Coniston - DNF & Inov8’s

Last year during the Lakes-5 day Orineteering I bought a pair of Inov8 Mudclaw 270’s. They were a nice fit but needed just a tad of cushioning.  They were the outgoing model so were on offer for £50 at Lakesrunner. Back in January at a GoOutdoors sale I bought me a pair of Inov8 Mudclaw 333’s for £35 (50% off), well they are the “Grippiest Most Durable Fell Racing Shoe”. Being the slightly heavier model they should have the extra cushioning I needed. I kept them nice and clean, in the box until I needed them.

Well as it turns out I needed them sooner than I thought as the 270’s wore out a lot quicker than I thought they would. Considering I didn’t really use them much over winter they started falling to bits after not that many miles. Certainly no where near the mileage I got from my Mudrock 290’s. I tried e-mailing Inov8 and Lakesrunner but never got any reply from either of them (That’s Lakesrunner off my preferred list of shops, it could be harder to veto Inov8 depending on shoe options I find).

I’ve worn the 333’s a few time so far this year but normally on training runs and ended up with cramp in my feet. They are VERY comfortable when I first put them on but after a few miles or on downhill sections thats when the aches start. I had assumed I just needed to wear them in but with the long spell of hot weather we had around april it was difficult to give them a good “Bogging up” with no moisture on the hills. I mentioned this to Chris and one of his suggestions was to try twinskin socks.

Joanne and the kids came up to Coniston for the race. She was planning to take the kids for a walk whilst I raced. Arriving early enough I still managed to be running to the line on the last minute.

Setting of up the hill I found the going tough from the start. Going up the first ascent and the twin skins seemed to be allowing the shoe to move too much. I can’t tie shoes up to tight or it forces cramp onto them, but today the shoes just seemed to be moving much more than normal. As the shoe moved at the back it moved the sock further down the back of my foot. By the time I was 1/2 way up Weatherlam I’d stopped three times to fix my socks, my feet were cramping and I was starting to feel the beginnings of a blister where the shoes were rubbing as the sock disappeared.

In the end I just gave up. I’d only gone about 2 miles and I didn’t plan to be messing about with footwear all the way round. I turned around and headed back to the start to let them know I’d retired. As I descended to the finish it brought no comfort to me when I saw the race leader hurtling down the final descent and beat me back to the finish completing the whole route quicker than I went 1/2 way up the first climb and back down.

I called Joanne and met up with her and spent the rest of the day family by the lake. It was still an enjoyable day if not for the disastrous run.

             

Surely the Inov-8 shoes can’t be this bad??? I’ll wear them in some more.

Anniversary Waltz 2011

With not much mileage in my legs I entered the Anniversary Waltz, near Keswick. I have had my eye on this race since last year. Albert had entered the Teenager with Altitude with Ian Charters and was planning to take it easy and not race the route, just run with Ian.

Setting off slightly later, my race headed up the valley, up Robinson. There was no cloud on the way up but by the time we neared the summit (with the other back markers) the cloud had dropped and we didn’t come out of it for a while after that. It stayed with us all the way to Hindscarth and Dalehead. Only after Dalehead did we drop out of it enough to see where we were going.

Before long it was up hill into the cloud to HighSpy. By this point I was being regularly passed by the runners on the Teenager route. I looked back and was convinced I could see Albert and Ian but they never passed me. After HighSpy I headed over Maiden Moor, at one point loosing my bearings and convincing myself that my compass was wrong until all of a sudden all the cloud simply blew away as if some higher being was trying to tell me “Oi, look where you are numpty!”.

So now after trusting in my compass I headed North towards Catbells and the steep descent to the finish. As I ran down the last descent I could feel Cramp kicking in and just tried to hold back enough to prevent my legs screaming.

Overall I think it was a bit of a poor run. Tiredness seemed to kick in a little early and my legs weren’t really flowing right. I’d finished though and after a few cups of tea with Albert (Who, along with Ian had also become a little lost on Maiden Moor) we headed home.

Funniest part of the day: Watching one lady drive her car in to the farmers gatepost. Luckily the wood was rotten and it just snapped the thick pole without really doing any damage to the car. How she didn’t see it I don’t know!!

Essexwalker 26 mile LDWA (10th April 2011)

So, what happened???

Well, a few days before we went to Essex I strangely started with Shin Splints. Running in my road shoes which I don’t normally do (run in them or run on roads lately), I assumed this was this was the reason.

On the morning of the run Chris and I headed to the start in Purleigh. This is the same place the Blackwater marathon started from and this route actually covers about 90% of the same route.

I was a little worried about the shin splints and hoped they wouldn’t return and cause me to pull out early. I set off (Chris decided to set-off 10 mins after everyone else) and things started well. However about 2 miles into the run the shin splints started. I pushed on and then at about 2 1/2 miles I pulled a muscle just above the back of my knee (is that the lower ham?). It ached but I carried on slowly with a small limp in my stride (Chris passed me about this point too).

My first thought was to see how it was at Checkpoint 1. I was definitely last at this point. The runner in front was just in sight and I tried to make a bit of ground. By the time I approached the 1st checkpoint (4 miles) I was just about with him. The pain hadn’t worsened and the shin splints had eased a little so after a quick drink I decided to continue on and re-assess the situation at Checkpoint 2 and head off running with the other runner for a while from this point.

I’m not going to describe the route, most of it is covered in my Blackwater Marathon post. We ran on and on reaching Checkpoint 2 I was no worse and without the shin splints (Which incidentally I haven’t had since). A quick stop for a biscuit and juice and I decided to carry on the whole route as long as things didn’t get worse. The next section was the dreaded Sea Wall. This sea wall is about 5 miles long and isn’t the most interesting parts of the run, however this time the weather was far better (if not a little too hot). Running together still for a while I couldn’t keep up and gradually dropped back and back. Reaching the 15-16 mile mark and Checkpoint 3 I was starting to tire and the leg pain was getting to me (it was more the constant ache that was). After too long a rest at CP3 setting off again was a struggle. I’d started to stiffen up and it took a good 5-10 mins to loosen up but not fully.

This section of the route differs from the Blackwater Marathon in that it adds a 4km section making up for a section cut out between CP1 – CP2. By this point I’d decided enough was enough and followed the direct route I knew to miss out this section and straight to CP4.

At CP4 I could have got a lift back to the start but I was still convincing myself I could finish what was left of the route. So I set-off after another rest and after about 400m I decided to get out the map and find the direct route to the finish.

I arrived at the finish shattered and a little sore after covering 22.5 miles, gutted.

I haven’t run right since then!!!!

Last run on Skye

Not being one for any of the royal goings-on that week I wanted to get out somewhere on the Friday before we came home. After my experience of the Cuillins so far I decided to head up what is generally thought to be the easiest peak to climb - Sgurr na Banachdaich, as long as you head up Coir an Eich and along the south side of An Diallaid. It was a gorgeous day, there was quite a few people heading up there and I got speaking to a couple on the summit from Lancaster who took my pic.

Glenbrittle bay from the way back down. You can just see the ridge on the lower right where I met a group looking a bit shell shocked.

On the way back down I met a group of blokes who had headed up the harder route straight up the side of Sgurr nan Gobhar, one of them looked quite worried about getting back down and they were asking me which way I had come up in the hope that there was an easier way back.

Not sure what was with my expression!

Panorama taken from the summit, in good weather the views on Skye are stunning my photos don't do them justice.

I took this picture on the way back down, one of the many waterfalls alongside the path, Sgurr nan Gobhar imposing in the background.

View of the war memorial above Carbost where we stayed for the week.

I had a great week on the island; everything from the hills, the deer (ok maybe not their ticks which I picked up almost as soon as putting my shorts on!), the golden eagles with their huge wingspan to the sunsets from quiet, secluded bays and would love to go again to explore some more of the hills.

On the drive back we stopped for a break near Glengarry at a curious spot where many cairns had been built beside the road...

A long time no Blog!

Well it’s been sometime since I have contributed and a few things have happened. I changed jobs and have retied from a couple of races. Each to be discussed separately. I had previously written up a blog post on my laptop but never got round to uploading the photos to it so it’s still there. I’ll try and dig it out and upload the photos. We’ll see.

Watch this space. More will follow soon!

Mark