After the success of the High Terrain events inaugural Trail
running weekend in April I was looking forward very much to their
"Ultra" version on the same theme. Two days of running in the
beautiful Lake District, sharing advice and testing kit sounded right up my
street.
We were
fortunate enough to be staying once again at Derwentwater Independent Youth
Hostel www.derwentwater.org which was
fantastic when we stayed there in April and somewhere I will be sure to stay
again in the future. I arrived later than I would have liked to on the Friday
eve as I couldn't leave work until 4.30. Upon arrival at just after six, the
runners had been kitted out in the Salomon test kit for the weekend by "Mr
Salomon James" and were just heading off out for their run along the
lakeshore towards Keswick. I was pleased when James asked if I fancied running
out to try and catch them up so I hastily checked in, threw some shockingly
uncoordinated gear on and dashed out of the door.
We had a lovely evening run and caught the group up in Keswick and enjoyed the
run back with them. A nice 7k from Derwentwater Lakeshore to Friars Crag.
Dinner
(amazing!) then followed and then an informative talk by Sam Meadows (Ultra
training and Development LTD) www.ultra-training.co.uk
about planning training and training schedules.
Problems were shared and helpful suggestions given. The planning freaks
of the group (ie - me!) were exposed and we discussed different strategies to incorporate
training plans that worked for different people. There isn't one approach that
works for everyone and in my opinion you don't find training plans in magazines
that suit the sort of running I do. I think much of it comes with experience
and with messing things up occasionally!
My "training" at the moment - I don't class as training at
all, for me it is just a case of trying to keep up base miles of about 35-40
miles a week and trying to keep my body injury free.
Morning dawned
far brighter than the weather forecast had predicted so a good few hours on the
fells for all the group was the plan. We headed out following the Lakeshore to
Lodore Woods and a beautiful Waterfall. Then on towards Manesty then a climb to
Hause Gate, I really struggled with the climb up and felt really out of breath
so just eased off and walked steadily up the climbs. As we reached the summit of Maiden Moor I
came to a bit more and felt more normal, running felt fine again. We continued
on towards High Spy and Dalehead Tarn. Of course, as always I enjoyed my
downhill descents and the descent down Rigghead Quarries put a smile on my
face. For the first time in weeks my "baby bladder" seemed to be
behaving and I didn't feel that I had to stop every 0.5 miles for a comfort stop!
Progress! All the runners were fuelled by wonderful 9bars www.9bar.com for the run and the feedback on
those was great. Especially the fruity ones! I ate half a 9bar breakfast bar –
yummy and some Starburst red chews on the run, I seem to be struggling with
food when I am running more than normal at the minute so I didn't eat much.
There were stops
to cover navigation on the run and also a couple of sessions on descending and
climbing techniques which people seemed to find useful. It is really easy to
spot the runners who live in cities and those who live in the hills on these
events - clearly descending only comes with constant training. The group were
doing well and all the runners seemed to be keeping together pretty well
although I was really struggling with discomfort in my stomach, so eased off
and dropped closer to the back of the group. I suppose after running for three
hours I couldn't really complain. Think Baby was telling me it had had enough
of being bounced about and could we go home now? So a good four hours of
running in the fells and we even stayed mostly dry.
A filling lunch
was out for our return to the hostel and after refuelling and showering we were
treated to some more knowledge on injury prevention and nutrition from Phil
Smith, who is an incredibly experienced runner and triathlete, along with being
a genuinely nice guy. This was a really interesting session and all sorts of
discussions were had on what people do and what injuries people have had and
overcome. My take on this - Core Core Core! Seems to work for me so I will
stick with it! Thanks Duncan and Andy my superb physios at www.athletematters.co.uk who keep me
healthy.
For the evening
we had a lovely chap called John Owens from Leki www.leki.co.uk who came along to talk to us
about using Trekking or Nordic style poles in Ultra races. I have never used
them, probably as I don't know how to but have seen lots of people use them in
the Ultra events I do. We were really well informed about the different
benefits and advantages to using them in races and it seems that I haven't yet
bought all the kit I need! So maybe something to look into in the future for
races.
The final treat
of the evening was a visit by the very knowledgeable Martin Bergerud From Petzl
www.petzl.com to talk us through the different Petzl head torches available that people may
wish to use for night running. As a pretty experienced night fell runner and
night racer I love headtorch running and know that I have the best head torch
available. It isn't a Petzl one but then costs a lot more than the Petzl ones
so it all depends on what you want it for, what you are prepared to spend and
who you know who can get you a good discount! ;-) CC! I agree the Hope R4 is
the best!
The torches were discussed and the benefits and possible
disadvantages of each were discussed, one of the key selling points of the
Petzl ones seems to be the Reactive lighting system which seems quite a good
idea for camping or night navigation although for me I like having a really
bright light and don't mind it being constant. A run up onto Walla crag for an
hour and a bit in the evening testing headtorches was a great way to finish off
a super day. Although I am really pleased that I only ate half my dinner that
evening or I do not think I could have even contemplated a run!
Sunday morning
again the forecast was dreadful but actually the sun was out and it looked
pretty promising! We began the morning session with some great work on
stretching and strength bands which people found really useful.
We also gave the "Hairy Bikers" something to smile over
as they watched us. Then we were joined by the lovely Ricky Lightfoot and the runners
were really pleased to be able to run with him and ask questions. Ricky is a
superb guy, dead down to earth and is really approachable, friendly and happy
to share his wisdom on running with anyone. Although you would think he would
have known that a T shirt may have been a better option than a long sleeved top
on a sunny day in May! ;-)
I didn't intend on doing the full distance of 30k on the run
today and had planned to get about 9 miles in as I didn't want to push it after
feeling a bit rough after the run the day before. We had a great run out
towards Castle Crag where I turned around and made my way back to the Hostel
for an ice cream and left the group to carry on their jaunt. They continued for
31k and 1150m of ascent on a stunning route.
The group
finally returned looking bedraggled and somewhat worse for wear a couple of
hours later than initially planned but smiles were on faces and everyone seemed
to have had a really enjoyable weekend of the best trail running the lakes has
to offer.
A massive thank
you to Ian and Emily at High Terrain Events www.highterrainevents.co.uk for another fabulous weekend. I
can't wait for the next one.....I have already told Phil he is coming along as
chief baby sitter whilst I have a nice weekend running again.
