Might Contain Nuts Summer 40

Okay. Before I start, summer running in the Beacons probably conjures up images like this...

Photograph by Muen Photography

WRONG!

Now think horizontal ball bearing sized hail stones, gale force winds, lightening strikes. 

Something more  like this..

Picture from training run to give a flavour. Now multiply by ten.

Good. This is the reality of summer running on the Beacons.

I was thinking just a few days ago, when the forecast was warning of bad weather, that nearly all the events I have ever taken part in have been done in horrible conditions. Recent exceptions being the Black Mountains Roundabout (2010) and the Lakeland 50 (2011). Yesterday's conditions come top the 'bad' list. 

Given the history, it is clear that I never learn. When it comes to the weather I am a blind optimist. Early yesterday morning, at the Might Contain Nuts event HQ I chatted with friends, old and new, about how unexpectedly mild it was as the sun shone down, and believing that spring had truly bedded in I shed a few layers and stashed them back in the van. 

Fast forward 40 minutes and atop Tor y Foel, having tackled the first climb, my error was realised when the weather turned nasty. Forward another 3 hours and I was considering pulling out as I donned my waterproofs for warmth and huddled round a cup of tea at Storey Arms wondering if my swollen hands were a sign of mild hypothermia.

The course is particularly tough. It's the sort of course I would never plan for a training run because there are detours off ridges for no reason other than to punish you with climb back to the top, the worst of which comes at mile 30. The North face of Cribyn. This is a climb I have never considered doing before because it has never seemed a reasonable or attractive thing to do. But it had to be done yesterday. It had to be done whilst clinging on to tufts of grass to avoid being blown off the ridge, with hat, buff & hood exposing only enough eyeball to allow me to see where I was placing my foot.

But after 8 hours of crazy weather you become conditioned to it. The sting of the hail becomes invigorating, the contrast of rainbows and dark skies enhance the beauty, and the flash of lightening provides a much needed shot of adrenalin to enable you to fly down the sharp descents. It occurred to me that I had grinned like a maniac through all of this for the final 6 miles. It was just great fun.

As with the other ultra marathons in their portfolio, this MCN event requires the participant to take care of their own nutrition whilst they provide water and gels at selected checkpoints. Support at the checkpoints from the team is abundant and this being the third MCN event I've done, I have nothing but praise for the organisation and support they provide. 

I clocked just short of 41 miles and 7850 foot of ascent covered in, I think, 11 Hrs 5ish minutes. Not bad for me and given the conditions I am very happy. My aim was to do the round comfortably; not to wear myself out; to finish feeling like I could do more, and to be able to run my 15 mile road run on Sunday. I achieved all of these.

Some photos from the day....

 Race HQ: The Start

 Tor Y Foel

Slowly, slowly catchy monkey

 Fellow L100 folk

 Enjoying the downhills

 Rainbows and dark skies

 Cribyn

 Sunshine on the Black Mountains

Thank gawd for that!

Blah blah blah!

It's been ages since I last updated the blog. I think I put myself under pressure a couple of posts ago when I publicly promised to stop writing boring drivel about running, and to come up with something a bit more interesting, thoughtful and engaging....!

Two months have passed since then and having not been able to achieve the higher standards I set myself, so I've decided to return to writing boring drivel about running again. After all (I've reminded myself...actually!), this blog is for me. A reminder to myself. A memory jogger for when I'm older with dodgy knees and want to look back and say...'I used to run 30 miles across the hills on a Friday just for fun'.

So, just because I haven't been writing doesn't mean I haven't been running. I've been training fairly consistently. It's not been great, but giving time to the other stuff in my life is important too, so what I have achieved in training is good enough. When someone decides to pay me to run, I'll do better :-)

It has to be said that the weather has been rubbish this early Spring. I've cancelled 2 or 3 trips to the Lakes because I'm not really equipped for the snow and icy conditions. I've missed 2 events due to snow. Crampons and ice axes have been the order of the day in the higher hills until very recently, so I've been keeping myself busy on lower ground here at home, trying to rebuild stamina and strength ready for the late Spring and Summer events.

Just last Friday, I left the house lathered in sun cream only to find myself, 90 minutes later, standing on Fan Llia, in the middle of a black thunder cloud being lashed by spiky hail stones, million mile an hour winds (!) and making a bee line for lower ground. The weather still takes me by surprise, but an hour later I was back down to shirt sleeves and wishing I'd brought the sun cream with me for a top up.

I've had some lovely runs around the Beacons, finding new routes and trails and have consistently been covering 25+ miles in my weekly long run since early February. I did the Black Mountains Roundabout for the 4th year running and got lost a lot due to the poor visibility, with a group of others tagging along behind the lady with the GPS, as I led them around in circles for a bit, following the arrow!

I had a great weekend running from Keswick to Ambleside with Annie and Sarah in early March. We stayed at the half way mark in the Pooley Bridge Inn with its welcoming fires and plentiful cider, and I came back on the high road, over High Street in the driving snow. We covered 50 miles at a leisurely pace that weekend over the 2 days, but due to my detour over High Street I've still only done the Lakeland 100 section around Haweswater once whilst doing the Lakeland 50 back in 2011. I'm heading back up in May to shake that monkey off my back!

I've recently started building up my road miles too. I think of myself as a runner, so when all my training is off road, slow, and uphills are walked, I begin to lose confidence in how much running I am really capable of. So it's been necessary to remind myself that I can cover distance by running.....without walking the tough bits. The routine at the time of writing is that I aim for 30+ off road miles on a Friday followed by 15+ on the road miles on Saturday with Martin. It's going well. I try to throw in some shorter hill or speed sessions and a mid distance faster paced run in the week, and I've been cycling the 10 mile round journey to work. I think I have built a good base, and the real tests are about to start.

In 2 weeks, I have the MCN Summer 40 over the Beacons, then 2 weeks after that I'll be starting the LDWA 100 which runs from Wadebridge in Cornwall across in Devon and finishing in Teignmouth. There is a 48 hour cut off for this, so the plan is to take it easy and complete regardless of time just to get the distance under my belt and build confidence for the UTLD in July.

So back to the drivel I'm afraid.

Here are some photo's to distract you...

Tour of Pen y Fan

After last week's let down....Flashback: sitting in the van at Storey Arms realising that I didn't have my running shoes with me.....I was organised this week. I was in the car park, with shoes, and on my way by 8:30am.

I had intended to run up and down Pen y Fan from different directions, but it was bitterly cold so I opted to stay low and ended up doing a bit of a tour around the mountain.

My route:

Lots of opportunity for running here and I had the trails to myself until the half way point at Storey Arms.

The section across the hill from the Pontsticill side across to Garwnant is usually all bog, but it was frozen on this occasion and the running was fantastic.

A cautionary note. On this section, just on the climb up from the plantation, the map shows a path onto the moorland, but I either missed the path or it wasn't there, so I had to skirt up the side of the plantation then climb over a barbed wire fence at the top. This is where the buff comes into it's own.

I had a great run, I felt good, ran comfortably over a variety of terrain. My hair froze and the sweet tea at the half way burger van saved my life. That about sums it up.

Distance: 27 miles
Elevation 3100 ft
Time: 6 Hrs

I think the training is back on track. I'm enjoying the running and looking forward to getting back on the UTLD 100 course. The weekend after next I'm up to the Lakes with Annie and Sarah to run Keswick to Ambleside. The Spring is here (nearly) so it's all systems go!

Other photos from on route:

Rebuilding Project

January was a wash out. Following a slow, low mileage December the plan had been to pick up the pace and the mileage a bit over the Christmas holiday, running the coastal path in Cornwall and other challenging routes to build fitness in time for the Donnington Way 66 miler at the beginning of February.

But over Christmas we all came down with proper flu. It wiped us all out for 2 to 3 weeks and so for me, running was not an option for 3 weeks. Once I was over the worst of it, picking back up was difficult. I started in a new job, lost my Friday training day and settling into the new routine was disruptive.

My mileage for January barely scraped past 70, and this hole in my training, the lack of consistency, long runs and cross training left its mark on my fitness. Over the last 4 weeks I've been trying to regain a good base. I had no choice but to drop out of the Donnington Way and I've rejigged my events diary to allow myself a period of rebuilding before the LDWA 100 in May.

My main focus for 2013 will be as follows:

May LDWA 100
June UTSW 60
July UTLD 100
August UTMB CCC

Going forward, Ive planned my training in blocks of 4 to 6 weeks. The first block was aimed at getting back a good base fitness again .... Tick.

In this second block I'll aim to get my running mileage back up to 40 - 50 per week and improve endurance through a weekly long run of 25+ miles, get in some regular bike work, focus on strengthening hamstrings and core, and drop some weight. This will take me up to the Might Contain Nuts Round 1 (33 miler) at the end of March where I can test myself.

In March and April I have a couple of training weekends booked in with Annie Garcia in the Lakes and in Snowdonia where big mileage back to back runs will be the order of the day.

Having a plan has helped me refocus and feel more positive about what Im doing. I think I was getting a bit stale and the winter blues have played their part in this too I'm sure, but I love getting out and running new trails, being outside, getting wet, enjoying the sunshine, whatever it brings, and I'm raring to go again!

Fan Dance Recce

This is going to be brief...I have company and she is restricting my typing.

After days of blue skies, cold, crisp, frosty conditions, today it emptied down...a lot. Regardless of the weather, my aim was to run the Fan Dance course against the clock as a training session. I know the course like the back of my hand, so I know exactly where the challenges lie, but I understand that people who undertake this course as part of the special forces selection procedure have to complete the course (weight bearing) in 4 hours. For the event in January I have opted to run the 'clean fatigue' option - so no huge pack - and I was keen to see how a faired against the 4 hour target.

I don't mind rain and wind and cold but from 700m it was very icy and with the rain pouring down, the large patches of sheet ice became treacherous and my worn out old Inov8 319s were just not up to the job. So at the summit of Pen Y Fan I turned around and came back down. Tackling Jacob's Ladder would not have been wise, so I'll head up in better weather and with adequate footwear to do the full course.

Today I was up and down in around and hour and 20 minutes (time spent creeping very carefully along the top!).

Coming off Corn Du heading across to Pen y Fan

Pen y Fan Summit

Conditions on top

Tweet Your Run

It was a perfect winter's day today. Crisp, cold, blue skies and a low sun. A perfect day for getting up high and enjoying the views, so I decided to run an 8 mile loop which focssed on my local hill, the Garth. The day invigorated me and I decided to tweet my progress as I went along to share the day and the views I was lucky enough to enjoy. This record is below:

Might Contain Nuts Winter 40 (actually 42)

I've not written for a while. I've hit a bit of a winter slump, struggling to cope with dark nights and the drop in temperature. I've had 3 different bugs this Autumn and write this as my nose drips onto the keyboard with lurgy no. 3. Work has been busy (I'm leaving one job to start a new one in the New Year), we've acquired a new puppy and all in all, life has been busy. So I've not had the time or the space to think about writing anything insightful or interesting. My brain has been jammed full with other matters. But rather than let my blog die, I wanted to record the race I did last Saturday, just as a memory jogger and in the new year I resolve to write more intelligently and lose the bland stuff ...I'm feeling the pressure already!!

I had an early start last Saturday. Up at 4:15am, in the car by 4:45am and heading for Talybont on Usk for the MCN Winter 40.

I nearly didn't make it, but an opportunity came up at the last minute and on Friday with only a few hours before the start of the race, I contacted the organiser and confirmed that I would be taking part.

I'm so glad I did. It was a fantastic event. The organisation was excellent and support from the check point staff was spot on. The course was challenging with lots of ups and downs, mud, bog, ice, sleet, and due to my speed I did the last section in the dark.

It was nice to see friends before and after the event, and to make some new ones along the way. I remember the last time I did a MCN event I didn't know anyone on the start line, but this time round it was quite a social event.


I got around the 42 miles in a reasonable time (11:20), in good shape (physically and mentally) and was fine the next day - no aches or pains and no recovery time needed, so I've had a quick rejig of my calendar of events to focus on 100km events and 100 mile events in 2013.

I can't wait to get stuck into the new year and some new challenges....

...there's still one date to negotiate in the next month and I haven't made up my mind on what to do yet...19th December UTMB registration opens.

Me, Sarah & speed merchant Leigh (1st ultra for Leigh completed in 9hrs!)

Al, Me & Sarah pre-race delirium