Fitness Is Relative

Ironically this was mostly written when I was Reasonably Fit. Currently I'm Reasonably Fat but attempting to reverse the tide!


Questions

These are meant to be very un-specific questions

How do you consider yourself to be compared to your friends?
How fit do you consider yourself to be compared to the general population?


Self Deprecating Fitness

I'm not Very Fit. Reasonably Fit perhaps, but not Very Fit. Really Fit is another country and getting a passport involves a lot of hard work. Mr/Mrs Really Fit does an Ironman triathlon in under 12 hours.

Some of this is typical British self-deprecation where blowing ones own trumpet is considered crass and generally bad manners. Any American style self promotion is generally viewed to be in "poor taste" and may be subject to a raised eyebrow or eye roll.

Exhibit A: Excerpt from a chat with a colleague who is a Cat 2 cyclist and races cyclocross, regularly placing well in the Three Peaks CX race. He is Very Fit.

him: "You'll be getting good at the cycling then?"
me: "Well I'm getting better but I'm not as fit as you."
him: "Me? I'm not that fit."
me: "Yes you are."
him: "Yeah but there are lots of people fitter than me."

[This is all part of the deal. I know him to be fitter than me and through this exchange we establish this order informally, using the playing down of our own abilities as acknowledgement of each others skills as an exchange of friendship. Anthropologists and psychologists have probably written many papers on such things. I'm neither so we'll leave it there.]

The last line is key, "...there are lots of people fitter than me." Fitness is relative.


It's everyone else's fault I'm so unfit

At the risk of violating the above principle of self-deprecation, taking the population of the UK as a reference, I'm most likely of above average fitness. I average about 5 hours of exercise a week with the cycle commute, general bike riding and a spot of fell jogging (not really running - self deprecation again). I've completed the Fellsman, a couple of 45 mile walks, a 6h 30m on the Yorkshire 3 peaks, occasional adventure racing, a triathlon, mountain marathons, etc. But I still don't think of myself as being Very Fit.

A big part of this is the company we keep. I have a lot of friends and acquaintances through running and climbing and cycling. If I was to judge my own fitness against theirs, I'd have to say I was average. Maybe I should start hanging out down at the local McDonalds to feel fitter?


There's more to it than just running up hills

What about the mental side of fitness? The part that keeps us pushing on when we'd much rather call it a day and sit down next to the fire with a slice of cake and a pint of tea?

Endurance events seem to have more than their fair share of people in the V40 and above category. There could be a number of explanations to this, but it still remains that you can still cut it, indeed get better, as you get older. I'm certainly hoping that this is the case as it means I haven't hit my prime yet!

I've certainly found myself to be more determined of mindset as I've got older. Some things that used to be important aren't as much and I am much more confident in myself and self reliant. I have a better appreciation of the signals that my body sends me and what they mean, where my limits are and the experience to know that a short bad spell will be over in a bit and then it will be business as usual.

Life toughens you up?

As we get older we are more aware of the finite time we have and, hopefully, we are encouraged more to enjoy it to the full. Are our forties the magic decade? Our children are less reliant on us, our careers are generally more settled, do we have less pressure than before?

I'm not there yet but I'll let you know what it's like when I do. I'd be interested to hear from my friends who are there about what they think.

My physio has, stencilled on the wall in their reception area, the motto "Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever". Set against the scale of our lives, a little suffering during a fell race is a mere blip.

This is helped by the human brain's incapacity for remembering time. We can remember discrete events in a run for example, a rock, sweat, a view, out of breath, a good bit of trail but we can't relive the whole thing in real time when we remember it. It's a safety mechanism to enable us to actually function and not be stuck in loops of memories and remembering memories ad inifnitum in real time.

Similarly we can't remember pain. We can remember being in pain but we can't bring back that specific sensation. Bloody good job! Add some rose tinted spectacles and even the most horrific, Type 3 suffer fest has good memories associated with it. We can fool ourselves that it was actually fun!

Team Spinach Ride Again: Open 5, Todmorden, March 2016

This weekend saw the last race in this winters Open 5 Adventure Race series, this time based out of Todmorden. Practically next door compared to other venues like North Wales and the Lakes. Emma was free that weekend we set the controls to Team Spinach!

Go team :-P tired but happy faces after the long run back!

Photo courtesy of Open Adventure.

Check out the rest of the (really good!) photos here, it really gives a great idea what it's like to take part in one of these events!

There had been a dusting of snow on the high tops overnight, which made for a nice drive over the moors, and a cloud inversion over Hebden Bridge as we descended.

We arrived in plenty of time so after a tea, a study of the map, getting ready, locating the car key, wheeling over to transition we had about 10 minutes left to get started.


Bike Stage

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy and our bike plan of not taking in the large obvious loop eventually went out of the window. We picked up the Mary Towneley Loop near Rodmer Clough and rode all the way round anti clockwise to Long Causeway. It looked slightly different going the other way from my previous expedition but some bits were very familiar. This is the first time I've ever had anything approaching local knowledge on an Open 5 event and it was welcomed!

It was a glorious day, blue sky, deep blue reservoirs, beautiful moorland colours, lapwings dancing overhead, nice riding temperature. Perfect. We both appreciated the bit of head space that this segment of ride provided.

Clever Google stitched this panorama without being asked!

Everyone coming the other way at Widdop res were telling us that control 24 wasn't to be found but we stopped for a look anyway.

Is it here? Or perhaps it is here? No?

But it didn't matter, we had a great ride over all different kinds of surfaces from fast bridleway, muddy steep descents, rocky climbs, bits of road and rutted stone sets. Definitely a good day to be out and about. We were also glad to not find the permissive bridleway that dropped down to the back of Cant Clough reservoir, it sounded like a right old miserable mud fest! Going the long way round worked out pretty well.

It wasn't long before we picked up on a bit of trail I recognised from the Haworth Hobble and we were bombing back down into Todmorden and back to the school. Emma is a good rider and I can just about keep up with her on the descents. A longer than preferred bike ride at around 3h 45m and 24 miles but crucially we had fun and sometimes that is what matters.

https://www.strava.com/activities/541288240


Run Stage

I refuelled with lots of water in transition as I'd dropped my water bottle on a bumpy bit of bridleway and lost the contents. We knew we didn't have time for many controls on the run so just went for the nearest ones, slogging up the wooded cliff (hill seems too kind) behind the school to pick up a couple of high points value controls.

I caaaan seeee myyyyy biiiiike froooooom heeeerrrreee!

We had one wrong turn on an overgrown path before we put ourselves right. Bumped into an ex colleague, Dave W, at this point who was racing. He let us photo his control description sheet as I'd lost mine on the bike ride and Emma left hers in transition. Ooops!

It was a right slog up this hill...

We picked up another well hidden control affixed to a railway bridge; the lack of the usual red/white warning tape that is normally affixed to the controls made a big difference in ease of locating them! Then the short steep climb up to Rake End where a marshal was stood holding the control for us to dib before hammering it back down the hill for one last control near a farm. At this point we knew we were going to be late back, the question was, how late?

Flying totally by instinct, I led us wiggling and winding down steps and snickets, mostly guessing what seemed like the best path through the Salford area of Tod, dropping us out by the Golden Lion pub on the canal.

We belted it back along the main road; I haven't run that hard for a while and was only just keeping going, Emma not far behind, with the finish in sight. The event clock was pointed away from us. Did we make it back in time?

The faces say it all.

https://www.strava.com/activities/541288051



Fin

We dibbed into the finish just three minutes late dropping 6 points, not bad considering I was expecting to be at least 10 minutes late. A couple who were descending from our next to last control turned up about 5 minutes after us with a puzzled "didn't we..." "how did you get back so quick?"

Downloaded, 384 points scored, happy with that! Should put us in the top half for the mixed pairs, I thought. Got changed, acquired a well needed cuppa and wandered in to the hall to catch the end of the prize giving.

We were pleased to have made 4th place in the mixed pairs but the scores from the lead guys and girls was really impressive, they must have cleaned up the entire course!

Also the prizes were being given out for the series with some very deserved wins. Even though the came second on the day by a whisker I was glad to see Rosemary (check out her blog) and Lucy win the Female pairs overall. We chatted with Lucy afterwards and said congrats. It never ceases to amaze me how many people in the AR community that Emma knows and that know her!


Postscript

One shower later and I took the lovely Louise out for a tasty curry to celebrate a good race result and her having a successful wedding fair earlier that day. We were very hungry!

Marmot Dark Mountains 2016 - 3rd Place Again for Team Spinach

Partner

None of this would have been half as much fun without the other half of Team Spinach so thank you to Emma for putting up with me. Hopefully you enjoyed it as much as I did. Proper team effort and I'm very glad to have you as a racing buddy.

Same time next year I hope?

I love it when a plan comes together

It's been that time of year again where Team Spinach dust off their night navigation skills (wander round the moors looking confusedly at a compass), start a new performance diet (we've finished all the cheese from xmas) and turn our thoughts towards the Marmot Dark Mountains event (we did it last year and didn't die).

We felt a lot happier with our navigation skills from last year so our only real preparation was loosening the legs on the KCAC Wed night social fell runs and a quick test of bearing following in the dark on Ilkley Moor. I've been doing some cycling over winter and Emma threatened to break out her Nell McAndrew exercise DVD so we were in "good" shape.

"Which way does the pointy bit go?"

This year the event was based in Mungrisdale village on the east side of the Northern Fells of the Lake District. It's a lovely little village with a nice looking pub, The Mill Inn, next to the beck. Must come back for a second visit.

Mungrisdale (C) Visit Cumbria

Get Set...

Kit check was very nearly a short affair as Emma had left her sleeping bag in the car but that was sorted out. Not as exhaustive a kit check this year; last time they wanted to see everything but I'm guessing with the much larger number of competitors this year that they just wanted to see the essentials. We got checked for sleeping bags, emergency bag, tent, torch, gloves and hats.

Busy in the village hall, everyone looks fitter than me aaaaarrrggghh!

We were furnished with some very nice veggie chilli, cheese and pitta by Heather who was doing a sterling job in the kitchen followed by a massive slab of chocolate pudding and custard. Pre-event food fit for kings!

We spent a bit of time looking at the map and trying to guess where we would get sent. Thankfully the steep bit of Bannerdale Crags and the south sides of Blencathra (including Sharp Edge) and Skiddaw were all marked as out of bounds. Of course with the live tracking it would be simple for the organisers to check if anyone had infringed an out of bounds area - only one team was disqualified for this.

C course map, lots of squiggly lines

Even though we had a couple of hours to kill before the start it went quickly, filled with cups of tea, chatting to folk and packing our bags, getting ready. Emma debated what layers to wear and opted for warm and of course ended up having to de-layer on the first long climb. So it goes: be bold, start off cold!

Go!

CP 1-3

All that map studying meant we dibbed at the start and immediately set off in the right direction! Sometimes this is the easiest bit to get wrong.

A nice easy start saw us head out along the River Glenderamackin (superb name!) on a good path, picking up the first two controls before the long steady climb up to Mungrisdale Common, the col between Blencathra and Bannerdale Crags. This last bit up to the col was quite icy underfoot, thankfully not repeated anywhere else as I'd left my Kahtoola crampons in the car as I didn't expect them to be required.

One of the fun things about this kind of event is doing admin tasks like changing layers, getting food and drink, putting things away whilst on the move. It's made much easier with two, with the other ferreting around in your pack for the elusive sandwich or glove.

We were one of the last teams to start so most of the field were ahead of us. I think we overtook about 4 teams on this stretch and we certainly feel like we made an excellent start. Competitive Emma was making plans and Competitive James was making a rare appearance.

Anyway, we made it to the col and the wind, brrr, not hanging around here for long!

Us (68) putting in a good lead on our fellow competitors

CP4-5

We came a bit unstuck coming down to find checkpoint 4, being too far left. In the end we thought we were too low, discovered we were in fact too low but found it after relocating and taking a bearing off a pair of sheepfolds.

The track up to Skiddaw House went quickly and we took the opportunity to eat. I shoved half a pork pie down my neck and a piece of cake. We'll be hearing more about the pie later.

Last year, Emma's food had got all mushed up together and had accidentally invented the fruit cake, cheese and guacamole sandwich which, she maintained was surprisingly tasty. This year she decided to cut out the squashy middleman and lump it all together at the start. The considered opinion was that it didn't work quite as well this time but it was certainly worth a try. I'm sure I saw half of it go back in the pack uneaten.

Artists impression of the contrary cakey culinary curious concoction. Crikey!

At Skiddaw house we were warmly greeted by Emma's father-in-law Colin who was manning the show there. Although it looked very inviting inside we declined to stay and chat over a cocoa, quickly dibbed and then charged off towards the next checkpoint.

CP6

In our haste, we didn't check all of our options and by the time we were attacking the direct line and thigh deep heather slopes of Great Calva we realised there was a track marked on the west side of the hill that we'd not seen. Dur... So we cut across to the main path to pick it up after a scenic 800m detour.

One advantage of such a night time event is that the terrain doesn't intimidate you as much because you can't see it. As a result there were several times where the sight of a long climb would have perhaps depressed us, instead we could just see some torches in the distance encouraging us to go for it.

Thankfully the path up was a bit better despite the mud and ice. We both broke out our respective walking pole to aid out ascent - deploy the third leg!. There was someone taking photos by the control on the summit, he looked like he was freezing his bits off!


CP7-8

After following the fence down off the top of Great Calva we picked up the faint path towards the summit of Knott which we managed to track all the way. We followed a bearing to the main path coming off Great Sca Fell, aiming off ever so slightly and picking it up where Emma had expected to from pacing (go navigation!).

I had started to feel a bit queasy over the last few checkpoints and burping unwelcome greasy pastry burps from the pie and it wasn't getting any better. I managed to keep it down but wasn't putting anything in on top of it so I was starting to run a bigger deficit than George Osborne.

I forced down a hummus and beetroot pitta and some jelly babies and willed myself over the next hill, reminding myself that it will improve and I just had to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Things were starting to head into Type 2 fun territory.


CP9

The route to 9 was not straightforward. Contour left around the hill? Climb up right then down the river? Nope. Go big or go home we said. Straight over Brae Fell and down the other side to pick up the gully then the second stream junction. Handrailing all the way made for simpler navigation if a slightly longer route. Both the first two teams contoured round the bottom of Brae Fell, most other people just charged straight over the top. According to the splits, contouring looked about 10 minutes quicker.

The teams contouring around the Bottom of Brae Fell got a Willy Knot! Ha!

#humourfor6and36yearolds

Like most of the stream gullys on this event it was a steep sided affair involving much hopping from bank to bank, steep contouring or just very wet feet. A combination of all three was applied! I did spot a very cool old mine tunnel heading into the hill from the side of the beck but now wasn't the time for subterranean shenannigans, we had a control to find!

It wasn't long before there were three teams all gathered at this one control at the same time, exchanging a small amount of banter. Everyone had a different idea of how to get to the next point, ours involving a short scramble out of the gorge using an old tree and following a bearing to pick up the next path to lead us to...


CP10

Ah, hello weather. Where have you been?

Horizontal hail was making things hard work. I put my goggles on and things improved, but Emma, normally a glasses wearer, struggled with hers making her vision more blurry. Urgh, this was not fun, distinctly Scottish conditions!

We followed our bearing and picked up a path going the right way (or was it...) following a pair of lads along it. They stopped, looking confused and we pooled our collective brain power which, at 5:45am and with no sleep, meant we could just about use words to make sentences. Just.

They pointed out that the uphill should be on our right, not left which meant we were on the wrong side of the hill. Amateur mistake, we hadn't gone far enough and picked up a parallel path. The wind, hail and tiredness had meant we weren't paying attention to the map. So we took a bearing for the CP, aiming off to allow us to make sure we hit the path before it and off we went.

Chatting to these lads it turned out they were Neil and James from just over the hill in Ilkley. I remembered them from last year as the two who had beaten us into 3rd place. They were having a slightly harder time this year and were a bit slower.

Extremely good navigational catch by them, well done guys. We made it to the hut together and, after saying ta-ra, we slipped and glooped our way down the next path.


CP11

It was about here that it started to turn from hail to rain. Again I was thankful for my Buffalo jacket keeping me warm. The track ran steadily down, through some old mine workings in an out of bounds area to the road.

Staightforward navigation at this point, and my recent lack of long distance running was starting to tell on my knees. We paused briefly at the road, dropped some Vitamin I, forced more food down and I fertilised some heather in the good ol' fashioned bear-in-the-woods kind of way. Amusingly, the first question Emma's son asked her when she got home was "did either of you do a poo outside?" How did he know?

Thankfully, energy was slowly returning, and things were improving. We came to the ford river crossing that we'd been warned about in the pre race briefing. Thankfully the river levels had dropped so it was only knee deep instead of upper thigh deep. Nevertheless it was quite refreshing thank you very much!

Emma requested a new earworm at this point, having had Imelda Staunton singing "A Squash And A Squeeze" on a loop in head from somewhere near the start. I kicked off an acapella "Bear Necessities" from the Jungle Book and Emma remembered the second verse better than I.

I remember being quite surprised coming across a control, only to realise it was the one that we'd been heading for!

Now it was head down for the last big climb.


CP12-Finish

We wound our way slowly up a long shallow gully up in the grey light of early winter morning. Fresh snow on the ground and beads of water sparkling in our headtorch beams and the mountains looming out of the grey behind us made for a magical feeling. I love this bit, when you've been out all night and the day breaks anew. Always gives me a real boost. I still had to resort to counting my footsteps and forcing a jelly baby down every 100 paces just to keep me going.

We overtook another team at the top and somehow found our seventh wind, jogging down towards Mungrisdale and enjoying the gradely view down Bullfell Beck valley. Emma was keen to make sure we didn't go past the next control

"If I have to go back up that hill then I'm not going to be a happy bunny!"

We found the sheepfold and the control, trotting off down the track on the home stretch.

CP13 was visible from a fair way off: daylight eh, great invention! We could see the event centre but were a bit miffed as we had to run away from it for the last control, then past it again to get to the bridge before we could jog down the road for our round of applause from the marshals manning the finish.

Hurrah, we did it!


Post Race

Emma downloaded our timings from the dibber whilst I handed back our GPS tracker. I wondered if anyone had been watching our finish on that internet. Our printout showed that we were currently in 3rd out of 8 finishers but we knew that there were more teams behind us and one mixed pair ahead of us so no trophy this year.

However we were very pleased to find out that we were indeed 3rd overall on the C course this year so, whilst no trophy, we still retained our position from last year. Big smiles all round.

Thankfully we didn't suffer from any of these

I remember it taking a while to enjoy the breakfast last year but no trouble this year, I'd been looking forward to the hash browns and baked beans from about 2/3rds of the way around.

Whilst inhaling my breakfast I was chatting to a few other teams. A few guys on the C course who'd made similar mistakes to us. James from CP10 turned up so it was nice to catch up with him and see how they got on.

Two chaps on the Short Score course who had got back too late and lost all their points. Had they made it back in time, they could have won but they gambled and lost. We commiserated with them and I was reminded of a line from "If" by Rudyard Kipling

     "If you can make one heap of all your winnings
         And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,"

They were fairly upbeat about it and we changed the subject to discussing food. One had made some chocolate caramel shortbread and offered us some. We discussed the addition of sea salt to the caramel and he'd put some orange oil in there too. They headed off and we tried the goods, not bad but I thought my version I made before xmas was better - more salt Igor!. Turned out that this guy was a Great British Bake Off finalist from this year (Ian Cumming) - how about that!

Shane Ohly, the race director, did all the prize giving stuff and thanked all the marshals and volunteers - he is Mr. Positive! We trundled off home via the services for an espresso or two and back via the cheese shop to stock up on weapons grade brie for a much needed shower, gear drying and power nap!


Results

SI Entries results page is here

Live tracking including reply was here - http://live.marmot-dark-mountains.com but I expect it won't be there forever.

Strava log from the slightly grainy GPS tracker is here

23 miles / 37km
5545 feet / 1700m climbing
4383 calories

13 finishers on our course out of 23 starters,


Equipment

• My Buffalo Systems Mountain Shirt absolutely thrives in these kind of conditions. I only saw one other Buffalo wearer, we shared a knowing nod and an amused glance at all the fancy brand names, knowing in our hearts that we were the true champions. In my imagination at least.
• Ronhills with waterproof trousers and Sealskins socks looked after the bottom half and I was just the right temperature all the way round. Comfortable in fact!

Event Musings

• Don't follow other people, pay attention to what you are doing
• More frequent reference to altimeter when navigating to a point on a hill to ensure we don't drop too low. This requires frequent resetting of the reference at known altitudes throughout the event to take into account the changing barometric pressure due to the weather. This would have sped up our location of checkpoint 4 for a start.
• I didn't really look after my food intake prior to and during the event so suffered a bit
• The maps were much more robust this year. Last year's map ended up looking slightly foxed but as the late Sir Terry Pratchett would have observed "...it had been badgered, wolved and possibly beared as well." This year's map survived being dropped in four muddy puddles, washed in a river or two and folded intentionally and unintentionally every which way. It still looks in great nick!
• A well run and friendly event

Aftermath

I feel like I've got really bad jet lag. This is how I felt at work on Monday (I wasn't actually asleep on my to do list, honest!)

Thankfully I had some steak and a beer when I got home which made everything alright again!

I earned my point.

Eating and excercise

Hitting the Wall

"I do like James," said Ron, my father-out-law-soon-to-be-in-law, "but I've never met anyone who eats as much as he does!".

I'm not sure if I have a fast metabolism. Maybe I burn off more calories than I estimate. Perhaps pretending to be clever at work takes more energy than I think. Whatever. Nevertheless, there have been several occasions where I've wanted to go for a run after coming home from work but I've just been too tired. Then I've proceeded to eat half of the house. Thinking about it, on these tired days I've generally not eaten enough. Yesterday was a good example that got me thinking about this.

• Breakfast: muesli, no banana (fell out of my bag on way to work!)
• Lunch: small sandwich, sausage roll. Forgot other fruit :(
• Emergency wobbly legs late afternoon snack: Mars bar from Max's tuck shop
• Made it home with no energy. Not going for a run. Can just about say "whrrrrrrttttt"
• Tea: inhaled a large bowl of mushroom + pesto pasta
• Followed by Hula Hoops, two chocolate brioche rolls I'd been saving for running snacks, a bit of dark chocolate and two crumpets with Marmite.

Felt much better!


Energy Out vs Energy In

Every day I ride to work and back which, according to various estimates, burns around 200-350 calories each way. This means 400-700 calories on commuting a day. Not bad. However the body isn't an infinite store of energy (who knew?!) so I've got to put it in too!

So today was an experiment to consciously eat plenty.

• Breakfast 1: Crumpet and butter
• Cycle to work (247 Strava calories estimate)
• Breakfast 2: Muesli and banana large portion
• Lunch: Egg sandwich on brown seeded bread, tiny bit of mayo, cup of Heinz mushroom soup and a steak pasty from the butty shop
• PM snack: Another egg sandwich as above, orange, apple
• Cycle home (215 Strava calories estimate)
• Tea 1: Chicken sandwich, marmalade sandwich, crumpet with Marmite
• Running club 4.5 miles, 846 calories
• Tea 2: Pint of ale, toad in the hole (4 sausages)

And I feel great! Turned in a good day at work, good concentration levels, plenty of energy for running and such.


So?

I think I need to look at my diet a bit to make sure I'm eating enough but also make sure it's good stuff. I do tend to eat lots of carbs (bread!) and perhaps not enough lean protein. However I generally get my five a day. I'm not fat by any stretch of the imagination, so I know I can eat this much and exercise it off.

Now, where's my pie?

Open 5 Adventure Race - North Wales - Dec 2015

6am alarm on a Sunday after entertaining dinner party guests until late. Urgh.
-2C on the car thermometer. Brrrr.Scraping ice from the outside and inside of the windscreen. Meh.
Even Bernard doesn't want to start this morning, coughing once before his diesel engine grumbles into life. Don't blame you mate.
Who decided this was a good idea? I did? Oh... OK then.

After doing two races in the Open 5 series last year I was keen to do more. This weekends event was in North Wales, not too far from Mold near Chester. This passed the crucial test of time spent travelling should be less than the time spent racing. However for these events I'd make an exception because they are invariably well run and great fun.

HQ was at an outdoor events centre where I was pleased to see my ex colleague, ace orienteer and general top chap Dave W manning the desk. Having called in to see him only a month back we didn't have much to catch up on this time. I filled in my form, paid my entry fee and went to get the bike ready. The start was a short 2 mile cycle away but with solo runners supposed to start before 0930 I needed to get a shuffle on to get there at a reasonable time.

Open 5 Top Tip: Write your start time on one corner of the map. It makes working out your remaining time easier.

Open 5 Top Tip: If you pack your map board, remember to pack some elastic bands or bulldog clips to hold your map on. You idiot.

I hadn't had much time to study the map before setting off so, after hastily scribbling the scores for each control on the map, had a brief think about route. I could see a nice loop taking in both sides of Moel Famau but wanted to pick the easiest way up. Track or unknown surface? Track it is!

MTB

I started off with a decent value few roadside controls before starting the climb up a muddy bridleway and onto the track up the side of the hill. The riding was varied, sometimes rocky, sometimes very steep, but predominantly muddy! There were several times where I was riding along at a jaunty angle because my rear wheel had stepped out of line in the gloopy goo. The descent from Moel Dywyll to Fron-Haul was fast, interesting and brilliant with some really cool banked corners leaving me with a big grin.

Shaka = ride loose bro   8-)

I should have gone back up the same way as the steep grassy hill (with accompanying headwind) that I ended up pushing up possibly wasn't the best route choice. Winding my way through the network of tracks I enchained the last few controls (once I figured out which stream crossing and which tree) and back to the finish in a shade over 3 hours - so far so good. Both of my derailleurs were covered in clag and not working very well and my feet were freeeeeeeeezing!

Transition

Chop chop!
In.
Swap shoes.
Eat salted caramel chocolate shortbread (nice).
Point out to other competitor that he's still got his helmet on and he's going about to start running.
Realise I'm still wearing my helmet and about to start running.
Take off helmet.Swap jacket for one that isn't saturated with drizzle and sweat.
Exit transition.

Er... where am I going? Oooh I know, look at map!


Run

My legs were feeling it from the bike most of the way up the first hill. I found a bagel in my bag (cheese and marmite!) and also found my stride. The gradient was such that I could walk faster than I could run. There was a tempting control halfway down the hill which meant losing height then having to gain it back. It didn't take that long but I did overcook it on the climb back up to the path so had to pace myself for a bit. Onwards to the misty summit of Moel Famau and the control inside the foggy Jubilee Tower.

Jubilee Tower - damp, cold, windy

Even the trig points needed wrapping up to keep warm

This is where I cocked up, possibly a bit down on sugar and a bit out of puff from the ascent. Not paying enough attention I took off down the wrong path from the summit. It was only when the countours stopped fitting the map. By that point I'd descended about 50m from the summit so had to countour round to pick up the right path. Stupid mistake and carrying on for the control compounded the error when I should have just abandoned it and headed back. This cost me later as we shall see.

The ridge line appears through the clouds

I descended the ridge, making up for my earlier mistake by picking a spot on line to the next control, dropping in almost right on top of it. I realised at this point that it was going to be tight to get back in time so I put the hammer down. This is difficult to do when you've got no hammer left in your legs but I tried my best. There were two more 20 point controls on the way back in that I beeped but by this time the bounce had gone from my bungee.

The thousand yard stare as I finish the run, totally depleted. I must be able to see my chocolate.

I knew I was late but I thought I'd squeaked in under 10 minutes. Pulled on my super warm Buffalo top and my cold wet shoes :-( and gently pedalled the two miles back to the event centre, muddy shoes swinging from my rucksack strap.


Results

I downloaded by results from my dibber and was both pleased and annoyed. Pleased that I'd scored my best score so far on an Open 5 (410 points) but annoyed that I'd lost 35 points for being late. 445 points would have been a really good score.

I consoled myself with an excellent veggie chilli jacket potato and lots of stuff from the salad bar, the catering staff at the outdoor centre having done a cracking job of feeding everyone up. The usual faces were on the podium, nice to see Rosemary and Lucy winning the female pairs again.

And as usual I didn't win anything in the raffle!

I checked the scores the next day and was super chuffed to find I was in 12th of 31 place in the Male Solo category and 26/73 overall. I managed to hit my target of a top 15 finish in this series in the solos in the first race. What's slightly galling is that had I not bothered with the control I got mildly lost on then I would have had a top 10 finish, that would have been some achievement! I guess all the mountain biking I've done this year has helped.

Apart from that nav mistake and coming back slightly late I was hapy with my performance. I thought I made good route choices for the most part and my fitness is definitely better. Cut out the silly nav mistakes and more consistent fuelling next time!

Strava MTB

Strava Run

Kudos to the offical event photographer who got some great shots of the day. Check them out on the Open Adventure Facebook page.

Also kudos to Open Adventure for organising another great event.

Ian Hodgson Mountain Relay 2015

Prelude in E(xcuces)

I haven't run for a long time, around four and a half months. The excuses are many and varied.

In the aftermath of the Fellsman my heels were very bruised and putting on my running shoes (in fact any shoes) was uncomfortable. A such, I was unable to capitalise on post-Fellsman fitness despite managing a run commute to work over the moors. Then I hurt my knee again by not doing my physio excercises and playing volleyball with nothing in the way of a warm up which set my back a few weeks. Then work got suddenly very busy and I was working 8-9 hour days for a few weeks. It's also been easier to put more cycling in than running with cycling to work every day.

etc etc and so on. Everyone has their own excuses, no one wants to hear mine.

Suddenly a wild post appears on the KCAC Facebook page from our fell captain JP (he got to the nickname first in the running club and it still causes me to double take) calling for runners to take part in the Ian Hodgson Mountain Relay. I decided to put my name down as the highly enjoyable Open 5 adventure race season is starting soon and I felt this event would be the perfect re-entry into fell running.

The IHMR is a memorial race for a top class fell runner who died in the 80s after being knocked off his bicycle. All the big fell racing teams from the lakes are there - Ambleside, Borrowdale, Keswick as well as some of our local friends from Bingley and Calder Valley. Effectively it's a national competition with a lot of strong teams. And me.

Of course with a combination of crazy work and my first cold in a year meant my training was... sub optimal. I just hoped that my cycling fitness would get me round...


Race Day

I got a lift up with my Fraser and Lorna who was my running-mate for Leg 1. Lorna was quite travel sick on the way up and yet still managed to boss her way around the leg. If I'd have been in her state I wouldn't have been able to get out of the car, never mind up a hill - she's twice the man I am ;)

JP gave us our numbers, we chatted briefly to Ian Holmes (not many sports where you hang out with the ex-national champion pre race) and faffed around long enough to make it to the back of the start group on time.

"and-stick-to-the-path-through-the-field-don't-cut-across-the-grass-3-2-1-go!" - race organiser

Keen to make a good start, the field all set off like it was a 100m race. We settled into a steady pace about 2/3 of the way down the pack, making steady progress from Patterdale up to Boredale Hause, gradually reeling in a few pairs.

The weather was being kind to us - light cloud cover, low wind, dry underfoot, a good running temperature.

We eventually crested the hill and belted down the fun-runnable track to Angle Tarn and our first CP. The view was great and I was immediately reminded why I like fell running so much!

Thanks to some advice from a Bingley runner, we picked a good line on the approach to the main descent - a steep 45° grassy slope that was almost as easy to slide down as run down with a fantastic view towards the nose of Grey Crag.

We dibbed again at the bottom of this hill and then thundered down the track. My legs felt shot by this point, the pace so far and the lack of training really starting to kick in. I just grimaced, not even enough time to wipe the sweat, spit and snot (mmm....) from my face and tried desperately to keep up with Lorna to the finish line.

Finish

"COME ON PAUL, LAST 200!!!! COME ON!" - One shouty Tring runner to the other. Poor Paul.

"Well done Paul!" - supportive Lorna to poor Paul.

The runners were scattering walkers and marshals from the path as we belted down to the finish to frantically dib and pass the baton on to Dave and Paul for leg 2 who set off like men possessed.

We got spot kit checked by one of the marshals (who'd all done a great job as is pretty much always with fell races) so it's a good job Fraser had lent me his hat and gloves as I'd forgotten mine - that's how out of practice I am!

We chatted briefly to Caren who was on logistics duty before trotting slowly off down the bridleway back to the start chatting about fruit picking and analysing the leg. We passed a few of those lumbering behemoths of the countryside (D of E-ers) and a few walkers before arriving back at the start.

We were 54/70 on our leg taking 54:02 in total which we were quite happy about. We finished the relay overall in 57th place in 5:16:25, half an hour quicker than last year. Given that this was a national competition with most teams fielding their best runners we didn't feel too bad about our performance! Well done to the rest of the team Dave + Paul, JP + Owen and Gary + Richard.

The overall winners were Borrowdale in 3:34:53 - quite a difference. Those guys are fast.


R+R

The smell of bacon wafting from the tea tent was too much so a cup of tea and a bacon and egg sandwich were definitely in order. I had to drink my egg immediately to stop it going everywhere - perfect!

I had to have a second helping of cake - it was as big as a hill!

Fraser had gone for a loop on his bike down Kirkstone Pass and back up the Struggle and once he was back we headed off for home. All that fresh air and exercise had me puffed out and I slept in the back of the van from Windermere to Settle.

I woke up just in time to guide us in to stop at one of the best shops in the world - the Courtyard Dairy - so that I could stock up on Sparkenhoe Red Leicester - my favourite cheese that has been gracing my sandwiches this week :)


Post Mortem

My legs really hurt. Ouch ouch ow. Going to the KCAC social from the White Lion in Kildwick tonight to say hello to the pinnacle and try and work out some of the knots.

It's had the desired effect of getting me back into running. Thanks to t'other JP for the place in the team.



Overall results
https://www.sportident.co.uk/event_results.php?id=2015262

Ben Mounsey's blog of the day
https://benmounsey.wordpress.com/2015/10/05/purple-patch/

Strava log
https://www.strava.com/activities/406161763

Flapjack breakfast at the trig point

Cycling seems to dominate my transport to and from work, mostly because it is a quick and easy, no brainer option, especially along the canal. However, following a resolution to get more running in and try not to lose too much post-Fellsman fitness I elected to have a morning run to work up over Rombalds Moor.

View from West Buckstones

I stopped at the Addingham High Moor trig point to enjoy the sun and eat my breakfast "adventure bar" (what flapjacks are called in our house). Not a soul around, just a grouse eyeing me suspiciously from behind some marsh grass. Plenty of wildlife in evidence today: pheasant, grouse, lapwing, curlew and oyster catcher were all spotted along with a couple of rabbits and a hare.

A nice spot for breakfast

Following the ridge line west I dropped down past a war memorial to a crashed deHavilland Mosquito crew with some faded poppies at its base to the top of Nab End to be rewarded with a cracking view over Silsden and the top of the Aire valley.

View from Nab End over Silsden

Down the road through Brunthwaite and onto the canal for the last blast into Silsden, pausing to chat to a very sprightly older lady taking her friendly dog for a walk. These friendly fellas were waiting for me in the field next to Brunthwaite beck, obviously used to humans as they wandered up to me allowing me to scratch them behind the ears.

Lads!

A lovely cool morning for a trot and well worth the 0630 alarm call. 9 miles in all. If I can do this once a week then I'll feel like I'm keeping on top of the running a bit more. Plus all those extra calories will need replacing :)*dusting pasty crumbs off the keyboard*

Review: Montane Featherlite Velo Jacket

Overall a very good windproof top with a good cycling cut and good breathability.

Background

Spring is sprong-ing all around heralding milder, drier weather, with longer road bike rides around the corner. As I know from other high energy activities, a breathable windproof layer is essential in these conditions to keep the breeze off but allow you to remain dry, especially on those cool mornings.

My existing windproof is a Buffalo Curbar Windtop smock. This has served me well over the last few years of winter fell running and occasionally on the bike but I think Buffalo tend to cut their products to suit people who are a bit shorter than me for a given chest size. They also tend to be a bit more generous around the middle. Net result is that it is baggy around the sleeves (because of the smock style cut) and around the middle. This is fine when walking or running but hilly descents on the bike have it flapping and carrying on annoyingly.

I shall continue to use it for winter shenannigans and probably on the mountain bike where speed isn't so much of a concern. The large chest pocket is pretty fabulous for maps/gloves/snacks/etc. However for road cycling, I wanted something better cut and more visible - the black of the Buffalo isn't the best thing for being seen on the roads!

Also, this top could be doubly useful for long walking/running events like the Fellsman or adventure racing where light weight and versatility is an advantage.


Selection Criteria

1. Cycling specific cut for use on the road bike. Being bent forward, arms out in front mandates longer arms and a longer back
2. Light or bright colour. I could have had my pick of black jackets! Blue, red, white or green for preference, yellow/orange if I must
3. Lightweight and packable. Should weigh less than the 260g that my Buffalo weighs and pack down better too.
4. Versatile

I looked on Ultralight Outdoor Gear, Needlesports and Wiggle and a few other places. Also road.cc had a comparative review of cycling windproof jackets. The best looking jacket was the Montane Featherlite Velo and it came in white (looks cool) but UOG didn't have stock in the white colour. Thankfully Winstanleys had stock of the white jacket in medium and shipped it promptly with minimal fuss.

I like Montane gear and I've got plenty of it (a Minimus jacket and pants, a Prism vest and a Prism jacket) and it performs well and generally fits well.


Spec

Some of the more interesting points on the product page include

• Rear vents behind the shoulders
• Different fabric (or fabric treatment?) on rear of arms and back for increased breathability at the expense of windproofness
• Weight 135g
• DWR treatment on fabric for increased shower-proof-ness
• "Bike specific active cut with articulated, extra length arms and extended drop tail"
• Jacket style so a full zip for easier venting and taking on and off (smock style is a pain sometimes)
• Elasticated cuffs. The Buffalo has velcro tab cuffs which don't stay pulled up your arms
• Elasticated hem, we'll have to see how we get on with this one
• Reflective detail on front zip and rear shoulders
• Little stuff sac for storage, always handy!

I've used a similar scheme to the reviews on the excellent road.cc website for evaluating the jacket. It will be slightly skewed because I don't have much to reference it against so no scores!

Suitability

The blurb from Montane says

"The Featherlite™ Vélo Jacket is indispensable on long cool trail rides, big Alpine tours and city commutes. Featuring rear 'Afterburner' vents that help keep your core body temperature stable, the Featherlite™ Vélo is an essential wind and showerproof biking jacket."

So perfect for spring riding then!

Upon showing the new purchase to Louise she commented that it was the same as her, now slightly faded, yellow jacket and she'd been happy using that for the last few years so this bodes well. I've also spotted that my ickle bruv has a black one as well after a recommendation from a mutual friend. A popular top.


Construction

All the seams are nicely sewn and finished with no raw fabric edges. The detailing around the rear vents is good and the reflective strip running the length of the front zip is a nice touch along with the reflective flashes on elbows and shoulders. Using 3M Scotchlite material means they really are reflective! The elastic waist and cuffs are snug without being too tight. I can roll up the sleeves past my elbows fairly easily and they certainly won't slip back down again yet I don't feel like the blood is being cut off from my arms. Success.

The collar appears to be made of double thickness material which gives it some structure, especially when it the jacket isn't fastened up all the way to the top. When it is zipped up it gives plenty of protection to the neck with plenty of added warmth.

The zipper tab is quite small and can be awkward to find with one gloved hand. I can understand the reasoning behind keeping it small as a large zip would change the aesthetic of the jacket. I may add a small loop of cord as an experiment.

The white fabric really stands out against most backgrounds, both urban and rural and is quite striking, even slightly fashionable. Caveat: my sartorial judgement is generally questionable! I'll probably keep this one off the mountain bike for now as I'm not expecting the white colour to last long with me inside it but I'd rather prolong it as long as possible!

The stuff sac is a good size and highlights just how small this jacket can be packed away. However I'm not so sure about the large strap on it and how useful this is. I can't think of anywhere on the bike that I'd strap it to apart from maybe the saddle rails. Perhaps a smaller diameter Velcro strap could be useful for attaching the stuff sac to more points?

Rear pocket. One one hand it might be nice to have a couple of rear pockets for general stuffing of things like phone, food, etc. However this would compromise the lightness of the jacket and probably it's intended purpose of being worn over a cycling jersey (with pockets). This isn't a criticism, just pointing out the compromise.


Performance

First ride was a morning sprint to work on the road bike with a smelly old synthetic base layer underneath. The temperature was about 3ºC and minimal wind, very cool but not quite chilly. Down the short hill to the main road from my house is usually a cold start to a ride but apart from cool arms the rest of me was fine. Ratcheting up the speed meant I was getting warmer but despite putting in a good effort this morning I was a perfect temperature on arrival and despite the fact I'd been sweating I was quite dry. A longer ride in the evening tackling some larger hills led me to becoming quite warm but not uncomfortably so with the zip down. I didn't notice much billowing of the back during longer descents, perhaps the rear vents were doing their thing and equalising the pressures.

Colder rides is where the jacket shines. Once up to temperature on the inside (pedalling required) it helps regulate temperature brilliantly. The collar keeps the neck warm, an area where I tend to suffer as I seem to have lots of neck.

My commute isn't a long ride so by the time I've warmed up properly I'm often only a mile from work. When it is cold, I tend to overdress more than I would for a long ride. With this jacket that consists of the usual long sleeved baselayer with a Montane Prism Vest underneath to keep my core warm. This is a good combination when the temperature is between -1ºC and 3ºC.

One very windy commute (14m/s = 30mph headwind) showed the windproofness off brilliantly, with nothing getting through the jacket.

The jacket is good in light drizzle with the water beading up lightly on the outside. I haven't taken it out in heavier drizzle yet but I'm not expecting it to be as good a a waterproof as that's not the point.


Durability

So far so good. Dirt thrown up by the back wheel onto the back wipes off well, probably aided by the DWR treatment.

The shoulders are showing no signs of "pilling" like my Buffalo top after several rides. Washing in Tech Wash gets the dirt out OK, my only concern is how long it will stay white for.


Weight

The kitchen scales report 135g for the jacket which is spot on with the spec. The stuff sac adds another 15g to take the total to 150g. The Featherlite name is very appropriate.


Comfort/Cut

I hardly notice that I am wearing it which is a good sign. Cut is good, it doesn't flap around in the breeze. The cuffs stay where they are. There is a tiny bit of hem lift under a rucksack hip belt but nothing major.


Value

I payed £50 for the jacket from Winstanleys with free shipping which I think represents very good value for such a comfortable, well cut and lightweight jacket.


Summary

I would say I'm very happy with the comfort and performance of this jacket. It fits me well, and ticks all the main requirements I had. I would definitely recommend it to a friend.

The Fellsman 2015

"The Fellsman is a high level traverse covering more than 60 miles over very hard rugged moorland. The event climbs over 11,000 feet in its path from Ingleton to Threshfield in the Yorkshire Dales. ...the route does not follow well defined footpaths, so the entrants’ navigational skills with a map and compass are tested as well as their physical fitness. Because of this, only fit and experienced walkers or runners should enter."

This is a longer than usual post for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, a lot of things seemed to happen that weekend, never mind the 22 hours we were out on the hill. Secondly, The Fellsman is an event I've been aiming to complete for the last 4 years so there's a certain amount of preparation, build up and mentioning of previous events to cover. I shall try not to procrastinate too much.

Read on for tales for history, hills, hypothermia, hard work, hot dinners, happiness and the quest for a fully clipped tally.

"He's Got Previous..."
A short history of The Fellsman and me

2011 - Walked up to the Snaizeholme ostensibly to see my mate Tim who mans that checkpoint every year, arriving in time for the annual BBQ. I remember being impressed by the fitness of the participants but didn't entertain any ideas of entering...

2012 - ... so I entered the next year as a walker. Training consisted of lots of winter mountaineering in Scotland (up and down Ben Nevis four times in 5 days) and going round the Yorkshire 3 peaks about 4 times. Having seen the forecast (high winds, rain, cold) I equipped myself with many clothes. The wind was a pretty incessant 30mph plus during the day with lots of people suffering from exposure. I for one was glad of my windproof fleece and thick trousers.

Our grouping of four also had a hard time on the the pretty featureless moorland between Middle Tongue and Hell Gap. We were following a faster group who had picked a good line when we realised that we'd dropped our other two team members off the back of the group.

(the scene: a windblown bleak moorland in North Yorkshire. Night)
David: "Where are the other two?"
Me: "They were in the group in front weren't they?"
David: "No they were behind us at the last checkpoint"
Me: "Get some shelter behind that wall, I'll go and find them."
<climb up a peat hag to see two torches catching us up slowly>
Me: "Sorry about that, are you guys OK?"
Chap 1: "No not really, I can't feel my feet or hands"
Chap 2: "I can't see."
Me: "What do you mean you can't see?"
Chap 2: "Well, I can see your light but its all fuzzy and I can't see the ground properly"

Net result is I had to walk Chap 2 hand in hand for 4 or 5 miles (along with a step by step commentary of "there's a step down here, now uphill, big step over this puddle") to get to the nearest roadside checkpoint at Cray where the marshals came out to tell us because of the increasing casualty count and bad weather that the event had been cancelled and that they were pulling everyone off the hill.

We were bundled onto a warm minibus where Chap 2 started to recover from wind burnt eyes and the cold with his eyesight slowly returning (he was OK the next morning). Needless to say Chap 1 and Chap 2 were greatly relieved about being pulled out. I was gutted and might have had a small cry on the bus. I had the equipment and the fitness and the drive to finish. I considered withdrawing myself from the event and carrying on regardless. Instead I fell asleep, vowing to come back next year.

2013 - After having been introduced to fell running with KCAC by Trev, I had good fitness pre event including the 33 mile Haworth Hobble and a 6 1/2 hour round of the Y3P. However at the end of this last long run my Achilles tendon was really hurting. It didn't get better in time despite icing and gentle stretching so I withdrew from the event.

2014 - My left knee bothering me post winter mountaineering trips and it got painful to the point where I couldn't run or cycle on it. Following some poor physio advice I didn't make any progress in time for the event so withdrew again. I finally got some good physio advice from Katherine at Bodyfix Physio in Silsden and hopefully the knowledge and improvements from this will help me in...

2015 - Read on.


Training
Trying not to hurt yourself in preparation for pain

The preparation for this year has been:

1. Not to injure myself in training and get physio for any niggling injuries (done)
2. Get a solid base of long walking and cycling as training focusing less on the running (cycling to work and back every day)
3. Mental preparation. Recce-ing and reviewing the route and my capabilities (done)
4. Practice fuelling correctly on long walks (this involves eating so done)
5. Recognition that several shorter runs per week to keep the specific muscles strong are just as valuable as the longer days out

I've managed to maintain my fitness over winter with some general training of short fell runs, lots of cycle commuting and night mountain biking along with the odd Insanity workout class.

Specific training included

• The Dark Mountains MM which was extremely valuable as it showed that I can keep going with lack of sleep and still navigate accurately in the dark
• A week of winter mountaineering in Scotland with big hills and a big backpack for some specific leg strength
• A recce of the last third of the route. I'll be hitting this section when very tired so hopefully the key points will stay with me!
• A recce of the Fleet Moss section with Gunter who knows the way off by heart

As I've found out, mental strength is key for long events. You have to believe in your own ability to do it which is easier said than done when you are tired, cold and nauseated. Confidence in navigation is a massive help. So I found myself going in to the event with my eyes open and about as ready as I could reasonably be.

I was also concentrating on my nutrition prior to the event, trying to get the right balance of protein and carbohydrate for maximum performance. After seeing my personal nutritional consultant, namely Mr. Vince from the Whistlestop Cafe in Steeton we came up with what shall be known as the "isotonic endurance sports performance Full English".

Boom!

Kit Check

Being a Scout organised event open to all, and given the organisers experience, the kit requirements are quite detailed. I went up to Threshfield school on the Friday evening for kit check so that I could have that extra hour in bed on Saturday morning. Thankfully the queue was short and the chap checking my kit was thorough and fast, in and out in under 20 minutes.

"Now, please can you show me that you have the regulation number of safety pins?"
- kit checker in the line next to mine taking his job very seriously

There's a full kit list of what I took at the bottom of this post.

L: All laid out and ready to go

R: queue for kit check at the school on Friday evening

Bumped into my team mate David S on the way in, he was settled in the hall and ready for the next day. Also saw Andy and Becky Riley from Venture Scout days (nice to chat to them) and Mark from work, all three of which were helping man the radio network.


On Your Marks...

I ended up, without properly realising it (although I thought he looked familiar), being stood in the queue behind multiple winner and course record holder (10 hours 6 minutes!) Jez Bragg. A missed opportunity to say hello and express admiration on what he achieved on the Te Araroa trail, running the length of New Zealand in 53 days. He was chatting with Aleks Kashefi, already sporting his sandals in preparation for a partly barefoot, partly sandalled, partly minimalist fell shoe-d Fellsman. He's training for a barefoot Lands End to John O' Groats to raise money and awareness for the Stroke Association. Good man.

The community centre in Ingleton was quickly filling up with bodies. Technical clothing and tiny rucksacks were everywhere along with energy bar wrappers and nervously clutched mugs of tea. Outside the rain was starting.

Jonathan Carter, the Race Organiser, gave a short briefing in the hall exhorting us to carefully consider our clothing choices and to err on the side of warmth over weight with a promise of temperatures of -5°C on the summits overnight. He wasn't wrong.

We were ushered out of the warmth onto the cold sports field to have our tally discs punched and await starters orders. My running buddy for the day, David Say, found me at this point as we waggled our legs and generally tried to keep some of the warmth we had acquired inside.

Home and Away. Great photo.

© Mick Kenyon Racing Snakes

The RO again reminded us to look out for ourselves and to look out for each other whilst the faster runners edge closer to the imminently congested field exit, itching to get started.


"Go!"

374 people turned and sprinted, ran, jogged, shuffled, strode, pottered and (the thesaurus having run out) generally made their way out of the sports field, through the narrow bottleneck path for an opportunity to trip over the leg of the cricket sight screen. The sheer weight of people stopping the small amount of traffic on the road, bemusing the lady in the Renault Clio who found herself surrounded by runners. Everyone began to find their pace on the steady climb up Ingleborough into the mist and rain.

David: "I remember the first time I came up this path was in 1974 on a university trip"
Me: "I wasn't even a twinkle in my Dad's eye in 1974!"

"Majestic Ingleborough dominating the skyline" say Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority

We made steady progress to the top, a brief pause to attend to some errant shoelaces and then down the slippy rocks and steep grass of Ingleborough towards the Old Hill Inn checkpoint. Passing the Hill Inn led to a few reminisces about camping there with Venture Scouts, enjoying the ale and also the dodgy nightclub they used to have in the barn behind.

Myself and David on the way up Whernside. Note the large amount of weather.
Image copyright SportSunday

The climb up the side of Whernside seemed to pass much quicker than either David or I had anticipated as we arrived on the ridge and turned up the series of false summits (not that you could see 'em in the cloud) to the trig CP for the second clip of the day. Steady down and along the ridge to the stile that is always further than you think! This year, the wooden job that is normally there had been replaced with the bastard offspring of a stepladder and a baby giraffe that wobbled in an entertaining manner (for those watching, not the person on it). I shoved a pizza roll down my neck as we were 2 hours in at this point and I knew I needed to eat regularly and early to prevent an energy crash later on.

Dropping down into Kingsdale

A fairly steady descent down to the next CP at Kingsdale, famous for the homemade flapjacks! We grabbed one each and plodded up the steep sides of Gragareth, munching away and discussing the finer points of flapjack ingredients and construction (David remembering a paricularly gooey affair whilst I discussed how much I liked honey on my nuts). Definite hints of golden syrup in the sturdy Kingsdale flapjack, firm but not quite ships biscuit territory. Just the job.

L: We'll come back to the chap with the yellow rucksack cover later

R: the trail behind

Again, the climb up Gragareth wasn't as bad as I remembered from 2012. I must have fitted my climbing legs! It is quite a nice hill, with great views out over the Irish sea that is quite neglected in comparison to its more famous neighbour Whernside. The lovely, cheery ladies who run the CP are normally camped out by the trig point but they'd sensibly relocated to the sheltered side of the ridge wall.

"Hello Mr. Blue coat! Hello Mr. Green jacket!" - being greeted in the traditional manner by the Gragareth CP volunteers

The wind and rain across the ridge was quite strong at this point, my jacket was pretty wet through despite me reproofing it earlier in the week and I was starting to feel pretty cold. David was too so we shuffled along steadily on the lee side of the wall towards Great Coum.

A chair. On Gragareth. Of course.

Through the mist I spotted an odd shape on the floor, only realising as I got closer (and when it stood up) that it was a fellow runner. I caught him up to ask if he was OK but spotted the problem pretty quickly; he only had one shoe. Turned out that he'd gone waist deep in a bog and it had sucked off his shoe. Realising, after a short period of searching, that being stood around in the conditions was a recipe for having a bad time he was limping on ahead to get to the Dent CP. I asked him if he thought that Kingsdale was nearer but he replied that he'd rather retire having done 20 miles than 12 on the books. His foot would have been murder coming down the rocky lanes into Dent - mine hurt and I was wearing shoes!

On the descent from Great Coum we had our one and only navigational boo boo, heading too far to the left before we hit the wall (see red trace below). It would have only cost us a couple of minutes in the scheme of things but it served us right for being too lazy to get the map and compass out and for following other people in front!

The Flyby Viewer on Strava for my route shows everyone else who ran on the day and the varying lines that we all took. Look at all the sensible people hand railing the wall.

The chaps at Flinter Gill were staked out underneath a bit of sheeting draped over the wall. They got the award for best improvised CP. Then down the stony path to Dent.


The Weather Improves

Cordon bleu? Gordon Bennet more like!
The usual excellent catering at Dent

The Dent CP is my favourite I think for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is about 1/3rd of the way round and marks the end of the three big hills of the day so it feels like you've got some of the harder bits our of the way and that you've got into your stride. Secondly, the food is spot on. Sausage rolls, cheese and onion rolls, beans, tea - real food and exactly what the body needs! Thirdly, the catering guys are super enthusiastic (and mad as a goose on stilts in some cases) and are practically falling over themselves to feed you.

Me - "Please can I have another sausage roll?"
Marshal - "You can't have ANOTHER sausage roll, but you could have A sausage roll..."
Me - "Please could I have A sausage roll?"
Marshal - "Certainly!"

We rolled in at about 1400 (a good hour and a bit ahead of the 2012 time), both of us cold and hungry. The first thing I did was to put my waterproof trousers on as my legs were cold and David stuck on another top layer. I ummed and ahhed about putting my fleece on top but I knew a steady climb awaited and I didn't want to overheat - this was a sensible decision. Two sausage roll sandwiches, a cup of beans and a mug of tea and we were rolling off down the road burping happy burps.

By this point the cold front had blown through and it was starting to clear allowing us to see the hilltops as we trundled up the bridleway and over the shoulder on the north end of Whernside. The food and increase in temperature was very welcome and we both found our climbing legs, steadily passing several people on the climb, descent and climb again up to Blea Moor trig.

Ingleborough from Blea Moor. A long way to walk...

By the time we reached the top, all the kit that we were wearing had dried out (even our feet) and we had both warmed up nicely. We hit the trod from the CP through the forest and down towards Stonehouse.

 

Nice cottages and waterfalls, Stonehouse

The Stonehouse CP is famous for two things: the pasta and the costumes. This year we were treated to a fine selection of Christmas costumes including Rudolf and Santa. I elected to skip the pasta (I had a bit of an energy crash with it last time) and instead shoved one of my pizza slices down me with a cup of tea and a hot juice. David tucked into some pasta and we were ready to go in a jiff. Energy levels were good, motivation was good and we were hoping to make it to Redshaw before grouping at 1800.

It's a long steady climb up to col below Great Knoutberry and a longer-than-you-think climb from the col to the summit (3.5 miles in total). David had slowed slightly so I said I'd wait for him at the top of the hill and cracked on at my own pace.

Marshal (clipping my tally) - "One Two One"
Tent - "One Two One"
Me - "Thank you Oh Speaking Tent"
(general laughter)
Me (looking around) - "You've got a cracking view up here"
Marshal - "Yes, we think we've got the best checkpoint of the lot"

What a treat awaited at the top of Great Knoutberry. Stunning views, a full 360° panorama. All of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, the Howgills and, off in the distance, the craggy Lake District. Behind us the line of Great Coum, Dent, Blea Moor. Ahead of us Redshaw, Snaizeholme, Dodd Fell and Fleet Moss. None of my photos do this view any justice.

 

L: Towards the Lakes
R: some of t' peaks

I waited a few minutes for David to arrive, refuelling my soul and motivation with the view, enjoying one of the few moments on the walk that it wasn't head down trying to maintain a good speed.

Heading down towards the Redshaw CP it began to snow, bizarre given the fairly clear skies at the time. I wondered if the folks down at Stonehouse were singing any carols...


Grouping.

Marshal - "Please, step inside our nice warm checkpoint, have a cup of tea, get some food down you, by the way did I mention we are grouping?"Me - "Do you make it 6 o clock by your watch?"Marshal - "Yes, I do!" (not looking at his watch. Mine said 1755)

With not much ado, we were shepherded into the tent to sample their hospitality. A large mug of tea, a hotdog (with onions!), and some cake all went down the hatch.

I approached one of the other walkers who we'd been keeping pace with since the start, leapfrogging each other repeatedly, to see if he wanted to group up. We'd both been impressed with his steady pace. Kevin (for that was he) agreed and so we had a three.

Our merry band! It's gloves in my pocket, not an epic hernia.

L-R: Lizzie, Kevin, Neil, self, David

Off we go :)

We spoke to the marshal about getting grouped up and setting off and we quickly acquired a Neil and a Lizzie to make us up to a merry band of five. Having done introductions, we trundled off up the hill, having what the other half of Team Spinach, Emma calls "The Talk". This ensured we all had similar goals, agreement on letting each other know if we were flagging, etc.

Very quickly I realised that we had landed a good team. Everyone was still chirpy, chatty and had retained their sense of humour. We were covering ground at the same speed, there was a mix of experience with the event and everyone seemed more confident as a group. It was only until later that I realised how true this was.

Thoughts on grouping:
Fell running, despite the very friendly nature of the sport and the majority participants is still a fairly solitary activity. One person against the clock, the elements, the hill, their best time, their injuries. Most participants will have got to grouping pottering along on their own and then suddenly they are forced to work together.

Group dynamics are very important to the overall success (I'm not trying to sound like a management consultant here!) and the random nature of who you get grouped with sets how well you will do. The personalities in the team, especially when affected by tiredness, can make it a fun race... or not.

Most importantly, it is important not to navigate by committee otherwise it becomes a battle. Think "it's this way", "no there's a better path over there". Decisions need to be made as a team but someone needs to take charge and set the final decision. Getting to operate well as a team takes familiarity, not easy to acquire in a couple of hours!

I was looking forward to reaching the Snaizeholme CP to see my old friend Tim who gave me a much needed boost, walked with us a short way and letting us catch up with the race gossip. We bid him farewell and let him get back to his BBQ - the cheeseboard and wine had been finished earlier in the day.

It was dark last time we reached this point in 2012 so it was nice to be far enough ahead to see the beautiful view down from Snaizeholme Fell into the valley below with the evening light picking up the rippling details in the hillside.

Down the Pennine Way, turn off at the small cairn and we dropped right on the Dodd fell CP. Some sensible navigation from Kevin and Lizzie selected the correct path towards Fleet Moss. I was doing much less navigation than I had expected to which was a nice change.

Arriving at Fleet Moss checkpoint we decided on a swift in and out to try and make the most of picking the best line over the trickiest navigational section. David was having some trouble with his insides so we took some time to shovel some rice pudding into ourselves. I was amazed at how good cold rice pudding tastes when you are hungry and how easily it went down the hatch! That's definitely going on the list of "food what I can eat when feeling sick". Also, good to receive some support at the CP from Neil's wife Ros and Lizzie's mum.

Off we went, Lizzie leading the way, ticking off the landmarks I'd noted on the map when we did our recce with Gunter. We were treated to an inspring, lovely sunset as we tramped off over the Moss. We'd also picked up a team behind us, a very cheery bunch with lots of singing.

This was my lowest point of the race so far, as I had grumbling insides, frequent burps and hiccups, and a touch of nausea. It took me several miles to force a slice of pizza and a couple of jelly babies down. David too was continuing to suffer with his guts.

I was very grateful for Lizzie's very competent navigation, leading the way and dropping us almost spot on to gaps in the walls, gates and quad tracks. The best tip I picked up on the day was when leaving the Middle Tounge CP is to head for the radio mast on the horizon as this drops you right on the gate for the next section. This blank section seems to go on forever!

Soon we spotted the lights of the Hell Gap CP and the other team who'd overtaken us at Middle Tongue. We clipped and then headed down the rocky track into Cray.


All Change!

By this time the temperature had dropped significantly with the clear skies and the tiredness was starting to take it's toll. David was striding off ahead to get so I caught him up for a chat. He confessed to being really cold and needing to warm up quickly.

On arrival the CP staff quickly spotted David was having a bit of a bad time as he was having trouble drinking his tea due to his shivers being so bad. They stuck him in the back of the well heated ambulance to try and get him warmed up. He was shortly joined by a chap with a yellow jacket that we'd been following from the start after he decompressed his stomach all over the CP field.

Kevin and I were sat together on a bench in the CP feeling like death warmed up, trying to eat some of the soup. I'm sure it was very nice but we were both struggling. I managed half a cup and a slice of cake. I went out to check on David but it was pretty clear that he wasn't in a fit state to continue as he was still shivering badly. The marshal requested his tally and <snip> for him the war was over. In a way a unpleasant decision for David to make but very much the sensible one. The hills will still be there next year mate.

We were regrouped with Andy 1, Andy 2 and Janet who had lost Mr Yellow jacket from their team, now forming a super group of seven. Stopping to say goodbye to David in the ambulance we all wished him well and told him that we'd finish it for him. Thankfully our new team members were competent and up to the task and we gelled quickly.

More good navigating from Lizzie up to Buckden Pike, the climb passing quicker that I was expecting. My legs were still working well (amazingly!) with no knee or piriformis issues. I took a painkiller at this point just to ease the ache in the soles of my feet but I was otherwise fine despite being 45 miles in.

Trudging through the night

Steady along the tops, a different line from the gate to the bridleway than I'd recced and we were at Top Mere and Park Rash before we knew it.


Home Run

0230 on Sunday morning. Park Rash CP. Hungry but nauseated. Need food. Perusing the selection with a cup of tea and my eye alighted on a small black and yellow jar. Marmite! Some cheap white bread, some I-can't-believe-its-not-hydrogenated-vegetable-fats, and the last scoop out of the jar. That Marmite sandwich was the best thing I'd eaten all day and was, I think, the primary reason I got to the end! Shovelled some ginger cake down along with a tea and we were off on the climb up Great Whernside. Neil also gave me half a salt tablet as mine had annoyingly gone walkabout. That also perked me up.

This climb has a short sharp bit before the long steady rising traverse up to the CP. Neil had found his climbing legs at this point and was leading the charge. I was feeling much better and took the back to ensure nobody got spat out of the back of the group. More than one team has been disqualified for losing people on Great Whernside before.

The CP tent was nicely wedged in a very large grike just down from the trig. Having experienced a windy Great Whernside on a couple of occasions I fully understood their location!

It's a long way from the top of Great Whernside back down on the home run to Grassington. By this point both my Achilles tendons were hurting where my shoe heel tabs had been pressing. I topped up on Vitamin I and loosened my laces a bit to ease the pressure. At this point the miles really seemed to drag. I was walking, amazed at the ability of body to put one foot in front of the other for such a long period of time. There is something magical about seeing the dawn when you've been out in the hills all night.

We clipped in at Capplestone Gate, followed the flashing beacons in the pre-dawn light over the fields down to the road at Yarnbury where we were de-grouped. Andy 1 and Janet trotted off, as did Lizzie. Kevin and I walked along, Neil joined us after greeting to Mrs. Neil who had was still supporting even at this hour.

We reeled Lizzie in eventually, Andy 2 joined us and we finished down the spookily peaceful Sunday morning streets of Grassington, over the bridge and to the finish.

We had survived.


Finish

Primarily I was too tired and hungry to take it all in. Given that I had finally achieved this goal that I'd been aiming at for the past four years I felt an odd lack of emotion. Instead, I went in search of a breakfast as a priority, shovelling beans and sausages and toast into me like it was going out of fashion.

After a lovely hot shower I collapsed into my sleeping bag. It didn't take long.


Back Home

Tim packed up his hilltop checkpoint that morning and came to pick me up from the school, filling me in with events on the drive back home. Reward for the lift were some mighty fine sausage sandwiches and the realisation that the main part of my diet since Friday lunchtime had been sausages. Snorkers for power!

Lots of snoozing on the sofa, a bit of writing this blog, some gentle stretching and a chinese takeaway all eased me into bed at about 9pm, satisfied and sleeping the dead tired sleep of the honest.


Reflection

It has taken several days for it all to sink in. 61 miles is not a "walk in the park" but because of all the prep I'd done I went into the event expecting to finish so it wasn't a surprise when I did.

I've experienced more satisfaction seeing the achievement through the eyes of my friends and family. Thank you all for your messages of support and congratulations, it has certainly brought it home.

I'm relieved to have finally finished, and I feel like I've got a monkey off my back as a result. However, my thoughts are turning to the next challenge... whatever that might be! On Sunday I was glad that I didn't have to do it again. On Monday I was wondering if I could do it faster next year!

Gunter: "What was your time?"Me: "Just under 22 hours."Gunter: "Now then, I'm sure you can shave an hour off that time. We'll go over the route together and see where you can can improve!"

I'm still enjoying the endorphines from the day even now (Thursday).


Analysis

http://www.strava.com/activities/292819013

Navigation
Everything went to plan apart from the diversion at Great Coum. We picked good lines and didn't get lost.

Food
I ate well enough, and ate more checkpoint food than I thought I would. No crashes, bonks or massive loss of energy thanks to steadily eating throughout the day. Marmite and rice pudding are definitely "in", pizza rolls are "out".

Equipment
Clothes carried were just right, although my waterproof coat needs a more serious reproof as it wetted through after a couple of hours. One thing I've learnt is that you can never take too many clothes on the Fellsman. Both times I've participated I have seen people dropping out due to exposure / mild hypothermia from the cold and both times I've thanked the fact that I packed an extra warm layer.

Impressed that my phone (Sony Xperia Z3) worked so well. In flight mode, logging GPS data for 22 hours, occasional checks on the map/GPS location and taking photos and it still had 50% battery at the end of the walk!

Body
Suprisingly not much to report. Quads and calves a bit stiff, slightly bruised achilles on both legs but otherwise fine. I was back on the bike on Tuesday for the usual cycle to work. Lacking maximum power output but otherwise fine.

Strava Stats

• Miles = 61.1 miles / 98.3 km
• Elevation = 10,990 feet / 3,350 m
• Overall Time = 21:55
• Average speed = 2.7 mph
• Calories = 11,117

Results page for the race. Note the 25% dropout rate!


Volunteers

Last but not least, a big thank you to the army of volunteers who got up early to cook, set up, check us in, sit in a tent on a cold hillside clipping tallies, scrape bodies up and wrap them in foil blankets, transport people around, worry, go without sleep and tidy up long after the last competitors have headed off all so that some idiots can run around the hills having fun.

Cheers! But more Marmite next time eh?





Other Blogs and Race Reports

A steady round from Guy
https://guymawson.wordpress.com/2015/04/26/fellsman2015/

Nick takes a batteing from the weather
http://ultraploddernick.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/i-gambled-and-paid-price.html

Henry's blog
http://www.ultra-fit.me/2015/04/28/thefellsman/

The usual excellent Grough report
http://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2015/04/27/adam-perry-posts-third-fellsman-win-as-jasmin-paris-sets-new-womens-record





Appendix: Gear List

Fell shoes - Inov-8 Roclite 295s
Trousers - Ronhill winter running tights
Waterproof jacket - Montane Minimus (needs reproofing)
Waterproof trousers - Montane Minimus
Base layer - Rab MeCo long sleeved
Long sleeved top 1 - White Montane windproof (not used)
Long sleeved top 2 - ME Eclipse hoodie fleece
Long sleeved top 3 - Montante Prism jacket
Warm hat  - ME beanie
Warm gloves - Buffalo mitts
First Aid Kit - triangular bandage, second bandage, wound dressing x2, roll of tape, pain killers, safety pins
Headtorch - Princeton Tec Apex with spare Panasonic Eneloop batteries
Mug and spork
Marked up Harvey's Yorkshire Dales Map and compass
Emergency Rations - 350g flapjacks
Survival bag - SOL
Rucksack - Haglofs Gram 25
Two buffs
Sealskins waterproof socks
Cheap microfleece trousers (not worn, but I very nearly had to)
Emergency lights - Petzl eLite and Silva beacon
Android phone with Strava logging route and Maverick with a composite gpx track of the route loaded
Casio digital watch
Water bottle - 750ml bottle in shoulder holster, allows monitoring of consumption and doesn't freeze like a camelbak straw

Food
6 mini calzones (ate 3)
Jelly babies in hip pocket (ate whole bag)
Golden syrup cake, squashed, quarters (ate half)
High 5 caffiene gels (ate none)