13th September: Endurancelife Exmoor, the return of some prodigious fun!

 To riff off Eminem:

Guess what's back, back again
Racing's back, tell a friend
Guess what's back, guess what's back?
Guess what's back, guess what's back?
Guess what's back, guess what's back?
Guess what's back?

RACES ARE BACK!.. Although in a very limited different way to what we knew before the plague descended upon us.

Last week Endurancelife held their rescheduled Classic Quarter ultra down in Cornwall, their first ‘Covid secure’ event and yesterday saw their rearranged coastal trail races over on the coastal trails of Exmoor.

Loads of members of the running community have rightly doubted the wisdom of holding any form or organised event involving mass participation - I can see where they are coming from and I was intrigued as to how the organisers would cope with the social distancing regulations which are now the norm in every aspect of our daily lives within a race environment.

In a way Endurancelife were able to play to their strengths from the get-go. The biggest one being their race locations: always on trail and for the most part remote, so you are well away from town centres and for the most part people in general!.. Plus there is their experience of well over a decade of successfully putting on multi-distance race-days

The event base today was in the middle of nowhere in a cliff-top field, which runners were not supposed to really access beyond bag dropping. The toilet block had been moved from its normal location of the base into the parking field the other side of the road and to use them you were required to hand sanitise beforehand.

The event briefing had been done online, race numbers had been sent in the post with Endurancelife moving to an RFID timing chip set-up from their traditional system of ‘dibbers’ so as to remove more potential points of human contact. You are allocated a start time before the race based on your submitted estimate of a finish time so everyone is streamed from fastest to slowest which reduces the chance of overtaking. Whilst awaiting your start time the instructions are to remain in your vehicle (or away from the starting zone if you don’t have one), until 5 minutes before your slot.

As you approach the start you queue on a line of crosses spaced 2m apart until you reach the front and are unleashed onto the course having been told some reminders of the new course rules by the marshals: use the hand sanitiser that is now part of your compulsory kit before you open any gate, no headphones to be worn at ANY time and no ‘drafting’ of fellow runners - if you must overtake then you do so as soon as you are able and distance yourself from your fellow runner once passed, with no contact supposed to happen between competitors unless they are in their own ‘bubble’ together already… We’ll come across the aid stations later!

Driving down the night before the race, a few miles from where I was going to park for the night I had a massive shock when a Red Deer stag, crowned with a mahoosive set of antlers decided to jump out of the roadside hedge right in front of me as I approached doing about 50, nearly making me resemble a fucked-up wild west-country version of Boss Hogg in his motor! Fortunately he saw me coming, thought better of making contact with the van and becoming my hood ornament and jumped straight back into the hedge! Heart still pounding a few minutes later I parked as close to the event base as I could and hunkered down for the night.

The view from the van!

Waking to a view over the Bristol Channel to Swansea and breakfasting on black coffee and LSS’s excellent patented granola I busied myself readying for the start. I ‘hailed the prophet’ one final time and walked the short distance to the start queue to be unleashed upon the course. Being fat and slow, I had been given a start time at the back of the marathon field, which was half an hour earlier than the normal start time, so at least I’d be home half an hour earlier than I would have been if it was a ‘normal’ race day regardless of how I perform.

The marathon course was a figure of eight with the easterly loop about 2/3 the distance to 1/3 on the westerly and much to the Pet Shop Boys’ & the Village People’s chagrin, we go east from the off. This first loop takes you along the coastal path past a christian retreat, with its eery sight of a trio of giant cliff-top crucifixes, to the village of Lynton and a trip inland to the beautiful National Trust property at Watersmeet and the cascading river flowing through it.

Running back up on to the coastal path I was on autopilot following the familiar route from years past… However where the aid station normally is, there was nothing to be found, so I plodded on as I normally do. Soon though it was obvious I had missed a sign for the turn to the first aid station as I now found people heading towards me! Like a salmon heading upstream I moseyed my way in the direction they were coming from and saw the aid station around the corner through a churchyard, having neither gained nor lost distance.

As I ran through the graveyard in sight of the station, passing through its ornate wrought iron gate, one of the adjusting straps on my race pack snagged on a spiked part of the decorative iron work and all of a sudden I found myself swinging horizontally through the air before crashing into the ground in an undignified mess, my strap still on the spike but the webbing on my pack now torn off at the bottom of the shoulder strap… Picking myself up from the floor and detaching myself from the gate I made my way the final few metres to the aid station where I had to effect an emergency pack repair with a couple of safety pins to be able to wear it and carry on!

The aid stations at Endurancelife events have always been minimalist as they have consistently made a major point about people running with the highest degree of self sufficiency. They still had their normal fare of biscuits, jellies and crisps, however rather than just being able to dip into a tub as before, now they were in individually sealed in packs as provided from their manufacturer, with bananas sitting whole rather than halved.

 

Gone were the manually operated water bowsers of the past, with the water going into your own cup, bottle or bladder (Endurancelife has been ‘cup free’ for years). What was in its place was an ingenious foot-pump system for you to dispense water for yourself in a hands-free manner.

Those manning the aid stations were maintaining distance at all time and ready to step-in should emergencies arise fully PPE’d up of course!

As the morning progressed, the temperature rose with broken sunshine for most of the day, fortunately large swathes of the course are in shade under trees or on the cliffs which naturally shield you from the direct rays of the sun, that said the temperature and humidity was creeping up the whole time, though fortunately a gentle breeze took most of the heat away once up high or in the open. Normally when this is run in early April, if you have the misfortune of it being on the first proper ‘hot’ day of the year when the sun is out and the mercury nudges the early twenties, it is sheer unadulterated hell for all as nobody has been able to acclimate to such weather - at least now at the end of summer we are now used to being out and about in a bit of heat.

 

Back out on to the course and there was the stunning couple of miles of steady descent in to Lynmouth, before the evil of the switch-backed climb to the top of the cliffs once more as Joe and Joanne Public queue for a trip up the climb on the funicular railway rather than doing what us idiots do!

 

Once atop it was a jaunt though the 'Valley of the Rocks’ and a close encounter of the goat kind - they roam wild in those parts but are so well camouflaged you tend to smell them rather than see them, however I did catch sight of one of the horny beasts!

 

The goat was not the only diversion as the monotonous hum of engines could be heard and I noticed approaching down below in the sea was a jetski race chasing along the coast with about 20 riders flat out bouncing across the chop of the waves. It must have been an endurance based race as they disappeared eastwards then a couple of hours later reappeared from the north before heading west.

Soon the first loop was coming to an end. Rounding the headland just as the descent was about to start I found myself up close and at eye level with a Peregrine Falcon out hunting, scanning the cliff and the vegetation far below for some scran. Descending through a waterfall along the way and cooling off in its stream, the valley floor was found and another slog from sea level to cliff summit commenced as the westerly loop began in earnest.

One of the major differences of running this course as summer wanes and autumn rises, rather than from winter into springtime when it is normally held, is you get to appreciate how lush and green some parts are now rather than the dull or barren sight you are used to, offering you a whole new perspective on an otherwise familiar sight. The most marked change was seen when crossing the moor on the westerly loop: I revelled in the contrast between the dull sables of the winter’s moor being replaced by an effervescent riot of purple heather and yellow gorse all round… And I saw plenty of it as there was an enforced last-minute route change that led us across the moor’s breadth rather than cutting over the summit with a trip to the summit cairn.

 

When I had hit 19 miles, shortly before the penultimate aid station, the wheels properly came off and I was flagging - breathing out of my arse and utterly cream crackered. The marathon course has the small matter of around 1.75 miles of vertical ascent over its length, which after doing the majority bar the final 2 climbs had me realising how out of condition I was for tackling ascents, especially in this concentration! The last serious amount of ‘vert’ I did in a race, or really in general, was back in February at Endurancelife's South Devon marathon and over in Brecon the week after… Just before everything went in to lockdown and all racing shuddered to an instant halt.

Not mushroom on the coastal path.

Since lock-down kicked-in I’ve been running yes, but running around where I live which is pancake by comparison! I’ve been out and done plenty of miles in the interim, but with regards to prep for hardcore trail races, these miles have been ‘junk’ miles: miles for the sake of just being out there ticking over, rather than specifically targeted miles for training towards the required terrain… Boy did I feel this now, mind you plenty would be in the same boat today and I doubt anyone was complaining as we were all just happy to be out here doing what we love.

 

Reaching the aid station I took some time to regain my equilibrium by sitting on the grassy slope equally warmed by the sun and cooled by the breeze whilst munching a banana and taking in the view over the undulating cliffs and the calm sea below. You certainly don’t get aid stations with views like this in any town centre race… Well you don’t get any there full stop at the present time!

Chilling at the aid station.

Semi refreshed I plodded onwards knowing that it was only a matter of grinding everything out to a finish: head down and slog it out. Soon I was at the final aid station - placed with just 2.5 miles to go because you have an evil 2 miles of climbing over that distance and gritted my teeth, girded my loins, pulled up my big-boy pants and just ground it out to the finish, both exhausted and relieved.

 

All things considered I felt this first race experience in a time of Covid worked well. A great deal of thought has gone into this by Endurancelife to minimise the impact of the virus on the race-day experience. They have adapted to overcome in a successful manner that really did not diminish the event for me, what with being a back of the pack plodder and used to being out there on my todd with no company for hours at a time, although the lack of the mass start is a bit of a shame, but needs must and all that.

 

The above point though does form part of the one major notable change, which I know is also a big concern for the organisers. Taking away the race briefing and the mass start as part of the necessary changes it has to an extent sucked the buzz, the hubbub, the atmosphere you get from the interaction of a crowd of excitable people out of the event as a by-product of everyone having to be forcibly kept apart! The thing is this will be the same EVERYWHERE you go for races from now on and is a trade-off we will all have to get used to if we wish to carry on racing. Races will become less of a shared communal experience and more of a solo show. Endurancelife have proved they have found a workable formula to hold events as Covid secure as can be that a lot of other event organisers will no-doubt be paying attention to and probably incorporating the same into their own ones, as most people will come to the same conclusions when facing an identical problem. One thing they are finding problematic though on the logistics side, is the issue of permissions from landowners and councils for access. With how things are changing daily and sometimes hourly, even whilst in constant contact with the relevant people and organisations there are and will be last minute route changes, sometimes at the eleventh hour, as permissions are withdrawn. This just adds to the headache of organising an event but at least with plenty of plan b’s, c’s and probably d’s in place the inconvenience will be overcome in a seamless manner for those out running.

Bring on the next (Covid secure) race!

Eat pies.
Drink beer.
Run far.

 

Bone conductor headphones

I have to admit it, I like them as a concept but I have had a mixed bag of results with them so far.

With the England Athletics ban on headphones in races that are not of this type, bone conductor headphones are becoming a necessity if you wish to listen to any tunage in races they sanction, so here’s my experiences with them so far.

The first pair I had were Aftershokz Sportz M3’s which were one of the early models and corded... I initially bought them thinking they would be just ‘plug and play’ like normal headphones, however after purchasing these still need to be charged to drive the speakers inside them with a charge lasting an advertised 8 hours… Which would make them able to last a marathon for me, however not really suitable for an all-day ultra (or anything beyond more than 35 miles) or on a long bike ride.

Aftershokz Sportz M3

Soundwise the reproduction was great for running and when out cycling in still weather. Once I got over the slightly weird sensation of being able to hear what I was listening to as well as the ambient noise all sound me, I enjoyed wearing them. They also always remained in place without slipping no matter how hot and sweaty I was getting.

I did notice though that the sound level was limited to a point where whatever you are listening to is drowned-out when cycling by wind over about 10mph or when in a slip-stream at speed downhill, unless you use ear plugs, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of using them in the first place!

Learning to work within their limitations, for a while all was good, however after about 6 months they developed a fault that lead to one ear intermediately crackling, which progressed from just the intermediate until eventually dying a couple of weeks later.

I looked-up the warranty and Aftershokz sent me a replacement pair, their at the time equivalent model in production: the Titanium Sportz.

Aftershokz Titanium Sportz

Sonically they performed almost the same as the M3’s, however they had changed the design relocating the battery pack and button control to near the headphone jack from its previous position that could clip to the neck of a top or a lapel.

When I say near to the jack, we are talking around 10cm, so the larger battery pack had to sit next to your phone and would continually bang against it with natural movement, or if worn on your arm in a pouch, would continually slap against you due to its size, a design issue which made it unwieldy and cumbersome... A size that would lead to the destruction of my pair. The long and the short of it was the box had flapped its way out of my pocket and was swinging freely, then got caught on the arm of an office chair and snapped the 10cm cable from the box to the jack clean off: ruined in an instant.

I contacted Aftershokz again for a warranty replacement, but they refused to give me a new pair as the date of my request was 3 days beyond a year from my purchase of the original pair, with the replacement pair not having any separate warranty on them.

2 pairs of headphones, both trashed within 6 months of very light use: only when running, cycling or a walk to the pub one evening a week! Not good when you are paying £30-£50 for a pair of headphones; you suspect them to be far more robust than that, so I made the conscious decision to abandon the brand and the paid premium associated with it.

Around a year after I decided to take the plunge again when I noticed knock-offs of the M3’s were retailing for around £25 as it must have been the old design and the tech within had been licensed to 3rd parties for manufacture. Again though as with the original M3's, the headphones lasted a similar amount of time before the crackling returned and one ear died!

Something that also had not really bothered me before when wearing them but did the second time around was the cable… I was wearing the cable underneath my shirt to avoid it flapping around and potentially getting snagged and damaged whilst active, however it kept slipping down my back and pulling the headphones down a little, which necessitated pulling the cable back out of the shirt every 5 minutes. Also the clip for the battery box did not grip that tight so it would work its way off the net of the shirt and bounce around under your shirt as it worked its way down, which was doing my head in after a while!

Safe to say I was fed-up with the wired ones and their inherent issues after three pairs biting the dust in short time with light use. As a consequence I decided to abandon them although I am still sold on the concept of the headphones, more for running than cycling due to the sound levels in the wind, so I had a look at the marketplace for a pair of bluetooth ones having heard good things from people in my club about their performance.

I soon found a pair of R9’s on eBay retailing new for the same price I had paid for the knock-off M3’s, so at that price it was sensible to give them a go.

R9's

Battery life is promising 6 hours - which was not too much short of the 8 Aftershokz promised, so again suiting me for use in a run up to a marathon in length on a charge, although in longer activities I will still be using ordinary old-fashioned cabled headphones on my iPod Classic (no bluetooth there anyway!) to preserve the battery life on my phone.

Weight-wise they feel no heavier than the previous models, however without the pull of the cable they feel much better, forgetting they are on you - again they do not shift from where they rest where you place them in front of your ears, so all round so far so much better than the cabled varieties - also something I have noticed is the drain on the phone battery using bluetooth is actually less than listening through cabled headphones believe it or not!

So there you have it, if you’re looking at bone conductor headphones for your running, take a look at the bluetooth, forget about the cabled ones!

Eat pies.
Drink beer.

Run far.

Inov8 Trailroc v More Mile Cheviot Pace

This is a review of 2 halves - my new(ish) daps from the extremes of the market: Inov8 at the top, and More Mile Cheviot Pace at the bottom. Both trainers are supposed to serve the same function of hard packed trails, the tread on the lugs for both is intermediate.

Inov8 Trailroc 285

A good friend of mine has had to give-up running on the advice of his quack after having his knee rebuilt - unfortunately for him he had recently bought a pair of Inov8 Trailrocs and they now sat there with only about 50 miles on them mugging him off in his hallway, so he wanted shot of them and asked what size I was… Fortunately for me, the same as him!

Being a tight-arse I never tend to go above £30 for a pair of trainers, with the most I’ve ever spaffed on a pair being £45, so Inov8 have never really been an option for me with their retail mark being £50 if you’re very lucky in the sales up to around £120, with this pair sitting at £70-£130 in the market place depending on where you shop.

I’ve been out and about in them for a few months now over various distances from 5 miles to 50k and have found them to be very comfortable and absolutely ideal for hard-packed trails. With the reinforced toe-box they seem to be the perfect shoe for those hard-packed mountainous lake-district trails… Just a shame to think I won’t be able to get up there to try them out.

They compare quite well to my Scarpa Neutron 2’s which are designed for the same purpose, however I find the Scarpas to be a bit more comfortable and the grip to be better all round.

While effusing over their ability on hard packed trails, the first time I took them out for a spin it was for the last of the Southern Cross Country League races where we had a mix of trails - on the hard packed and mettled sections they were great, but when the slightest bit of mud came into play, dear god they were shite! I was all over the place like Bambi on ice. The shallow lugs offered 4/5 of fuck all in traction at the merest hint of mud, to the point running was impossible and even walking in anything slightly muddy was sketchy in the extreme!

I’m up to 225 miles in them now and to be truthful they are showing wear and tear on the upper of the right foot - though strangely not on the left! Also on the soles, the lugs are now rapidly scrubbing down to nothing on the outstep of the heels, a product of the way I run and the trails being like concrete at present with us having had fuck-all rain since I’ve had them! Looking at how the upper will eventually fail, hopefully it will not be a structural issue and allow for more wear and hopefully get me up to around the 350 miles marker - as a comparison I’m over 400 miles into the Scarpas and the only wear and damage on those are from falls.

More Mile Cheviot Pace

Around the same time I had my stroke of luck with the Trailrocs, I had decided to take a punt on a pair of More Mile ‘Cheviot Pace’. The original Cheviot trainers have been my go-to for winter running where grip has been needed and at £30 a pair the fact they only go for 200 to 300 miles on average has not really been an issue as they have seen me through each winter season and the £/mile ratio has been superior to what other people get out of premium brands in the same conditions.

When I saw that More Mile had brought out an intermediate tread trail trainer which was essentially the same as their Cheviot but with far less of a lug to them I had been intrigued. Normally I run in Karrimor trainers for intermediate trails, which have till now been priced around the £30 mark, however they seem to have upped their starting price to £40 and coupled with the fact they are made by Sports Direct, the ethically problematic retailer with how it treats its staff, the time to give the Cheviot Pace a try had arrived.

Most of my recent running has been in the Trailrocs, however I have managed to rack-up to 80 miles in them so enough to give them a review - and as you’d expect they are not showing damage at present.

Grip-wise these are like chalk & cheese to the Trailrocs, behaving as you would hope in the mud, providing enough traction but nowhere near as much as their bigger brothers’ do - which is completely understandable. Fit wise they are roomy for me, even with my flippers for feet, however they do fall-down in one regard: comfort.

As with the other Cheviots, they are a bit spartan in the cushioning department. That has never been too much of an issue when out on the soft winter trails as the terrain itself offers some cushioning, however with the very dry spell we’ve had for the last few months, I’ve found the Cheviot Pace’s to give the soles of my feet a bit of a battering with the lack of cushioning, to the point I’m considering putting insoles in them for going out on the harder trails, or just forget about them until the trails are a bit softer and rely on my Asics in the meantime.

I suppose the question is would I buy another pair of either of them? Once I’ve trashed this pair of  Trailrocs… You know what, probably not - I would be more likely to give a go to the Scarpa Spin RS8’s which are the replacement for the Neutrons (once I’ve gone through those as well), which come in at slightly cheaper than the Inov8’s however at £68 they would be the most expensive pair of trainers I’ve bought, although at in excess of 400 miles before the Neutron’s failed I think that is decent enough value for money.

On the Cheviot Pace front - I’ve already bought a second pair in anticipation of the demise of the first - mostly because the price point of them is what I would hope to pay for a pair of trainers, and so long as I can manage the discomfort factor of concrete hard trails, which is not really what they are for running on, I’ll be fine!

Eat pies.

Drink beer.

Run far.

Running in a time of Covid (with apologies to Gabriel García Márquez).

This tumult, this wave, this tsunami that has swept the world certainly hit us blindside. The what’s the how’s, the why’s and the wherefores of what we are currently experiencing will be argued and debated for decades along with the responses of those who are appointed by us to protect us all, but I’m not here to juggle that hot potato; I just want to sketch-out what its been like as a keen runner and what I’ve seen around me… And to mitigate against the tedium of the voluminous text there’s plenty of trail-porn punctuation from round my way to make this easier on the eye!

Nature abhorring a vacuum.

Like many I blundered blindly into the light of 2020 with clear vision of what was to come: a calendar that was largely planned, races scattered liberally throughout the year where everything kicked-on as normal for the first two and a bit months, before things went somewhat awry!

Waning sun through King John's Castle.

The racing calendar has been wiped-out wholesale. As the weeks progressed from late February races long and short fell by the wayside. Spring events now rescheduled to the autumn. With all the races scrambling for available dates, the smaller events waited for the behemoths like London & Paris to commit to one before they did and potentially lose runners to a date clash. Summer events just deferred till 2021. The autumn races for the most part are still tentatively on, but now in a very crowded schedule that has found their dates squatted on by the rearranged spring events which will likely impact the pool of potential runners who now find themselves committed to running elsewhere. Even these races though are all very much subject to change.

Hand grenade flower art in a pillbox @ Dipley Mill

My main aim this year was building to a 3rd time lucky attempt at the Lakeland 100 and I had planned my calendar accordingly: building distance in races as the months progressed with frequent road trips in between them, specifically for hill work, to the Jurassic Coast and the Brecon Beacons. All of this though fell immediately to the wayside when the plague came knocking on our doors and we were locked-down to our immediate area… Something that could have been far, far worse as those living in France, Spain and other countries who have been literally ‘confined to barracks’ can testify to as they gazed enviously at us as whilst we ventured out for a notional hour of exercise a day.

A soggy Spud on the dry spud field.

Across the country the racing rug has been pulled out from under all of us runners and we have all had to adapt accordingly. Whilst I’ve seen how others have coped across Britain through the ubiquitous power of social media, the easiest way to look at this is to start in my immediate surroundings and the running club I’m a member of, Hook Runners.

Bimble through the bluebells.

The club, in line with England Athletics’ decree, cancelled all activities at the beginning of the outbreak. Organised coached sessions are normally on offer Monday through to Thursday with group runs on a Sunday morning, but all these vamoosed in an instant. This sudden gaping hole in their running week left members scratching their heads and getting antsy with withdrawal symptoms as they no longer had their regular training fix.

Dusky ford.

In a positively reactive way to this change, the coaching team compiled a training plan for members to be able to follow at their leisure, something that was especially welcome for many who after the lockdown now found themselves with the notional hour of daily exercise to play with and a training session that could be completed in this time providing a perfect pairing.

One of the Commonwealth War Graves @ Eversley Church.

People who would normally be out running together still went out running at their habitual times and began to post pictures of their runs on the club’s Facebook page, in effect running virtually together, the pictures creating a wave of positivity to try and keep everyone’s spirits up.

Former reservoir on Bramshill.

One member devised a whole bingo card challenge where people could go and tick-off 21 different activities (not all running) over the initial three week period the lockdown was scheduled for. Pictures of random gates in the countryside were posted with people being asked to locate and post their own photo when they located them… Then the coaches devised their own challenge:

Lockdown rush-hour: 7pm at night on the M3!

Based on the assorted bag of marathons and half marathons that most people were working towards, the coaches challenged people to run their chosen distance as fast as they could in a time they predicted… The difference in this challenge was the cumulative race distance was made-up of 5 set chunks of varying lengths to total the target distance. With it all to be run for fun, the only real caveat was you were supposed to start close to your home and not to be traveling to a point where you could purposely run a negative descent route to fudge a better time!

The mill @ Poland Lane.

Anyway, with all of this going on the club’s Facebook feed soon filled with a plethora of positive pictures of sights, livestock and wildlife spotted by runners along the way and plenty of sweaty selfies. It was almost as thought things were continuing as normal, except everyone was always solo rather than in groups.

Nesting swan on the Lyde river.

The club’s marathon and half marathon challenge segues well into a race that is local to us. Each summer brings the Hampshire Hoppit, a trail marathon and half marathon that is extremely popular with our club members - we had 25 members racing it last year and before lockdown I was already working with a trio of padawans helping them get ready to complete the marathon distance for their first time, the three of them only having completed couch to 5k courses a couple of years back!

Bluebell carpet.

With the postponement of the race proper for a year, the race organisers have decided to keep everyone focused in what would have been for many an intensive training time for their event by also holding it virtually.

Be afraid, be VERY afraid!

We have seen event organisers who hold race series keep their devoted running customers engaged by holding running challenges, for example Endurancelife organised a 7x challenge where you were to run for an hour a day for seven days at whatever pace you manage with all successful completers entered into a prize draw, with other organisers such as Trail Outlaws & Centurion Running organising their own challenges based around distances over certain days etc.

The entrance to the fairy grotto that appeared on Bartley Heath.

All of these clubs and race organisers have found themselves acting as a gel holding runners together as a community through their respective FB groups, helping runners realise that whilst they may be training for events that are no longer on, their experience is a shared one throughout and a focus can be given to their efforts, even if just keeping their fitness ticking over for the time being.

Spud's not sure about the railway tunnel!

Running can be both a fiercely independent or a wonderfully social experience. We are all now getting plenty of experience of the former and those lone wolves among us are positively thriving, as they always will, especially with the potential extra lockdown time for their running, however the latter is in seriously scant supply for those who crave and flourish in this way of running. This enforced solitude for sociable types can have an huge negative effect on their mental wellbeing, potentially causing a massive downward spiral into a very dark place for some as they are cut-off from the thing that gives them succour under the current ‘new normal’. This is where for all its well documented faults we have seen how the power of social media has been unleashed as a phenomenally positive force in keeping everyone’s chins up whilst running in this time of Covid.

Swanning about on the Whitewater.

What we’ve seen is these groups crammed full of people supporting each other, mostly through showing images of where they are running - with or without their sweaty mug gurning into their phone camera. One group, the #Run1000Miles group on Facebook (of which I’m a member), is no exception. Every day there’s a veritable smorgasbord of the sights seen by people out running. The vast majority are not in noted beauty spots, just ordinary people hitting the streets and trails around their homes all over Britain and elsewhere and sharing what they are seeing, thinking and feeling with the like of mind.

Deer.

Over this period of lockdown, the trails (as well as the country lanes) have been heaving with people out and about exploring. I’ve come across people on the more obscure local nettle strewn trails wandering around with small packs on their back with printed maps in hand to guide them. This has been a positive in people are now realising what they have on their doorstep, however it has come at a cost. Nearby is a canal and the tow path has become so busy to be almost processional and impossible to obey social distancing through it being hoaching with cyclists, walkers and runners. It got so bad at one point that there was a punch-up over a perceived lacking of adherence to social distancing with the police becoming involved, so the body that runs the canal has politely requested that all runners and cyclists stay away!

Cowslips.

Another negative thing we have seen over this strange time, something general rather than specific such as the incident above, has been the rise of the phenomenon of the ‘Strava wanker’. This has touched all forms of running, from the Chelsea and England footballer Ross Berkley being called-out for it, to just someone who appears to be your average plodder being busted by some very questionable run stats.

Spud staring at Tylney Hall from on top of its air raid shelter.

Being a ‘Strava wanker’ involves posting a falsely impressive time for a run. This usually involves the recorded distance being run over several bursts, or intervals, at maximum speed with breaks in between. This is possible on Strava as for every activity it gives you 2 different times: the time to travel the distance and the total elapsed time. For example, Ross Berkley ran a 5k in the immensely impressive time of 16:11, however the time between starting the run and hitting the 5k mark was a very unimpressive 1:05:23! Naturally he crowed about his 16:11 5k but was rapidly and rightly called-out as having actually run a laughably slow 1:05:23 5k… This has shed light on a lot of people out there who are not professional sports stars, are doing exactly the same: run flat-out until you can no longer sustain the pace, pause your Garmin, have a breather, then go for the next leg: rinse and repeat till you finish. All those busted for this behaviour are referred to as ‘Strava wankers’. Another favoured tactic of the them is to run the total distance or even worse, intervals, all downhill! Under lockdown it seems to be becoming a pervasive thing and not in an ironic way. It has even found its way into my running club’s marathon & half marathon challenge times when you examine some of those posted by members!

LS of LSS.

Ok, so that's my take on what's been happening with folks out there running this Covid spring, here’s what I’ve been up to since the storm blew in:

From watching the news I could see what was about to go down based on what had happened elsewhere in Europe, however I could not be sure of how far things would go with a lockdown, so on the Sunday before BoJo's big pronouncement, I made sure I won on eBay a step machine that was up for grabs a mere 20 miles from home (and it was won for less than the limit I had set so double bonus). We already have a dreadmill in the garage and an exercise bike in the bedroom (clothes hanger?) so if we were all to be confined to barracks indefinitely, then we were all set as we would have a variety of activities to keep up with training activities.

Spud was less than impressed with the plastic sheep!

Still being a pie and a pint short of a fat bastard coming into all this, I resolved to be more active over the duration of the lockdown in the hope of forming a good habit to continue once out of the other side. I took a long hard look at myself and how I could possibly get my fitness to the level required for the Lakeland 100 (which at that point was still on) within the restriction imposed upon me of my immediate location. I resolved to attempt doing a physical activity for at least an hour a day for the duration, even though I was not being given the bonus home time to help in this that those on furlough or those working from home have. Rather than throwing myself into running 7 days a week, to break it up I notionally decided to cycle on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with runs on Tuesday, Thursday and the weekends. I say notionally as the schedule was not intended to be rigid so it would allow me to switch-out activities for other days if the weather was inclement and throw in time on the stepper as a substitute should I be out working too late.

The black sheep of the families.

Hitting the trail and the country lanes I also resolved to keep doing something different each time and not be a slave to the same routes and have the malaise of repetition set in and dull the fun, keeping my mind stimulated and interested and not switching into autopilot mode!

Not all glamour: 54 steps up from the motorway underpass.

I also set a distance challenge to ensure I wasn’t losing-out on long runs with all those cancelled races. The first full month of the lockdown, April, saw me run a marathon on local trails, May had me out running a 50k (which only shared about 100m of the same trail as my marathon), both accompanied by my running buddy Spud - as are most of my runs! June sees me combining the Hampshire Hoppit virtual full and half marathons for a 40 mile run and to round things off in July I’m looking to do either a 50 mile or double marathon… What happens after then I don’t know, however at least I should be in a decent shape when racing resumes once more in the autumn or winter.

King John's Castle @ North Warnborough.

At present I’m suffering from a bit of a hamstring twang, the first muscular injury I’ve had for a few years, so I’m unable to run for the rest of this week at the very least. Aside from this leg knack I have seen an immediate benefit of my increase in activity level. So far I’ve dropped half a stone in weight since everything went Pete Tong and my cycling miles are finally catching up with where they should be. At the start of the year I set a goal of cycling as far as I would be running - a target of 2020k and was hoping to hit it rather than spectacularly miss as I have the last few years. However by March I had only managed a paltry 40 miles on the bike, mostly to get Friday night takeaways! A few weeks on since the start and I’m now over the 400 mile mark so looking good to be back on track within a couple of weeks… Cycling wise I’ve also decided to cycle a 50 mile and an audax over the summer months as its been a few years since I did any serious distance on two wheels!

Dappled sunshine.

Like most, I’m pining for different surroundings in which to run and the ability to take a deep breath of sea air on a coastal trail and a bracing lungful from on a mountain top. However these sights have been there for millions of years and they will still be waiting for me when the lockdown ends, hopefully seeming all that bit sweeter when I can finally experience them once more. In the meantime I’m just making the most of acquainting and re-acquainting myself with the local trails and sights and enjoying what I’m lucky enough to have on my doorstep - whereas others are not so fortunate: stuck in flats in city centres unable to escape to the countryside and where every green space is choc full of other people... And at present with the curse of Covid, hell is literally other people.

I hope all of you who’ve taken the time to read these musings cope admirably with your unique personal experience of these strange times in which we currently live.

 
Eat pies.
Drink beer.
Run far (whilst socially distanced).

29th Feb: Winter Fan y Bagging

Let’s face it, the weather of late has been foul, properly foul to the point that a LOT of us have been struggling in a rut of motivation and ennui to get out AGAIN in the relentless rain and hippopotami mud. How can you get out of the rut? Well we came up with an answer of sort: ROAD TRIP!

Let's go to work!

A handful of us ‘Hookers’ bundled in to a couple of cars and headed off for the 2 hours it takes for some alternate sights, a different challenge and determined that we would embrace the weather, whatever it was, rather than hide under the duvet once more.

Back in January Andy had suggested a winter version of the Brecon run he and Graham have previously organised where we would drive to the foot of Pen y Fan and run the ‘horseshoe’ or thereabouts. Looking at the diary he found a date not clashing with anything and invited all who wanted to come.

Looking back down to the car park.

Since settling on the date and now, every week seems to have brought a new named winter storm of varying degrees of severity in wind and rain and this week was no exception to this rule. We were well aware of the forecast of an incoming storm, Jorge this time, so for the last few days leading-up to the expedition we had paid particular attention to the local forecast with safety paramount and the whole trip was in the balance until lunchtime the day before when it became apparent we would have a big enough weather window in the morning till early afternoon to get around. Even then the forecast was for very strong winds with gale-force gusts and snow beyond 400m elevation: the starting height of the run!

Gathered in the cold rain of the pre-dawn morning air at 6am outside the village community centre, we drove through the beginning of the storm with its torrential rain to park in the deserted car park at the foot of Pen y Fan. As prep we wrapped-up well with the air temperature here at 2º and unlikely to warm-up, that being with us out of the wind!

Setting out onto the walkers path from the car park the climb began in earnest from these first steps. Within 10 minutes the temperature had plunged as we cleared the tree line then crossed the limit where water becomes ice. My right calf was already giving me grief from the strain I picked-up a few weeks back and I was beginning to drift off the group of the others.

The calf wasn’t the only thing concerning me. Already I couldn’t feel the last 2 fingers on both hands with the extreme cold in the wind, so as I trudged I rummaged in my pack for my second pair of gloves and put them on. Slowly the sensation of feeling began to return to them over the next 10 minutes.

As we ascended, the more the weather closed-in on us, reaching the first peak of the day at Corn Du we were being properly buffeted by gusts of wind approaching gale force. Balance was at a premium with how icy everything was underfoot. Having good grippy trail shoes for running over mud and snow are absolutely useless for traction over icy rock, so scrambling up this small section of rocky outcrop to the plateau as large flakes of snow whipped past you was tricky.

When we hit the cairn at the top we were having the snow driven towards us horizontally in near blizzard conditions and a decision on a route was made, changing an initial idea I had had of running down the ridge over Bryn Ten before turning for the path back up to Fan y Big as with the wind direction it would have meant a long 2 mile slog upwards directly into the teeth of it, which would be no fun for anyone!

 
Once across to the summit of Pen y Fan you have the runnable short sharp drops and climbs as you can move from peak to peak and by the time we had worked our way round to Fan y Big the weather broke and we had vindication in our decision to come here for the run as the views opened-up and we could see for miles around under clear blue skies.

The route we had decided to run was based on the infamous ’horseshoe ridge’ walk, but doing it as a loop starting at the base of the horseshoe, so we needed to link the bottom of the east and west sides of it by running down from the summits to the valley bottom, across the reservoir in the middle and back up to the top on the western arm.

From Fan y Big we began our descent to the valley, wending our way over Torpantau and the field of babies heads till we skirted Taf Fechan Forest. This run was energy sapping as you tried to bounce from one to the other in total guess-work as to what your foot was landing on. The gaps between them were essentially bog, freezing bog running with water. Every time you missed a head, or slipped off one you splashed your foot down in to them. Every step was a fresh full foot immersion into the freezing bath and maximum discomfort as you could not get your feet warm from the continual soakings.

 
Eventually we cleared the field of babies heads and descended into the bottom of the valley hitting the reservoir where we had a bit of an unwelcome surprise: building works. Unfortunately all the paths across the reservoir that you would normally take were closed with metal fencing around them whilst they seem to be either removing or re-building one of the smaller holding dam sections where in the past we have managed to cross.

Descending from the sub-zero chill on the top it made you appreciate the difference in temperature when you were no longer exposed to the elements, as once on the valley floor it felt positively balmy and our hats and gloves were temporarily removed. Under the clear skies you could think it was summer except for the frosted tips of the snowy ridge. Seeing this though made us realise we were about to climb back up on to the top and confront the wind head-on as the storm-front moved in.

Not wanting to detour for a couple of miles we decided to venture towards the main dam and see if we could access it to walk across to the other side. Unfortunately this was not possible as they have it well secured with anti climb fencing, so we had to think again.

Our option was to drop down to the overspill at the bottom of the dam. Here the flow of the water was a bit too feisty to attempt a crossing without a large risk of being swept off our feet, so after a quick sandwich we followed the river down stream to where we could find a manageable crossing point and a thigh-deep wade across.

Fording.

Crossing the river meant we were now on the way up to the other side of the horseshoe and very soon we were beyond the trees and exposed to the blast of the wind and the snow once more as we ascended to the ridge. Running this western ridge we had the problem of the stiffening gusts of wind trying to push us off the edge which focused our attention as we had a grand-stand view of the dark grey of Jorge on the horizon looming larger.

This last couple of miles on the top were a steady ascent but runable although it required a great deal of concentration with the wind catching you off-balance and the loose rocky path interspersed with icy mud and puddles. At times when you could it made sense to be as far across to the left hand side as you could to mitigate against the force of the incoming winds until we had finished our ‘loop’.

On our run we had had the luxury of the route all to ourselves except when we joined back on to the main path to and from the summit for the descent to the car park. We now had the pleasure of running downhill like salmon against the tide of people walking to the top of Pen y Fan, staring into their pained faces as they struggled upwards whilst we bounded down, the snow beginning to be whipped-in as the sky bruised noticeably.

Back in the car park having chalked-off 13 miles including a vertical mile of cumulative climb and the same in descent, what could we do to mark our exploits? Spaniel had the answer and rummaged in his bag in the boot of the car and pulled-out some cheese, crackers and a mini bottle of wine for us all to toast our efforts in style: a grand day out and not a pair of the wrong trousers in sight - ok well maybe one as Graham was the only one to opt for leggings on the run!.. That said with my hamstrings like blocks of ice on the initial limb as I was blasted by the wind and whipped by the snow I could appreciate his logic in choosing a full leg covering.

I can now say I’ve been up and down the horse-shoe in both summer and winter seasons. Both were absolutely stunning, although there was more running to be done in the summer with the lack of ice underfoot speeding things up. I’ll definitely be back, either as a group or by myself as there’s still plenty of routes up and down and around the horseshoe for me to explore!

Oh and I properly killed-off my trainers on the run. I knew they were near the end of their life, but the battering of the babies heads well and truly finished them off!

Totally totaled!

 


Eat pies.
Drink beer.
Run far.