August Training and weekly update

My next month training plan above as you can see. My 2 main events this month, are the Dovedale Dipper this coming Sunday, and possibly the 29 mile version of the Rhayader Mountain Trail 2 weeks later.

The Dovedale Dipper is only 45 - 50 minutes travel from me. It's a 26 mile route, but takes in some 1250M of relief. I guess it's not called the Dipper for nothing! I've managed to get a copy of the route for my Memory Map program and I've watched a 3D simulation of the route (sounds very techy I know!!). The first 12 miles look pretty straightforward, but between 12 and 21 you get to ride the Dipper by the looks of it; all up and down. From 21 to 24 miles you are on a valley floor, so flat, before a final sting in the tail climb out of the valley and dash to the finish. I'll be carrying about 7-7.5kg again, so I aim to finish in about 6.5 hours or better.

Two weeks later there are no LDWA events on nearby. About the best match looks to be the Rhayader Mountain Trail. There are various routes, including a 43 miler which is for the Montrail Ultra Championships but is open to anyone who can complete in 12 hours. Carrying weight I'd question my ability to do that, and I'm certainly not doing it without weight because that would defeat the purpose of my training. I'm not sure if I will go or not yet. I say that because it is in Mid Wales. Mid Wales means no Motorways, no Dual Carriageways, just windy single lane A and B roads and a long journey. Its 100 miles, but the route planner thinks 2 and half hours to get there. That is a very early start. Now If I took my own car, and left early I'd knock a lot of time off that journey. I dare say I'd take an hour off, but I don't want to dump 200 miles on the car really, so I'd probably rent a little car for the day, so I'd say 2 hours+ is probably accurate. So it would be a long day, and plus I'd have a long drive back afterwards. I'm almost tempted to see what the B&B situation is like down there, so I could take it easy and enjoy it more.

I'm not sure yet, I’ll think on it. If anyone has done the Rhayader let me know! There looks to be about 1500M relief on the 29 mile course, and no doubt it will be fairly picturesque.

Two weeks after that on the 2nd September I'm going to do the 40 mile Coventry Way. I did toy with the idea of doing the Bullock Smithy, which is a 56 miler and is on the day before. However, the course is a hard slog with a lot of hill climbs (4500M to be precise!!). I covered a section of that course on the LDWA Peakers Stroll I did a few weeks back, so I know what I would be getting myself into. At this stage I don't feel as though I could do a 56 mile run, with heavy pack, enough justice. I'd also risk injury needlessly. I'll save the 50+ milers until after Christmas. There is no way I will face a 56 mile 4500M day on the MDS, 56 mile and 45C maybe...

On Sept 22nd I'm going to run the LDWA Hills and Dales, an event which I walked last year. Ominously it is the event where I injured myself 7 weeks before the NY marathon (my first and only), and almost ruined my chances. I recovered (thanks to my Uncles Chiropractic treatment) enough to make the start and finish, but only in 4hr10. On that subject, I wonder if I will ever revisit a road marathon again. I'd love to clear a 3:30 marathon; a time of which I know I have in me, but the road holds so little interest to me anymore maybe I never will.
Anyway, back to Hills and Dales. It is about 23 miles I think, but a superbly run event in my favourite local the Derbyshire Peak district. I think the course is new this year anyway. That is as far ahead as I have planned event for, but I will continue with the 'one every 2 weeks' possible stepping up to one a week in October or November.

Right, this weeks training: Nothing. Yes that's right, nothing. Concerned about what I thought was my hamstring I saw a Sports Massage therapist on Wednesday. He confirmed it was a hamstring strain and set to work on it. He advised resting it and light stretching. I knew it wasn't too bad, but I've learned not to run through injuries and played it safe. This was my 'recovery week' anyway, but instead of doing less, I did nothing. Well, that's almost true. I ran 7 miles today, no pack and on the road. I tried to pick as flat a route as possible to avoid aggravating my Hamstring. I ran it at a reasonable, but not excessive pace; enough to stretch it out but not enough to make it worse at 7:45 min miles. It felt ok, but I avoided the temptation to add a few extra miles on the end of the route in case that tipped the balance.

I'll exercise normally this week, but I won't do my hill rep session on Wednesday. I will do a standard interval session for just over an hour instead. The Dovedale Dipper on Sunday may be a step too far in all honesty, but I'll take it easy and see how I get on.

Speak to you next Sunday eve, hopefully after a successful 26 miles!

Slow start, fast finish

On Tuesday I normally go to the gym, but since the weekend I had some pain in my left hamstring. It was nothing serious, I hoped. I guess all the leaping and leaning when hill climbing had strained it. I decided it would be wise to give it a miss.

On Wednesday I decided to try and do my hill rep session, acutely aware that this was probably the last kind of session I should try. I got down there OK, but my hamstring was sore pretty quickly after just a few reps. What made it worse was all the rain had made the ascent slippy. It wasn't possible to run up on my toes because there was not enough grip. I was forced to run up flat footed, which only stretched my hamstring more. I decided to call it a day after 10 reps. The run home was difficult and my hamstring really sore. I even slowed to a walk for a while being overprotective.

I did my Friday gym session on Thursday instead, but stayed off all of the exercises that may cause problems. I intended to do my Thursday run on the Friday, but my leg just didn't feel right, so I didn't risk it.

It felt much better on Saturday so I decided to do a trail run without my pack. Anyone who has been running in England this week knows that they would have been better off taking a canoe. There is flooding everywhere. The ground was soaking and very soft. I went over 2 or 3 stiles and then came to the next one. I was running about 7mph and really slowed down in the last couple of steps. The stile looked ok, but when I put my foot on it slid forward and smashed just above my ankle into the stile's wooden crossbar. It was one of those moment where it takes a few seconds before the pain signal reached your brain, but you know when it comes it was going to hurt. It did hurt too. I spent a few minutes writhing around on my back, clutching my leg surrounded my bemused looking cows. I got up and took a few tentative steps. At first I thought I would have to stop and go back. I was only 1.7 miles into the route. I sat down for a couple more minutes, rubbing it like you do, as though it was going to magically fix it. Oddly enough, it felt a little better, so I carried on, albeit at a slightly reduced speed and altered gait.

The pain anesthetised itself after a couple of miles, so I'd got away with it. I ran the route at a negative split; running the second half faster than the first. This is useful because it gets you really worn out late in the run. However, I surprised myself by feeling really strong throughout, and despite the terrain I finished well. I wasn't at all tired after the 9.5 mile course with 250M of ascent. I finished in an average of 6.7mph, which is not a bad effort for a trail route I can tell you. I'm sporting what looks like an egg on my ankle now, but I'm keeping the bruising at bay with some Arnica. The hamstring hadn't bothered me on the run.

On Sunday I decided I would be ok to use my pack, so I weighed it to 6.5kg and planned a slightly short route. I decided on a 14 mile route with 440m of relief.



I set off in the sunshine, even applying some sunscreen, and 20 minutes in was drenched. I had wisely put on my running tights, knowing that I would be running through some unpleasant undergrowth in Swynnerton Old Forest. There were nettles and brambles aplenty. The path is at times narrow and now in summer (yeah right!) the ferns are shoulder high and overgrown onto the path. There was a lot of mud and puddles about and my feet were soon waterlogged. I actually like running through a forest in the rain. You get sheltered from the main downpour but still get pretty soaked from the big drips of water from the water-laden leaves. It's quite refreshing. I only packed 800ml of water and a few snacks (M&Ms and cashew nuts). I ran quite well, it certainly felt a little quicker than my usual pace with a pack. However, at 9mile I felt my hamstring start to tighten up, no doubt aggravated by the extra climbing in the route. I stopped and stretched it out for a few seconds but this only provided relief for a few hundred yards.

It would ease off when the ground was more level, but never go away. The last couple of miles were a little uncomfortable, but I still managed to keep a reasonable pace. I finished and surprised myself because my average time for the route was 5.6mph. This is definitely the fastest average pace I have done with my pack on, over any reasonable distance, let alone 14 miles with quite a bit of climbing in poor conditions. I remember only a few months ago saying that I found 5.5mph too fast to maintain for long, and was happy at an average of 5.1 or 5.2mph. Well, I seem to have got over that and even improved. This route was nothing like the climbing in the LDWA events, and is of course 10 miles shorter. So, I still expect to have an average of about 4mph on the next LDWA event, but if I can improve it even by a couple of points of a mile an hour, that will be something.

Luckily this week is the fourth week in my training cycle, which means recovery week. All my training times are reduced. I'm thankful for this and it has come at just the right time. I will probably train even more lightly than planned, and really cut down on distances next weekend. This should hopefully put me in a good position to feel strong and complete the LDWA Dovedale Dipper 2 weeks today.

So, a more restful week for me, hope you have one too.

Harden Hard'un

On Tuesday and Friday this week I did my core stability work in the gym. These sessions are going well and I am improving each week.

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!]

La Trans Aq 2008

La Trans Aq is a great event and I wish I was going again in 2008. Sadly I won't be able to make it, because I am using up all my holidays for the MDS. Still I can thoroughly recommend it, so read on.

Maybe you are running the MDS in 2009? If so then this is the event for you in 2008. This event is the same format as the MDS, self sufficiency, lots of sand, a similar distance, and still quite hot (just not 120F!).

Even if you are not doing the MDS, but are looking for a challenging and friendly multi-day ultra, this is still the best event that I have attended bar none. I'd like to go back to La Trans Aq 2009. If you are already signed up for La Trans Aq 2008, then enjoy it and know that I will be at home jealous!

If you are interested or even considering it, then it please visit the website http://www.transaq.fr/en/ or send organiser Gerard an email.

His email is (replace the + sign with a @. I do this to prevent spamming of his email)
g.caupene + wanadoo.fr

Twin Peaks

I almost had a full week of training, with no remote working taking me away from home.

On Tuesday I did a gym session mirroring my Friday session; cardio warm-up then lots of core stability and resistance work. On Wednesday I took a trip down to my 'hill' for more reps. This week I picked up 12 stones en-route. I piled them all at the top and moved one across again with each successful climb. Then, like last week, I treated myself to two extra ones just to tire me out more. I coped better this week. Maybe I’ll make it 16 this week. Well, 14, but I'll do 2 extra!

On Thursday I did a 10k trail session. It's was raining and very wet underfoot. I ran down to and around a local reservoir before the climb home. I tried to guess a different way home and guessed badly. I lost the footpath and emerged via barbed wire into some farmer’s field. I terrorised a couple of cows accidentally, who went pretty nuts and starting running in circles. I made a hasty exit over a large gate and found my way back to the road. In taking my accidental diversion I have no idea what I was treading in, but I smelled vile. I don't know if it was liquid silage, or some other nasty farm chemical, but it was awful. I scrubbed and scrubbed in the shower. I think it was 2 days before I smelled right again! That'll teach me to reach a fork in the footpath and choose 'Right' instead of 'Left'.

I did my gym session on Friday as usual.

I had intended to do an easy pace 10 miler, but my son was being difficult and refused to go to my mums for babysitting. As a result I had to miss it. I'm still not quite sure how a 2 year old managed to get the better of me?

So on Sunday I had planned to do a long distance walk, but because I had missed my run on Saturday I decided to run it instead. I planned myself a fairly evil course. I've called it twin peaks, but it's actually just one main peak that I visit twice. That peak is Roach End in the Derbyshire Peak district. Last time I visited it as a walker back in Winter. It was thick fog at the time, I took a video and posted it up in my blog.

Today was lovely, a few clouds, but on the whole a lovely afternoon. The route, elevation and speed profile are below. Sorry the speed profile goes flat at one point, I must have lost Bluetooth contact with my GPS.



I started my route from a slightly different place than intended because the car park indicated on the map was simply not there! I started from a place called Tittesworth reservoir instead, near Leek. Now from this new location there was no actual footpath to get me back to my pre-prepared route, so I had to make my own. Apologies to the farmers whose barbed wire fences I climbed. Revenge was taken on me though when I had to go through a marsh (up to my ankles) 5 minutes into the route. Wet feet 5 minutes in; just what I needed! I located the footpath, the 'Staffordshire Moorlands Way' and headed up to my first peak, Hen Cloud, at exactly the 2 mile mark on the profile. As you can see I did well speed-wise until the last steep bit. Running was just not an option. I was clambering up a steep hilly and rocky slope to reach the peak.

The entire Roaches area is pretty treacherous underfoot. There are large sandstone rocks and boulders on the footpaths, and peat bogs all over the place. So, my pace was somewhat tempered and slowed quite often because of these obstacles. If you don't concentrate on every single footfall you will likely injure yourself.

This is the view from Hen cloud.




The peak on the right side was my next destination.


I ran down from Hen Cloud, quite an easy and quick descent and then ascended up to the Roaches proper. This is where the footing becomes tougher on your joints with rocks everywhere. It's very popular with rock climbers, you can spot a few people and ropes in the backgrounds of my photos. I took this one from the first peak of the Roaches. It's a 'I'm hot and bothered' shot, just to prove I'm putting some effort in with the running and not strolling around!



This shot is the view down from that point, and the second shot shows Hen Cloud, where I have just run from.




This one was about half way along the ridgeline I think.



I reached the trig point above Roach End and paused for 5 minutes to fix my GPS as I realised it had stopped communicating, hence that flat spot in the speed profile. I fixed it and trotted down the welcome downhill. This downhill section is practically paved like your garden patio. It is so easy to run on. You can see I managed to trot down quickly, peaking about 8mph!

At the foot of the descent, Roach End, I headed through a lovely woodland trail to Lud's Church, a narrow chasm. I was intending to take a detour and run around it in a loop, but it looked very wet and muddy so I gave it a miss. I carried on and headed down to Gradbach, almost doubling back on myself just before Gradbach Youth hostel and followed the footpath beside the Black Dane River. The footing was typical for this kind of woodland, treacherous! In case you don't know what I mean, this is what you have to negotiate every couple of metres (sorry it's a bit blurry).



The path to Danebridge was an undulating one, with a few short sharp climbs, but mainly flat or slightly downhill.

Here's the river I had for company for a few miles.



I reached Danebridge which was basically the half way marker. I knew it was all uphill for the next 3 miles, gaining about 300 metres (1000ft). I set myself a goal of a steady run with no walking at all until I reached the trig point again above roach end. I knew that would be quite a challenge. Other than pausing briefly to take this, my amateur attempt at an 'arty' photo, I held my pace well.



There were quite a few peat bogs and marshes that slowed me slightly, but after a quick leap to dry land I was off again. The climb was a long steady one, very tiring, but I was very focussed and just took it at a manageable pace. This is with about 2 miles to go, my destination being the highest point visible, then along that whole ridgeline (The Roaches).



I reached Roach End and began the last and steepest part of the climb. It's steeper at the start and I did prove for few steps that I would have been just a quick by walking (striding). However, I said I'd run it, so I did. I reached the trig point and sat beside it for a 2 minute rest to take in the view and take this video.



After that I ran on. I hoped to pick up some time, as it was pretty much all downhill, but the footing is so difficult that you just can't get any speed up. You can see from the profile I only really starting getting faster once I was about half way down to the finish where the ground was much better. I did intent to take a different way back, but I overshot the diversion. I realised too late, and just ran through the ankle deep marsh again. My dry feet got wet again, 5 minutes from the end. Doh! I arrived back at the car park about 8pm, my car practically the last one there. I drank down a Rego recovery drink straight away, stretched out and drove home.

My knees and ankles are a little sore at the moment. Running on all the rock and very uneven ground has taken its toll. However, it's not too bad I hope, I'll see tomorrow I guess. Hopefully I'll be fit for next weekends 27 mile Harden Hard'un; reputedly a very difficult route.

Today was tough, but enjoyable. I started out with 7kg, and drank 800ml on the way, so it would have been 6.2kg at the end. I did run out of electrolyte miles before the end. I was carrying water as ballast, but didn't want to drink it, so I suffered a bit instead! The route had 875 metres of relief (2870ft) in just 14 miles. My average pace was 4.2mph. It was tough but enjoyable. Bring on the Harden Hard'un!

LDWA Peakers Stroll

See end of this post for 2008 result.

2007 report follows:

This week I did a hill rep session on Tuesday. It's a mile and a half jog down to my hill. I then collected up some stones and left them in a pile at the top. I jogged down and ran back up; about 45 seconds to the top, moved across one of my stones and repeated. After 10 I was shattered, but forced another 2 out just to make it tougher. The mile and a half jog back was slow going and felt hard, especially because it's all uphill!

On Wednesday I did a 5 mile trail route. I swapped my gym session to Thursday this week; so more strength work and core stability and this week some single leg squats to build up strength.

On Friday I travelled down to the lovely city of Bath, where I was working that day, and Saturday. After work I used the hotel gym for an hour. I did a half hour hill climb on the treadmill. It was the first time I had been on one in a while, as I normally hate these things. Why would you ever want to run on a treadmill when you can run outside? I also did half an hour strength, and more core stability on the exercise ball.

Work didn't go as well as expected, so I ended up working a 12 hour day on Saturday, and not getting back until 8pm. I just had time to pack my rucksack for the next day and the 25 mile LDWA Peakers Stroll event.

The map, hill profile and speed profile are below.



I travelled to Peak Forest just to the North East of Buxton in Derbyshire. It's only a 35 mile drive, but takes in some of the twistiest and statistically more dangerous roads in the UK, so the journey was almost an hour. I arrived with barely 15 minutes to spare before the start of the event. I quickly signed up and got my route description. Normally they are very descriptive and on several pages, but this was just a single sheet with a 50k route map on the back; see here for the route and here for the map. It was pretty obvious that I really would need to use a map, so I decided I would try and copy the map onto my PDA and use GPS to support if I got lost. It was at this point I noticed a sign that said walkers start 9:30, runners 11:30! I figured I would copy the map and then start a little late, and hopefully give the checkpoints time to open.

I carefully copied the map and did a pretty good job I think. Only 20 minutes had passed since everyone had set off, but I was planning on setting off anyway. Then a lady who arrived late asked if I minded if she could walk with me until me caught a few of the others up. So instead of starting out running, I did the generous thing and walked with her. I took this about a mile or two into the route.



We actually took a couple of wrong turns early on, and lost another 10 mins, but eventually started to catch up the stragglers just after the first peak; Mam Tor.



We caught up a very elderly lady. I would guess at mid to late 70's! They joined up, and I bid them farewell and started to run. This was just after 4 miles so already I knew my time for the day would be hit badly, but still at least I knew the checkpoints would be open when I reached them.

From the top of Mam Tor the route follows a ridge line over a couple more peaks to the highest one to Lose hill, which is just out of shot further to the right in this photo.



This was taken from the top of Lose Hill.



There was then a long and very welcome descent to the checkpoint at Kil Hill Bridge. The sun came out on the descent and I stripped off the waterproof trousers I was wearing. I had long walking trousers on underneath, as I was expecting rain and rough undergrowth in places. Straight after the checkpoint begins a very long ascent up to Twitchill farm, straight after the climb gets steeper.

This is about half way up the whole ascent looking back down to the Farm, road and town where I had come from.



Here is an idea of how steep the climb was. This went on for quite some time!



Finally the summit in sight!



The view from the top, one shots shows the next checkpoint at Ladybower Lake.




There was food at this halfway checkpoint. I filled up my water bottle and added electrolyte and grabbed a sandwich to eat on the move. A guy was just leaving too. He was walking and had a huge rucksack. I asked him what he was training for and he was climbing Kilimanjaro in 6 weeks. Instead of running, I walked with him for a mile. It gave me time to eat my sandwich and have a chat. He had climbed lots of peaks, Mont Blanc, one in Tanzania (can't remember the name), etc. I finished off my sandwich and ran on to the next checkpoint at the end of the lake. It started to rain heavily, but I didn't put any waterproofs back on. After the checkpoint, the route turned left and rose up on a very rough stone path.



After quite a long climb it then descended briefly into a valley, before another sharp climb out.



On the next section into Edale another runner caught me up. He was a fell runner, who had turned up. He told me the 11:30 runner’s event had been cancelled due to insurance reasons! Oops, didn't look like I should be running after all. Anyway, he had decided just to run the route and not sign onto the event at all. I picked up my pace a little, and he probably slowed down a touch and we ran together into Edale's checkpoint, and then up over a very tough climb up Hollins Cross before a steep descent down into Castleton and the next checkpoint. We'd probably run togther for about 6-8 miles or so and had a chat as we went which passed the time. The final climb on the route was out of Castleton up a pretty gorge called Cavedale.



There were lots of tourists here. I took this shot from near the top looking back down.



Event at the top of the gorge there was a steady climb, before it levelled out briefly and there was a lovely long descent right to the finish.

I clocked the distance at 22 miles, and not 25. There was also 1450M (4800ft) of climbing, so it was a pretty tough route! I finished in 5hrs 54 mins. Taking into account I walked the first 4 miles, a mile later on by the lake to have a chat with the rock climber, and also the hilly route I was pleased.

I got a couple of small blisters in the usual spot on the outside of my big toes, but nothing serious. There was nice food on offer at the finish, but I just had some soup and a slice of cake before setting off home and having a nice Sunday roast!

So, it was a good session carrying 6.5kg of weight, which I felt totally comfortable with. I will likely use around that weight for these events for the time being I think.

[I did this event again in July 2008 and did it in 4:44, a considerable improvement, despite awful weather].

Catch up next week.