3 Peaks..... but a flat performance

Despite the title I'll keep try and the negativity to a minimum. In a perhaps inadvisible exercise I had a brithday meal the night before this event + beer and a couple of glasses of wine. I was up earlyish for the near 2 hour journey to one of North Yorkshires most remote outposts. I arrived at Horton-in-Ribblesdale to a carnival atmosphere of cars and tough looking, lean, runners and families preparing for the big run around the large marquee centrepiece under a warming sun just prior to the 10am start.

The 700 hundred or so runners were off at the gun and idled through the streets till we hit a stoney track which eventually hit a path up Pen-y-ghent. This climb seemed ok on fresh legs but I walked any bit that got a bit steep. I had dibbed at the lunar-esque peak well within an hour and was heading back down. As per the A class fell race norm I seemed to be wussing out on the downhill as I shod places like sweat from my warming brow. I never quite understand this as I'm no conservative downhiller in the majority of events - I guess there were lots of experianced nutters out there.

The long run to Whernside didn't seem that hard at first, undulating dry grassy trails that some may consider too easy for a fell race. However, approaching the Ribblehead viaduct I felt that I was tightening up a bit. I tried not to let the looming prospect of Whernside intimidate me. If anything this resulted in me putting too much into the climb. After several steepening fields I finally hit the final scrambling ascent that had been visible for miles. Often ascending on all fours now up the rutted steep approach which I believe is just used for this race. I was definately tired at the top, I'd overtaken quite a few people climbing up and wondered if others felt the same as I tried to get into a stride. The initial descent wasn't easy, lots of rocky footpaths, requiring concentration and fast feet. When I hit the flat approaching Hill Inn I was struggling, without gravity to assist running was difficult and slow as I shod more positions gained on the last ascent.

Ingleborough was thankfully close and I was happy to be stuck in a walking procession on the lower slopes. The expected scramble up the side followed - hard as it was it was at least direct and over quickly. After bagging my third peak I really died on th long, drawn out descent to Horton. Anytime I tried to pick up the pace beyond a meander my stomach area would tighten, making breathing difficult and feeling mildly painful. I've had this before and I can only assume I'd crossed the line into full on fat burning mode, I can still go but only firing on 3 cyclinders. I frustratingly trod on loosing dozens more places and only keeping up with a guys who kept pulling up with cramp and another guy seemingly having the same issue as me.

I eventually dropped into the village and tried to not look wasted as I ran through the finishing field in front of a few hundred spectators and other runners. It was quite nice to do a slightly bigger field event again. With 700 participants this was big time for me in the scheme of LDWA challenges and small field ultra events.

It was nice to finish, I don't like finishing a race in this way. It was a really nice event and its a shame when an underpar performance and tough second half dulls the enjoyment a bit. Positives a many though, great atmosphere, good setup, good beer tent with live music and even good enough weather to give me a vest mark where the back of the shoulders experianced 4 hours and 51 minutes of race day sunshine.

The post-race, summer party, vibe was continued by Mark and I as we hit a few of Ripons finest pubs and the curry house to replace a few thousand burnt cals. We even managed an 11m+ run the next morning around Ripon, Fountains abbey and surrounding countryside. But boy did my quads feel stiff on Monday. This race was now over a week ago and the plan ever since has been run easy and eat well as the Fellsman is fast approaching. This time next week I'll have hopefully completed it!!

Under starters orders.....

I kind of feel I'm back at the start of something again. The last 6 months have been fantastic and have delivered me back after a wild, circular ride, hopefully at a higher base fitness than I started with. I did "kind of" a schedule to prepare for the 3in3 and Snowdonia, but it was all good fun, LDWA events and fell races for long runs. Thursday speedwork with club, not caring what I did just wanting to keep my finger in and enjoy the banter. The other runs are just a blur, some weeks I probably only ran 4 sessions but was doing 30-50 miles. I've run new parts of the country, met new and interesting people, had some of the best carb-reloads ever and now its all over....

Targets met.....
what now?.....
Sit around, get fat, work too hard?
Nooooo..... though I have piled on a few pounds this week whilst layed off due to an aggressive cold. Lets call it winter layering.
So?....... what?

I may be short, slow and untalented, but otherwise I'm just like Usain Bolt. Right now I'm just loosening up, doing strides along the first few yards of the track, thinking about the next race, my target, then its in the blocks and I'll go for it. Not 100m mind you, comparison ends there, but it will be bigger, better, maybe faster than the last. How else would I be satisfied?

I'll get around to updating my Hit list soon and hope to catchup with many a member of the off-road community this winter. Afterall, we don't take winter breaks do we? I'll be doing Rudolph's Romp, a speedy little LDWA event in my nearby, this December. Then I'll see if I can improve last years mark in the formula 1 event of the English Fell racing scene, the Auld Lang Syne, hopfully sharp from regular cross country races. Then a rare excursion back onto the roads for the Brass Monkey Half in January. Is a PB (92mins) now beyond me or can I build speed on my solid endurance foundation? Then its back to endurance and I want to really push it in the first few months. I have eyes on the Woldsman as my first 50. However, even before that I quite fancy the Hardmoors 55 - look it up, sounds great. If I don't do that I'll probably do the Jurassic Coast Challenge - another 3 mara in 3 days. One thing I defiantely want to do is the Yorkshire 3 peaks race. I've wanted to do that since before I even ran! Its a great feeling that the qualification of to long A/B cat fell races (or med A) that scared me more than the race I bagged in a few short months this summer.... and enjoyed them enough to do more.