Wasdale Fell Race 2024- English Champs

 So my place in the English Champs has already been assured. It isn't great, but having done a short, 2 mediums and a long means that whatever it is, it is. Considering that the current plan is to train up for the Trans-Pyrenees race on the bike, I thought it might be "fun" to cycle to Wasdale on Friday, race the race and then cycle home again. To Glossop. 

All set and ready to rock.

Any hopes that Lynne would tell me not to be silly and what a crazy idea that would be were dashed, and she packed me off with a smile and a wave on Friday morning. The original intention was to do it with just bikepacking gear, but carrying fellrunning kit and a sleeping bag etc. meant that I ended up with panniers on a pannier rack instead, which made the whole thing somewhat hard going. 

Oh great, THIS is what you need after 100miles.

Suffice to say I was worrying about wrynose and hardnott for about 100 miles, and still managed to get over them. Happy days. Got to the Achillie Ratti club hut in Wasdale for about 7, made some food and fairly swiftly went to bed, having made what I hope was some kind of sensible conversation with Jonny and family and Donnie who were also staying at the hut.

In the morning, my legs felt somewhat ok, but I was most certainly, systemically tired. The ride down to the start was not the most spritely, and while everyone else seemed to be bouncing around, doing warm ups and jogging about, I was standing in a warm jacket (which I was about to carry around the whole thing), whilst wondering if *just* a vest was going to be warm enough- there was quite a stiff breeze coming down the valley. 

Thankfully Colin B had a spare short sleeved helly that he let me borrow (I carried 10kg of the lightest kit I own to this race, and not a single helly!) which made me feel a little better. Wasdale is a bit of a beast. This is my first time on the race, and it really is a legend in it's own lunch time. What is hard is that although it is long and has insane amounts of height gain and loss, you are never actually all that far from the valley- it is VERY easy just to quit- because it's just a jog downhill. 

My plan for the day was to start slowly. And then, probably get even more slow as time went on. To be honest, I definitely stuck the plan! Fast running was not going to be a part of this race for me. The initial hill is classed as a "gentle climb"- over Illgill head. If you're Finlay Wilde at the front of the race, it is very runnable indeed. If you're at the back of the race, it is *maybe* runnable, but you know that you're going to regret it later in the day. As they say, many people go out too fast at the beginning and really regret it by hour 2/3/4. So I went slowly. No running until we got to the top. Funnily enough the breeze that had be very present in the start field had completely gone away and I was cursing my choice of borrowing a helly from Colin- but was fairly sure it was going to come in useful later in the race as I started slowing down and chilling off. 

The Ladies (and MV60) start

Over the top of Illgill head, off to Whin Rigg, and a mass of runners was in front of me. No worries about getting lost here. Checkpoint on the top of the Rigg and then a steep drop to the Southern end of Wast Water and a steady run through the flagged section of the course to Greendale. All conversation had ceased by this stage as the running takes a bit more concentration than just stumbling up a hill. 

Water stop at Greendale and then up Middle fell a ways, cut around the back, over Greendale Gill and a Long Long climb up to Seatallan. My left heel was starting to rub, so a stop to re-tighten the laces was necessary- it seemed ok after that. This certainly isn't a race which is going to have a huge difference for me if I'm a couple of minutes slower... so being bothered to maintain comfort is fairly necessary. 

Some misty rain kept threatening to come in as we climbed, and was certainly coming in a bit more on the journey down through Pots of Ashness. The route taken across here was a fair bit higher than that which I anticipated having looked at the map previously, but it meant that coming above Little Lad Crag meant significantly less climb to get to the col between Little Scoat fell and Red Pike. 

Waterproof gloves had made an appearance along here, as my hands were getting cold. We'd started to catch up with the runners who had started off 30 mins prior to the Open start- though I felt like I was moving pretty slowly to have only really started getting to those people at this stage of the race. 

Round the bottome of Black crag, and I was having a conversation with a guy from Clayton-le-moors who mentioned the cut off at Great Gable was at 2:30. ... 2:30?! We weren't even at Pillar yet and it was coming up to 1:50. Certainly there was no way I was going to get to Gable for that time.... and if *I* wasn't going to get there, there were a LOT of people behind me who were also going to get timed out. This made me reflect on being in a race where you're fighting cut offs... I wasn't particularly enthralled about the idea of pushing as hard as possible just to get to a time cut, to then be one of the slowest around. I'd just keep going at whatever speed I could, and see what happened. 

Down off Pillar following what is most likely the Bob Graham route, down to Black Sail Pass and then a really quite horrible traverse under Kirk Fell to make the short but very steep ascent to Gable. The Clayton-le-Moors guy who I was bouncing back and forward with took a superb fall into and through a bog at this point, pretty much covering his entire front half in mud. Quite an impressive fall. He didn't want to go back and re-create it for a camera though. 

The view from the side of Gable back into Wasdale

By the time I was cresting the summit of Great Gable it was 2:45 and I was resigned to being told "well done, but we're afraid you're past cut off- please make your way back to Wasdale". In fact, I was almost delerious with delight that I wouldn't have to make a choice as to whether to carry on or not. The decision would be out of my hands and I'd HAVE to take the short route home. 

Imagine my state of mind when I was greeted with a cheery "hello. Well done!". Nothing about cut offs. Hmmm. "What time is the cut off?" I asked.... "half past" came the answer.... "Half past what?". 

Three. 

Damn. Looks like the race is continuing then.... From this point on for the majority of the route, mudclaws (which until... well, Pillar had been fine) were basically a liability. Wet, slick rock. Great if you have irocs, but not mudclaws. A couple of hours of teetering around then- and the descent of Gable was the first point where my legs REALLY started to let me know that cycling 220km the day before might not have been a great idea. My descent was not one for the legends of history, but was a rather ginger affair and took a considerably longer time than I would have liked... however, better to get down well and intelligently than too fast and in a crumpled mess. A quick stop at the Stretcher box at Sty head to tighten the OTHER shoe and then a stumble walk/run up the path to Sprinklin tarn, and then upward still to Esk Hause.... from the bottom of Gable, it's essentially uphill ALL the way to Scafell summit. 

Just prior to the Hause, the Clayton runner started to pull away from me and was disappearing into the mist as we ascended. I wasn't too bothered about that as the route is the same as the Old County Tops. My concern was at the top of the Pike, although the route takes the tourist path to begin with- I've never actually been that way off the hill.... it'd be nice to have someone else to look out for, rather than rely on map and compass work at the tired end of 5 hours of running.

So I downed some more food and got my head down across the rocks and dodgy ground across to Scafell Pike. Last hill. I gained some time on the final ascent and reached the peak at the same time as the Clayton chap and another runner. We turned and took the tourist route- dodging tourists as much as possible on the way down the massive path to Lingmell col, picking up another couple of runners in th process- while the Clayton guy had another tumble- this time onto rock and stone rather than bog, so we took a few moments to make sure he was ok- and ran on together to the col.

A final run down a hill. By this time my legs were well and truely cooked. Running as a concept had been shuffling for about 5 hours, and there was going to be no sudden turn of speed, just a contiuous move in a downhill direction. As we hit the steeper part of the descent I stifled a groan and some profanities, and noticed that a female Todmorden runner was making much better progress just to the right of us- evidently a well reccied individual, so I dropped down and followed what wasn't really a line, but was better than the path. A little further down the way, I spied a scree line and surfed down that, seemingly leaving those behind me by quite a way. 

Then it was just a general "fall down a hill with some kind of style" at the end. I was NOT moving fast, but I was moving faster than those behind me, and finally came into the finish at a smidge over 5:30. 126th overall. Lower down in the results than I would normally expect to come, but perfectly happy with simply getting around. 

According to Chris (who ended up coming first V40!) I looked a fair bit shellshocked... which really doesn't surprise me. 

The bit that was worrying me now was getting back over Hardnott and Wrynose the following day!

Top of Wrynose

So- a longer story cut short, I did indeed get over the passes, and got back to Glossop the next day despite snapping a gearcable 20k out and effectively having to jury rig a single speed to get home. 

This morning, stairs are difficult. 

So. Have you given up running then?

If you've been following my Strava for the past few months you might be forgiven for thinking that I've totally given up on running. Cycling has been the dominant exercise in my life and stomping around the hills has taken something of a back seat. 

There is of course a reason for this- and that reason is the TPRNO.4. Yes, the TransPyrenees Race- number 4. It is a long distance, non-stop cycling race that goes across the Pyrenees and back. I was somewhat taken with the idea of it a couple of years ago, and successfully got through the somewhat rigourous entry forms for the TPRNO.2. However, it rapidly became clear that the race was going to cash with the placement part of my MSc. - the bit that I was REALLY looking forward to- and I ended up canning the idea of doing the race. 

Happily, I had an excellent placement with Dr. Chris McCarthy at MMU which really propelled my learning. However, the idea of the TPR has been in the back of my mind ever since. 

This year, I wondered about trying to get into the TCR- the trans-continental race- which is the somewhat longer brother of the TPR- but with a lot less climbing. The idea of these races is that everyone starts in the same place and has the freedom to navigate between set points. Some of these points are actually "Parcours"- sections of road that are mandatory for competitors, while others are simple checkpoints. The problem with the TCR is that it takes place at the time of my parents Golden Wedding Anniversary- so that ruled that out completely- which swung me back to the TPR. 

 Now- a couple of quick stats on this. I have to say that I am NOT a natural climber on the bike. Nor am I a rouleur, or anything like that. I certainly don't have masses of power at my disposal, and am a fairly average biker at the best of times. The fact that the race itself advertises itself as "one for the grimpeurs"- ie. climbers should give you an idea of the fact it is *quite* hilly. 

Maybe that is a slight understatement. 

The race is from Girona and goes all the way across the Pyrenees to the Atlantic- whereupon you turn around and come back to Girona again- via the mediterranean coast. I've been planning the route for a while now, using various online route planners- Komoot, ridewithgps, google maps etc. and the shortest route I can get is about 1850km. With nigh on 50,000metres of ascent. 

The winner last year finished in 4 and a bit days- and there is a 7 day cut off, so to finish in the cut off I need to cover about 300km a day, with some days hitting about 6500m of elevation. For 7 days. 

Now. I should definitely mention here that until about 4 weeks ago I'd only ever cycled 200km about 3 times, and never gone above 201km in a day before. I've now hit 240 with about 3000m of ascent, and still have *quite* some way to go before I hit the heady heights of the numbers I need to be comfortable with. 

Although it is ostensibly a race, the main thing I will be trying to do is complete it in time for the finishers party in Girona, 7 days after the start. There will be many people on very snazzy bikes with lightweight stuff. People camping/sleeping by the side of the road, some crazy routes etc. I will be doing it on my Steel Fairlight Secan with as little stuff as I can get away with. I won't be going around trying to find the lightest carbon fibre everything to make it just a touch lighter- but what I WILL be doing is an absolute load of training to make myself as strong as possible to get up as many hills as possible with the least amount of cumulative fatigue. 

I've been out training on hills that are as long and steep as I can around Glossop- and there are a lot of them. But obviously nothing compares to the actual hills and mountains of the Pyrenees. 

Those numbers...300km and 6000m a day. Scary. 

This is why Im doing more cycling.

However, this is not to say that I have totally forsaken running. As you may or may not have noticed from this blog, I've managed to get to 4 English fell champs races this year, and I should be at Wasdale as well. (I'm cycling there and back, just for good measure- can you tell I don't really care what place I get?!) and will be at Cracken Edge in August. 

Still running. Thanks to Colin for the photo

I don't want to lose the "bounce" that your tendons get when running, so am getting out here and there, practicing my downhill speed, and just enjoying myself. Indeed, I have a couple of plans for this autumn and winter once the TPR is done and I'm off the bike a bit more. In the mean time I suspect there might be a few blogs about the cycle training- and then "normal" service ie. more running will resume come winter. 

The TPR itself is run by lostdot.cc so there will most CERTAINLY be a dot to watch, painfully making its way across the pyrenees come September/october. If you're interested in looking at more about the tpr- this is the link. Im sure that closer to the time, when I have a number etc. I'll post a link with my dot link. 

Til then. Saddle time.

Buttermere Sailbeck Fellrace 2024- English Champs

 A little later than planned due to a minor week long hiatus in computer access (Spine race safety team stuff)- 

As long as I completed the Buttermere Sailbeck race, it would be the first time I have ever completed enough races to be elegible for the English Champs. So off we went to Buttermere. The race itself is about 14k long with 1500m of ascent and descent. Having not recced it, I was going off a very limited knowledge of the hills, looking at a map, and attempting to be sensible. 

The weather was grey, intermittently damp, and generally wet underfoot. With a lot of grassy ascents and descents, a pair of shoes with decent grip was going to be fairly important- (in comparison, say, to a pair of shoes with a bit less grip, but that gives you more connfidence on wet rock). 

Having had a torrid time on the last race- Pendle cloughs- where I really didn't have a good day for a number of reasons, I decided to take it very much at my own pace. Go out easy, bimble along on the way out, try to enjoy the climbs, and then trot back along the northern ridge and back down into Buttermere. It helped that it wasn't too hot and that I've been doing a LOT of cycling recently- so I was hoping for a much easier day of it than at Pendle. 

(yes, I know its a race, but really... it makes more sense to me to enjoy it). 

So I started off mid-pack, and there is a long run out along what is ostensibly a single track with a lot of bracken on each side of it. There isn't much opportunity to overtake, so you tend to shuffle along at whatever speed the people around you are at. Ok, so the guys at the front stretch out the lead, but I'm not going to be troubling them for places anytime soon. On the occasional section where you could skirt around, I gained a couple of places, but wasn't going too mad about it. The going was soft underfoot, and the pace was very ameinable. 

Down a bit of a muddy section to the start of the first climb which went on for *quite* a long time. I pushed on a little here, gaining a number of places on the climb up into the mist- which was a bit of a surprise. Climbing is not a strong point for me- but I was keeping things under control, steady breathing, and not going into the red, and as a result, I was able to run across the first section of ridge, gaining more places on the way down the steep section- opting for the heather, rather than the slippy path section. 

I think places were maintained up to the next checkpoint, whereupon there is a rather delightful downhill section into the valley- plenty of mud, plenty of grip needed, and a decent level of lead was gained over those behind. Across a massive muddy/boggy patch and then onto a single track where I was held up for a time behind a slower runner from the ladies race. Not a problem for me in the slightest, and I certainly wasn't about to muscle through with limited space. Runners caught up behind me, and I could see the start of the ascent up Causey Pike just around the next corner. Through the check point and there was a little opening up where we overtook and started the monster climb to the top of the Pike. 

Considering the number of people behind me, and knowing there were some pretty decent climbers in the bunch, there was a hint of a thought of stepping aside to let them lead up the hill... but then, no-one else would have done that for me- thinking back to having to overtake through heather and bracken uphill on previous hills, so I settled in to tap out a decent rhythm. To begin with there was a lot of heavy breathing close behind- but this is a LONG hill, going out at a crazy pace would simply end up with me going into the red and having to stop... the same rhythm just kept going, and by a couple of hundred more metres, the breathing receded and I was (somewhat astonishingly) off on my own. 

Passed a few more of the slower ladies from their race, bypassing into the heather (less of an issue on the way up than on the way down, it has to be said), taking care not to impinge on their lines or their race. The hill is indeed a long one, with a decent scramble at the end. By now, the mist had turned to rain and the rock underfoot was really rather slippy with mudclaws on. Making sure that I was placing my feet well, having hands on rock where necessary, and taking a gel or two on the way up meant that I was maintaining my pace and place. 

The fun part about Buttermere Sailbeck is that everyone thinks that once you hit the top of Causey Pike, the climbing is done- but oh no- you still have to get up Sail and Eel crag- and there were runners smattered all over the hillside, working their way up either the direct line, or up the zigzag path. I opted for the direct line, thinking that there wasn't too much in the way of ascent after the top. 

A bit of fog was down, but no-where near enough to need to bother with a compass to find the way off towards Whiteless Pike- perhaps one of the best sections of any area of the Lake District... a beautiful ridge with excellent views, and fabulous descents. Through the checkpoint, and off down... though not really sure of the race line. I took the path for a short while til I spied runners below and to the left, so dropped down to join them, and from there could see a decent descent line. I thought that not going all out was probably the best plan, and, although not bimbling, certainly didn't do the whole "drop like a stone" finish that I might have employed in days gone by. 

A lovely descent, with a final run in- and a final placing of... oh, I don't know. Still, I've done enough to be in the English Champs. No- I wasn't nailing it, but had a decent day out. 

As Im writing this in retrospect, I must also add the DOMS from the descents was somewhat epic... monday and tuesday were HORRENDOUS.