce of fat on my legs at all now, not that there was much to begin with. If I do another fitness test where they measure fat with callipers in various spots on the body(like I did a year ago), I'm sure I will probably be under 10% body fat now (I was 11.5% in February last year). None of this is through conscious effort or building, it's just happened as a result of the MDS training. Wonder what if I can improve further by the MDS 2008? I'm sure I will.
That's all for now, other than a quick hello to all the new people reading my blog. The traffic on the site has rapidly increased over the last few months with many far reaching international hits from all over the world, as well as many UK readers. Welcome everyone, hope this is enjoyable or helpful, and by all means if you think you can be of help or make suggestions to my training (or on this site) please email me from the link in my profile.
Two days after scaling Mount Teide I wanted to do a harder training session. I had purchased a book called Walk Tenerife, and the accompanying hiking map. None of the routes were suitably long for what I had in mind. So, I strung together 3 different routes from the book. Well, that's what I planned, but I ended up doing 4 routes. The map below shows my route, starting from the left had side in Adeje and heading north, following the green dots I have placed on the map, right around in a circle to the red dot. The route ended up being 19 miles. The first hour and the last 2 hours were hot and cloudless, around 24C. In between it was still warm, but clouded over. I carried 2 litres of water in a backpack that weight approx 5 kilos. I'm sure you have gathered this by now, but you can click on the pictures for a full screen image.
The route began at the top of Adeje next to a National Park called Barranca Del Inferno (Hells Ravine). This is the most popular walk in Tenerife following a spectacular ravine, but the route is only a 7km return and only 200 people are allowed on it per day. The route I chose was obviously considerably longer and tougher and I saw only a handful of people all day, all of which were doing walks on small sections of my route. There are no footpath signposts in Tenerife. You occasionally see a white arrow chalked into a rock, but more often you see little pyramid piles of rocks about 6 or 8 inches high that people put on the trail to follow. They are actually very helpful and got me back on route several times when I took a wrong turn.
The walking surface is rough and ragged. Dirt and large rocks, and boulders on the whole trail as the following photo and short video show.
A lady at the National Park centre not far from where I began my route gave me estimates of 2 hours to reach the first cliff face (after gaining 700 metres) and 5 hours to reach the village of Ifoche. Of course she assumed I would be walking, and not walking quickly or running. I ascended the hills at the back of Adeje and took this photo shortly before reaching the summit shown at the top of the picture.
I reached the top of the cliff 700 Metres above in an hour an 5 minutes. Due to the terrain on that section I had to walk all the way up, but I managed 2.7mph using my trekking poles on most of that part. I took this photo from that point. I had climbed from an area that was level with the circular water treatment tank visible near the centre left of the picture.
At this altitude, which was 1100 Metres, the route mostly plateau’s for a few kilometres and turned into pine forest, gaining perhaps another 100 metres in height. I ran the ran as much of the remaining route as it was safe to do so, but due to the nature of the terrain walking was necessary in order to stay alive! I used my poles while running, planting them down with every other step, almost like a cross-country ski action. This worked well, and I skipped over the terrain well. I even used the poles to launch myself upwards when climbing by placing both on the ground and pushing back to jump up sections. It was really quite enjoyable.
Route finding was difficult with criss-crossing trails everywhere as I followed the path from west to east across the top of the map. I missed a turn at one point and trotted out from the trees to be faced with this cliff, which was actually the Barranca de la Fuente Ravine shown in the centre top of the map. I don't know if you can really see the scale but the drop beneath my feet was around 250 metres
I had missed the path which took my around and wound down eventually to the ravine floor, before climbing back up and out around the other side. I retraced my steps and picked up the path. I reached the ravine floor and took this shot. This illustrates what I mean when I say the little pyramid stone piles that mark the route. Usually there is just one every now and again. Looks like in this photo there is a bit of a stone-man party going on. It’s pretty though huh?
I took this at the other side as I was climbing out of the Fuentes ravine.
I reached the village of Ifoche in 2 hours 40 minutes, somewhat quicker that the 5 hours predicted by the tourist office! At this point, technically the first guidebook walk ended and I picked up the second which took me from Ifoche to El Ancon winding around the almost to the summit of, but skirting to the side of and then down the three spectacular peaks Roque Los Brezos, Roque Imonde and Roque Del Condo. These shots were taken during that stretch of the route.
This little peak before the two main ones is called Garcia's nose.
This is Roque Del Condo. You can see the old agricultural terraces on the hillside.
A shot looking across from Del Condo:
This shot is looking back up to Roque Imonde. I had climbed down from practically the very peak of this.
This video shows the whole vista. The first peak is Imonde, and then across to Los Brezos where I had come from, then the final shot is of Del Conde where I was headed.
There was a lot of climbing down into ravines, and then back up the other side. You can see form this shot on a ravine floor where I had come from, up high in the right. I'm not sure how many metres I climbed that day, but I'd estimate around 2000.
I stopped and ate lunch around here, right next to the area marked Hidden Valley on the map. It really was a pretty spot. There was an old almost overgrown threshing circle and the remains of agricultural terraces on the surrounding hills. I topped up my electrolyte at this point too. I eventually reached El Ancon where the second trekking route ended and picked up the next route a kilometre or two down the main road in Arona. My knees were a little sore at this point. I had been out around 4 and half hours at this stage. I had an ibuprofen more an anti inflammatory than a pain killer.
I began my third (and what should have been final) trekking route. This should have taken me back to my hotel at Torviscus Alto, not far from the place on the map (bottom left centre) marked Picos Las Americas. However, this is where things started to go wrong.
I couldn't find my way down to the road. The hill was very steep and I was still at around 800 metres at this point. I took this shot from the peak of this route, just before I descended to try and find my way back. See the white line that runs in the side of the hill; remember that, as it was almost the death of me.
I descended down to 500 metres and then hit that white line, which turned out to be aqueduct carrying water along the hillside. At this stage it was open-topped and was 1 metre high and 1 metre wide, and made of stone. This is known as the Rio Conde, as marked on the map. I looked at the guidebook and decided that since I could not find my way down to my hotel, I would follow a 4th trekking route in the guidebook which followed the line of the Rio Conde. The name of the route in the book was "Adeje Skywalk" - I was soon to find out why. I scanned the route, a little too hastily, and disregarded the warning about a certain part inducing vertigo. Although as it transpired, that section wasn't an issue.
A started to make my way along the path that ran parallel to the Rio Conde. At first it was an easy and obvious path. The drop to my left was not quite gentle, but certainly not steep. However, at the point on the map marked 'difficult water changeover point, this got tougher. I had to clamber up and balance on the walls of the Rio Conde, which was about 3 inches wide. So doing a tightrope act I tip-toed over this meeting of several aqueducts. The other side the water in the duct had gone, to be replaced with a 18 inch diameter plastic pipe that sat at the bottom of the rock aqueduct. So, it looks to have been reused for some modern purpose. Then soon after the Rio Conde gained a concrete top, the path to its left vanished into the slope and I had to mount the Rio Conde itself as use it as a walking surface, which is what the guidebook indicated. This metre wide surface became my path for the next 4 miles. You can see it below.
You can see that although the hill drops off fairly steeply, it's not a sheer drop, so a loss of balance would not result in anything too serious. This continued for the next couple of miles, following the mountain contours, winding in and out of ravines. This shot illustrates nicely.
At several points, the aqueduct became a small bridge, with nothing to the right or left. Perhaps only a 3Metre fall either side, but enough to cause injury. None of this really fazed me, and I ran much of this section as I am pretty sure footed.
I turned a corner and up in the distance I could see the fabled Vertigo-inducing aqueduct over the Barranca Del Aqua (Marked waypoint number 13 'Danger of Vertigo', on the map). I also noted that after the aqueduct (to the left of the picture, the drop to the left of the Rio Conde walkway looks somewhat steeper...)
You can't see it from that photo, but around the corner and before the bridge over the Barranca, the drop to the left steepened a little and there was a sheer rock face on my right. I turned a further corner and my face went ashen when I saw this.
The things wrong with that scene:
1) Rock fall had smashed through 1 to 3 metre sections of my walking surface, the Rio Conde.
2) The scale isn't good, but firstly that's a 5M sheer drop, followed by a short steeper section, then another sheer drop that is not shown in the shot.
3) The cliff to the right of the Rio Conde, overhangs, the only way past is to edge around the mountain sideays. Not a good idea for someone who is wearing a backpack.
4) The plants and cactus had already ‘spined’ me to death in various sections. The overhanging plants are pretty tame here, but got worse later. I was forced to go through them, or go off the cliff.
I edged my way forward and had to climb down inside and into the pipe inside each time I hit broken slabs. There were many-many more of these over the next couple of miles, by the way. I'd already packed away my trekking poles onto my rucksack, but I was concerned they would catch on the cliff as I passed by. I was pretty upset that an respected walking book would put me in such a dangerous situation. Routes like this should just not appear. I later read in their book - "We were surprised that this route didn't appear in anyone else book". Well I think I can answer, that's because they all died whilst scouting it out!
I clung onto what I could of the cliff and edged my way around to the other side. This was seriously scary for me with a fairly large backpack with trekking poles poking out at all angles. I eventially made it past the worst, and I let out a sign of relief, but things got no better the other side. The same broken slabs and sheer cliff face continued. My progress slowed, no more running as you can imagine. Next I reached the aqueduct bridge section over the Barranca Del Agua. You can't really see it, but that's a big drop to each side. Serious injury or death if you fall, about 10 metres I think.
This shot taken as I was crossing it. I should have pointed the camera down to catch the drop, but didn't think about it at the time.
As I said earlier, this didn't both me too much. OK it was a straight drop 10M either side, but that's a metre wide surface to walk on and there was little wind. I think I even ran across it as some kind of bravado stunt.
For the next mile or so, things didn't improve at all. I kept hoping round the next corner would be a path down, but I just kept getting more sheer cliffs, broken slabs and scary walking, as shown here.
It was the overgrown bushes that I had to go through which made it all the tougher. I got ripped to shreds by various cactus plants during this stage.
Something strange happened then. I half questioned if I was imagining things. I swore no one had used this as a route realistically, and that it had not been trodden in months or years. Then I glanced across the ravine from where I had come and I saw a man. He had long black trousers on, no shirt, and had no shoes on as was following behind me on the Rio Conde I'd guess about 2 mins behind. I wondered where he could have come from as there simply was no access. You were effectively a captive of the Rio Conde for 5 miles. The cliff had got less steep to my left anyway, so I turned a corner and broke into a jog again and went around to the next ravine. I slowed up again as I went through some plants, and glanced over the canyon. Around the corner came the man, but now having lost quite a lot of ground to me running. He glanced across at me, stopped for a second, then turned on his heels and walked back around the corner never to be seen again.
This did freak me out a little. Later I was told that there were hermits who lived in the hills. I had visions of the hills have eyes movies.
A mile or so later, and much to my relief the Rio Conde disappeared into a rock face near the Barranca Del Inferno where I had began my walk, and after some clambering down a steep hill, I found the path that wound down into the canyon floor and back up into Adeje. I took this last shot looking back to the end of the Rio Conde, after I reached Adeje.
I completed the last couple of kilometres at pace. Even with the snail-slow progress on the Rio Conde and the lunch stop I averaged 2.4 mph. It had taken over 7 and half hours. Not bad for 19 miles and 2000 Metres of climbing. The most important thing there was 'time on your feet'. Out for 7 hours in warm weather in hassh terrain, just what I need. I called in a lift back to my hotel and retold my story. My sister and her Spanish boyfriend live in Tenerife and they had never heard of anyone walking on the Rio Conde. Nor had any other resident they spoke to. You must be crazy they said. I think they were right.
So I survived a training session that went way above and beyond the call of duty, over harsher terrain that I will ever face on the Marathon Des Sables in Morocco.
The day after I developed a lump on the top of my shin bone, red and raised, and was soon limping badly and could hardly bear any weight on it. 4 days later and now home in England, I can now walk better, but can't run. A physio looked at it and didn't think it was a sports injury. He suspects infection. Maybe I caught a bad cactus spine? I don't know, but if it is not much better tomorrow I'll have to go to the doctors to see what it is.
Apart from that I have no aches or pains of any kind and feel pretty good. Only 8 weeks to La Trans Aqu in France and only 5 weeks of hard training before a small taper. If this shin issue gets resolved quickly, I'm well on track and things are looking good.
I'll return to Tenerife later in the year for more training. It will be much hotter in July or August. The terrain is perfect though, and I will no doubt have plenty more opportunities to frighten myself witless in the mountains.
I decided before I got to Tenerife that I wanted to climb mount Teide. Mount Teide is the highest mountain in the whole of Spain and the third highest volcano on earth, at over 3700 Metres, oxygen around 40% less than at sea level at the summit. The basin from where you begin your ascent is already at almost 2300 Metres, and you are not allowed to climb the last 163 metres without a permit. So, that leaves just over 1200 Metres to play with. As I was preparing my Father decided that he wanted to join me. I did try to put him off with scare stories of altitude sickness, and being harder that climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland, and that it was only suitable for fit experienced hill walkers. Here is a 3D image grabbed from Google Earth.
However, he was not deterred and came along. It's a 60km drive gaining 2000 Metres to the basin. I had packed for both of us, knowing full well my father would not be prepared! I carried more weight than I ever had before. I didn't have my scales but it felt around 7kg; this included 3kg of water, so over time the weight did reduce. We called at the cable car station to enquire about using it to come down. However, to our dismay the last car back was at 4:50pm. This gave us only a 4 hour window to each the summit, which basically meant that at the pace we would be moving, no chance. It also reported the summit temperature being -3 (-22 wind chill) at the top. Considerably colder than we had anticipated or were dressed for. So, we settled for getting as far as we could in 3 hours, then we would turn about and descend. The start of the route begins at the road, by the signs for Montagne Blanca. The first 2.75 miles is on an easy wide path, than gains about 400m, very steadily. The landscape is awesome and looks very lunar-like as these shots show. That's my father in the frame incidentally.
Shortly before the easy paths ends, we hit snow drifts on one side of the mountain, as my father demonstrates.
By fortune, it was easy to navigate these as we continued on. I'd forgotten to say the wind was biting cold at times and neither of us had any windproof clothes with us in Tenerife. At no point did we really feel cold as we had a few layers of clothes on. This video was taken during the first hour as we headed along the nice steady ascent to the foot of the mountain proper.
Very abruptly at around 2.75 miles the nice path ends and suddenly turns incredibly steep. It had taken us just over at hour to cover that distance, but already we would tell our progress would get much slower. This shit illustrates that. The dark coloured earth is where it starts to get steep. We were heading to a point at the very centre of the picture.
I had let my father lead and set the pace for the day, as he doesn't have my fitness, although he did surprise me. I had visions of calling in mountain rescue for him before we started! He'd done very well up until the steep section, and then had to pause fairly often as we ascended the steep tight winding path. He was flagging a little until I revived him with some electrolyte and Enduroylye (electrolyte capsules). His muscle cramps disappeared quickly, and he stuck to drinking my electrolytes instead of the plain water. I also gave him my trekking poles to use for the remainder of the day. Progress improved immediately, as he took to using the poles like a seasoned professional. The following shots are good indicators of the terrain. You can also see the only item my father thought to pack for an expedition of this kind! In the shots looking down, we had climbed from the lowest point visible, off to the top right corner of the shot.
You get an idea of the terrain and views from the 3 mile mark video I took.
Our pace dropped from the 2.7mph to just over 1mph for the last 1/2 mile of steep climbing. We set ourselves a goal of reaching a pole that we could see before our return. It took us about 1 hour and 45 minutes of the steep climbing to reach what turned out to the mountain refuge at 3270 Metres, taking total walking time so far to 2 hours 50 minutes.
Here is some video I took from that viewpoint.
I left my father to take 5, and I continued climbing for the next 10 minutes. I really just wanted to see if I could get a photo of the summit and see how far away it was. However, almost immediately I hit snow, although I did clamber up for those 10 minutes before calling a halt. I took the next photo and video from that location. You get an idea of the steepness, although after that ridge the tough climbing is basically over and it's a steadier climb to the cable car station.
I took this shot just before I descended back down to my father at the Mountain refuge.
My father had only jeans and light gym shoes with no grip. We didn't have any suitable clothing for climbing those last 200 metres of altitude, and approximately 1 hour of traverse time, so we ate a little lunch and descended. As you can imagine, the descent was considerably faster. Using the poles my father descended very quickly, and we made it to the foot of the steep section in about 45 minutes, then took a further 40 minutes to reach the car. A descent like that is certainly hard on the knees, and I had an ibuprofen to keep any inflammation down, as I had give the poles to my father of course. Although the first section is less steep, you get an idea that there was still some effort required, especially given the conditions, from this photo.
I had sore knees for a little while afterwards, but all in all I felt good. We covered just over 8 miles in total. I had carried quite a lot of weight and felt fine. My New Balance 1000MDS shoes really performed well. Tons of grip and I didn't feel a rock or sharp stone through the soles all day. Lot of the early terrain looks similar to that of Morocco, so I know I have the right shoes for the job already.
I took a day off after that, before I did my next route. That is a story in itself. Lets just say it involves 19 miles, more metres of ascent and descent, and one of the most scary experiences of my life! I'll write it up tomorrow with photos and video.
Cliff-hanger or what?
Update: I made another Teide summit attempt in December 2007. read about it here.
