Flower Scar- English Champs AM 2024

 Well, it's been a while since I lined up on an English champs start line. Yes, there is a reason, no, it is not necessarily of my own volition. There is some small chance of a team placing in the MV40 throughout the year, and so I am very much doing my part in that. This is not to say that race shape is anywhere near, though that will probably become a little more clear in a moment. 

Chris and I recced the route, up by Todmoden, a couple of months ago. It looked to be a pretty fierce little race with some spicey uphills and some very slippy slidy downhills. As is ever the case with A Medium events, the pace was going to be high, and thus some speed training was going to be in order. 

Let's just say that didn't exactly happen for one reason or another. Essentially, whenever I tried to pick up the tempo in training, something didn't quite work. Tendonitis happened, various other things occured, with the upshot being that any semblence of running form and consistency that had been built up over the winter just kind of faded away into the past. Not good. Especially when 3 weeks ago the tendinitis flared, and 7 days ago a calf just decided that it wasn't going to play ball and I limped home after not even 3k of what was going to be a bit of a decent bash around the old stomping ground of the IOW. 

Halfway through the week, I still hadn't run and was a little unsure if the race was even going to happen for me. Rest- complete rest, seemed to be the only correct option. A short (5 mins) on a treadmill on Thursday showed that there was still some level of ability beyond just walking (even if only for 800m) and so it was that Stefan picked me up absurdly early on Saturday.

It was beautifully clear, and we got a parking space very close to race registration due to being 3 hours early, and then sloped off into Tod for a coffee. A very pleasant way to start the morning. Time passed and eventually we got ready for the mudfest to come. 

The initial climb is almost single track- it's kind of slightly wider than that with a small amount of opportunity for overtaking, but the ground is very very churned up and slippy, so you need a lot of energy to get past people. In order to spread us out before that, there was a thunderous lap around the field in what was basically XC conditions. It was very evident that a lot of people have been doing XC over the winter and have come into the season in very good form. Me? Not so much. I appear to have regressed to a single speed where anything above that results in a serious rev limiter that just brings me down again. 

To be honest, today I wasn't too worried about that. What with the recent calf troubles, the main aim of the day was to get around without anything falling off or breaking, so I trundled around the field- spattered with mud before even getting onto anything resembling a hill, and then- the first up of the day. 

If you've read ANY of my race stuff previously in the last decade or so, you'll notice a theme. "I must get better at up hills". It would seem that speed on an incline is not really a strength of mine... and so it proves everytime I line up for a race. Up through the mud of the first hill I was there or thereabouts, but as soon as it became runnable, a number of runners went past. I gained a few on the next section around the double track and then lost a few on the subsequent up. 

Across the stubby grassland I was able to settle into a bit more of a running rhythm, and then down over and across to the climb to Flower Scar, I was astonished to find myself just behing Nic Barber. Ah well, I guess we're both getting old(?!) or slow... or, whatever... A slow climb and a dib at the top, and then down to check 2- a decently runnable section where in previous years I'd have been going hell for leather. Not today thanks, I need my legs for later. 

Through the mud at CP2, and a long semi-runnable climb back up towards the turbines and the access road. This one the one time in the race that I felt pretty decent. Rough, chossy ground on a runnable incline that everyone else seemed to hate. My heartrate stayed at a copable level and I gained time on a few people. Then, hitting the top, onto the access road, hard ground... boom. Off they all went again. It seems that flat, hard roads are not my thing either. Damn it. Across and over to the turbine and then a fantastic semi-downhill section through horrendous chossy bog and mud. Glorious- I took back the time just lost on the road, and came out of that section ahead of the group that I had entered it behind. Dibbed at check 3, and then... downhill on hard ground. Off they all went again. 

It was a long enough section to be annoying before it dropped to the right into a veritable obstacle course of general detritus- I jumped over a ladder at one point (on it's side... c'mon, I'm not that tall), someone else got spiked by something. It was old workings of some kind- then a run around a pretty slippy quarry type section and then CP4 and into the trees. 

Slop. Just lots of slop- as you can imagine. Managed to hold my own as it was generally pretty grim hard work through it, and then out onto solid road again. Although it was downhill, my legs were starting to remind me that I really haven't run this hard for this amount of time in *quite* some time and are not really all that happy with me. On the up side, neither of my calves were giving me any gyp. 

Down the hard pack, trying not to get tripped up by any of the general debris and potholes down it, over a stile and hard right to slide down a bank, over a stream, and then a hard steep slope to get to CP5 and a short road section- where my legs, again, were very much saying... really? Is this what we're doing now? Because we're pretty tired, to be honest....

Up into another quarryworks, and a steep climb to the top, along through more mud and then a slidy, muddy, fast downhill- dodgy underfoot in places, another area where I seemed to gain time on a number of people, before dibbing at the bottom and IMMEDIATELY losing all places gained as we trudged up through what can only be described as a "field", but is more accurately described as "ankle to knee deep horse churned agricultural area". Ahead, you could see a line of people going up the steep sided valley. Only 2 miles or so to go, and this was the last uphill. But knowing that if I tried to increase pace or overclock it, I'd end up at the top of the hill, totally spent with nothing left to give even on the descent- I kept within tolerances, run/walking up the hill. Didn't lose too many places, and kept those who did pass me in sight. 

Once at the top, it was a case of a short section of across the hill, and then downhill all the way. We'd done all this on the way up, so everyone knew the terrain. Muddy, squelchy, unstable underfoot, loamy through the trees and generally great with the right shoes. I let go a bit on the way down- but no where near as much as I would have done in the past and gained back a few places. There were, of course, some who came past me- but on the final really slippy bit at the bottom of the hill, I gained them back, and held onto the final sprint at the end. 

100th overall, 10th v40. I'm pretty happy with that- but even more happy that my right calf seems to be absolutely fine after last weeks worry, and the left achilles... well, it aches a bit this morning, but nothing totally out of the ordinary. 

Lovely little race. Very muddy. Basically a cross between a fell race and Cross country. 

Personally- I felt like I was stuck in third gear for the entirety of the race. Not looking forward to the AS's as they tend to need an extra EXTRA gear coz they're so short. MAYBE I might have some extra something for the AL's? I don't know, we'll see. 

Yeah- no pictures again. I must be getting camera shy in my old age. 

you can have a look at my Strava though....