High Peak Marathon

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There is no "I" in team, and a team we would be. 

After a 6 month hiatus from racing (and running to some extent) my return to the fold would be the High Peak Marathon. A 42 mile bogfest in the Peak District that attracts some of the best fell/ultra runners in the UK. In teams of 4 you must navigate overnight, over bleak and often featureless moorland, in the final throes of winter no less. A great challenge, and as my first team event a new dynamic on running and working together to achieve a common goal. I'm not going to lie, the prospect of compromising my usual reckless race style (go out fast, slow a little before a strong finish) to run at others pace was going to take some getting used to.

My team (Has anyone seen Tigger?) comprised Simon Mills; the other half of ultra trail, fell running phenom, Sally Fawcett. A strong runner in his own right, on 2 occasions he's finished a couple of minutes or so in front of me at the Highland Fling, and a fantastic orienteer that comfortably steered the team through the night. Next up is Charlie Elliot, currently running under the tutelage of Marcus Scotney with some great results at the Tour de Helvellyn. Finally we had Kristian Groom, a last minute entry who I'm reliably informed is the fastest of all of us - with the caveat that he'd never run an ultra so was untested over that distance. With him currently training for a BG attempt, I wasn't overly concerned about his strengths though. Our team name came about because our team Captain, Ian Winterburn was absent due to illness and injury.

Talking about concern, my biggest doubt was around my own ability to run the distance. 6 months out with over training syndrome has left me full of anxiety about my capacity to run for many hours without my energy systems giving out. Only time would tell.

Kit wise I opted for Salomon Sense Soft Grounds for the incredibly slippy terrain. And for warmth I went with a Salomon insulated long sleeve top and running tights with the Salomon Bonatti water proof. This proved a winning combination with it keeping me warm enough yet breathable as to prevent me from getting too wet through the effort.

Catching up with friends old and new

The hour or so prior to the race was probably my highlight of the weekend. Seeing lots of familiar faces from the running community and some superstars of the sport (Scotney, Paris, Spinks, Pascall etc). Simon spent the time eating far too much and I was photographed, embarrassingly eating constantly by Jen Scotney.

The team getting some pre-race nutrition

The format of the race was a staggered start to enhance the navigation aspect of the challenge. The idea being the fastest teams set off last to theoretically cause all teams to see each other throughout the night. In my humble opinion we were seeded far to high, in 5th place. Not one to moan, I was happy to run in amongst some truly elite teams for a (short) while.

Setting off at 23:40, it was nice to emerge out into the night and find the rain had abated. In fact it was quite warm once we started moving. The initial road section allowed me to start moving easily and feel the comfort found in a movement practiced for hour upon hour. I already felt we were moving well as a team, my biggest anxiety being myself or someone else might be wanting to travel at such a different pace it would be uncomfortable. Not the case. It was good to drop into an easy rhythm before we hit the first climb up towards Hollins Cross. Just before we hit the top of the slippy ascent, the team comprising Nicky and Beth came cruising by on steady jog. However as we hit the summit they had to wait for one of their team so we leaped the stile and moved on with a purpose. The trail along here was an absolute mudfest, giving me the early indication we were in for a fun filled night of bog hopping. Soon after we overtook Jasmin Paris's team, who had a member with some kind of issue. But onwards we ran, easily climbing the final slope towards Lose Hill. In doing so we were overtaking lots of other teams, filling us with confidence.

The descent off Lose Hill was something to behold. A frantic, impossibly slippy, muddy, vertical drop. Most logical thinking human beings would take their time to pick a good footing and a safe line off such a steep, borderline 90 degree death trap - not so with fell runners. All I can say is I was firmly out of my comfort zone, as regards to staying upright. Every step of the suicidal sprinting plummet was both terrifying and pure exhilaration. I thought on occasion we must be close to cracking Usain Bolts 100 metre record time - of course with a massive gravity advantage!! A sniper must have been nestled in the hillside somewhere, for every few seconds a runner smashed to the ground on the slick surface as if shot.

We reached the base, and after a deep breath and a quick pray to God (choose your relevant deity you would like to thank accordingly) for sparing us - we moved on with a purpose. The easy climb along the road to the base of Win Hill felt great. I was really pleased to be back racing!

The next ascent up Win Hill was a mixture of anxiety and enjoyment. The mostly vertical climb can only be power hiked, a skill I know I lack the conviction to train to a truly competent level. However it was on this climb that I started to be concerned my OTS was returning. a feeling of weakness deep inside that usually precipitates total body failure. However this wasn't to be, as we hit the top and we started running again I felt alright and only got stronger as the night progressed.

The next steep descent was again a mad capped slip sliding sprint of insanity - which on the whole I enjoyed profusely. The recent storm had left many trees across the path meaning we had to divert to find an optimal line. We kept the pace brisk to prevent the teams behind us trying to copy our route & soon enough we were running across Ladybower Dam wall.

The metaphorical carrot was dangled on the next climb towards Stanage as we caught several glimpses of another team ahead. This helped on the never ending road into the darkness as we chased up the hill.  The solid footing was quite welcome to up the pace a little, while still trying to be disciplined with our timings.

As we hit the check point at Stanage we were firmly back in slippy, muddy territory. It was here I really started to settle into the effort and the enjoyment factor increased tenfold. A short time later we hit the road at the top of Moscar. The aid ( only one of two in this race) had been moved from Moscar down to the lay-by near to Cutthroat Bridge. As we descended the road we upped the pace and started overtaking even more teams. The aid was a hive of activity, with loads of teams stood around frantically grabbing food and water. I quickly grabbed a sandwich and corralled the team to move on. No point hanging around when there's work/running to be done. I've never been one to hang about in aids, it just seems wasted time. I'd much rather grab some food and eat it while moving slowly from an aid.

We were soon back onto the rough stuff climbing the steep ascent towards Back Tor. The mist really came in and combined with the darkness it was hard to even see the rocky uneven ground at our feet. Me and Simon found this situation almost comical as we stumbled along the trail. When we hit the flagstones, that run out to the next check point at Cartledge Rocks, we were really able to pick up the pace again. And once again we found we were over taking others. It was always a lift to overtake other teams, showing that while the effort felt steady, we were moving at a decent pace.

We easily found the turn off the flags and I quickly resigned myself to spending the next 20 miles or so in anything up to knee and waist deep bogs. Having never raced an ultra in these sorts of conditions before it surprised me just how energy sapping it could be. I'm used to rocky trails and the like on the usual races I enter. But this was a different kettle of fish. I'm just glad Simon ably took up most of the navigational responsibilities, I had enough on trying to stay upright...

The next couple of hours saw us steadily move over the increasingly boggy terrain up towards Cutgate and beyond. The whole time, despite the clag and general darkness, Simon kept us on a good line, using a mixture of compass bearings and knowledge gleaned from recce's. On the run up and after Cutgate we overtook several teams to our right that seemed to be on inferior lines across the open moorland. Straight after Cutgate one of these teams dropped in behind us. They turned out to be the Polish quartet of 'Above 2000'. It very quickly became clear they were using our nav to follow on a good line. Despite trying to up the pace a little, they doggedly followed our line. We concluded we needed to stall with a comedy, fake shoelace tying incident. They took the hint and pressed on...on the wrong line...

After getting slightly left of the line on the steady run past the 1894 Stone, we got back on track and past and gapped a couple more teams. All this when I felt we were moving a little slow, which again was a good sign I was firmly back in the ultra running game.

Kristian and Charlie enjoying the snowy delights of Bleaklow

Most of the night had ended up being mostly rain free despite the biblical, stormy run up to the race. It was even a little warm in the early sections of the race. However as the sun began to break into a beautiful dawn, we hit Bleaklow, which for most is the trickiest section of navigation. Luckily for us, we'd had multiple trial runs prior to the race and pretty much nailed it perfectly. The only issue for me was melting snow, that had left large sections of ice cold water. It didn't take long for my feet to start getting cold and numb. The descent down onto the Pennine Way couldn't come soon enough. With the warmth returning to my feet I was much happier. I'd been steadily sipping Mountain Fuel and nibbling on Jelly Babies and it was doing the trick. My energy was high and spirits in a good place - it felt so good to be enjoying a long race with like minded friends.

Kinder Summit with Charlie and Simon

We chased a team down into Snake Summit, wrongly believing it might be Tom Saville, Stuart Walker etc (they were much further on running a cracking time). The sweet tea at Snake Summit aid was a godsend, but once again after the briefest of sit downs/squats (to ease my slightly tight hips) I was keen to get moving.

The following section I'd not reccied, which in itself allowed me an interesting journey of discovery for the last 10 miles or so. The first section up Mill Hill, I'd been pre-warned was highly runnable. This suited me just fine, the typical chossy, muddy and invariably soft and off camber running of this race didn't suit my more metronomic strengths. So off we went up the steadily ascending flag paving with another team behind us. The first signs of Kristian's maiden ultra started to show a little as he dropped off the pace slightly and was clearly digging deep. We held off to pull the team back together, only for the next, much steeper climb to see Kristian charge ahead with gusto on a fast power hike. His Bob Graham training clearly prevalent!

If I'm brutally honest the speed we travelled around Kinder seemed a little pedestrian, but with me getting tired, I was more than content to cruise along at this lacksidaisical pace. I suppose this was very much like my unplanned Lakeland 100 group race - it's always easy to resign to a lighter pace when travelling as a team. Still I was just soaking up the journey and enjoying the new day as it warmed significantly. The ground around Kinder was my perfect terrain with technical rocky trails making things even rosier. Soon glad to feel like I'm back!

Traversing around Kinder

The steady charge over Brown Knoll saw us catch up with our notional team manager and missing race leader Ian Winterburn. It was good to see him and seemed to invigorate the team into a final push. Skirting around Mam Tor towards the finish I was reminded why I love these long races so much. The adventure on such extended periods in the hills bring a euphoria near the finish that's difficult to replicate.

The start and the end of the race at Hollins Cross

The final descent once again showed a renewed Kristian who charged the downhill to the last short section of road. If he decides to enter ultras regularly he'll be a force to be reckoned with!

The final descent

We ran line astern to the finish along the road and soaked up the moment, laughing about our experiences. It was great to see Emma and Ava ringing the cow bells at the finish in Edale to top off the whole event.

Literally the second we finished

In the end we achieved 9th place, which amongst the talent competing and my return to ultras, I'm more than happy with. It was a fantastic team that gelled immediately; Krisitian grinding out an amazing first ultra, Charlie maturely reining us in early when we might have overcooked it, and Simon's nav and late pushing of the pace - I just turned up as a set of legs. The beer at the end, courtesy of Ian W was greatly received and earnt.

On reflection this was the best way to reintroduce myself to ultras and confirmation my body is well on the way to full recovery. With the Highland Fling just 2 months off, it's time to consolidate and start to push the training accordingly.

Thanks as always for the support from Salomon, Suunto and Mountain Fuel.

Most of the photo's in this report were courtesy of Jen Scotney, who kindly allowed me to use them, so a huge thanks to her.

Balance

Life is indisputably the pursuit of happiness, but our individual interpretation of that state is always subjective. My personal take is grounded in a simple 'work equals reward' ethic. My belief is that if one doggedly works towards any ambition, the rewards should eventually come to fruition. If only life could be that simple, where it’s often a paradigm.  It’s only through honest personal reflection and hard lessons learnt I’ve come to see some difficult realities. Life is a great balancing act – the Ying and the Yang if you like. And despite ambition, drive and determination the metaphorical wheels can very much come off at any time;

I began running about 5 years ago now, and within twelve months I’d run a half, a marathon and my first ultra. A year later, I was running 50 and 60 milers as hard as I could. I didn’t understand running easy, it just didn’t seem right to train hard and not honour that with anything less than my best effort. Of course, I was regularly struck with niggling injuries. However, I managed through these and soldiered on regardless. Others around me seemed to be able to churn out higher mileage training weeks without the same problems though. I questioned whether my training intensity, mostly in the hills of the Peak District, was too high on a day-to-day basis. The most likely causation factor was my relative infancy in the sport and a lack of strength in my body. Suffice to say I always pushed, believing that the rewards and gains would keep coming.

2015 saw me run my first hundred miler in the summer at the Lakeland 100. I was pleased with a finish there in 26 hours, but suffering a big slow down near the end I saw definite room for improvement. After a second place in a 50 miler in September (on already tired legs) I upgraded my White Rose Ultra entry to a hundred miler in November. This went surprisingly well coming 1^st male  in under 19 hours despite a developing virus and heavy fatigue from the years racing. On retrospect, although the results were pretty good for me, the underlying issues were largely ignored.

Over the winter I suffered with a lingering virus for over 6 months, but ambitions were still high with 3 more hundred milers lined up for 2016. Clearly this would become my undoing as the year unfolded with unsatisfactory performances and my first DNF back at the Lakeland.  Initially I reeled from the disappointed, but slowly became more pragmatic about my plight. After a final futile, and very slow, push round the Hardmoors 60, it was time to wake up to the reality of my situation and get some quality rest.

I frantically researched my condition, looking into the signs and symptoms of the dreaded over-training syndrome. At first the enforced rest made things worse, I was restless and hyperactive but also exhausted at the same time. Even ascending a flight of stairs saw me tired and breathless.

My experience with this ‘illness’ over a three month period has brought me to a series of conclusions about how I got here. I’ve clearly run too many 100 milers in a 12 month period, especially being new to the distance. Such strength in the body is not only a matter of will, it’s built with time and patience. Although I’d started a foundation, I’ve just piled too much on top causing everything to collapse. I’ve also never taken any significant time out in the last 5 years. I now firmly believe it’s healthy to have a good 2 to 4 week break once a year if you’re racing and training hard. It’s widely known that most training adaptions occur when resting. So in hindsight, to underestimate the value of time out now seems absurd.

It’s only now I see that running had become my identity. Without it I felt useless, crest fallen, with nothing to occupy my day and tire my ambitious character. Only time would serve to alleviate my symptoms and mentality. The support from family, friends and encouragement from the kind folks at Salomon would prove to be invaluable to my sanity during my recovery. As time passed, I tried to expand my repertoire without further straining my already crushed nervous system. Only now can I see the true value of cross-training to open my mind to the benefits of other activities. I’d forgotten the excitement of partaking in a new sport and seeing the initial steep learning curve and the satisfaction it brings. Revisiting climbing was like meeting an old friend, but trying skiing an exciting new adventure I can share with my family. Cycling is proving to be a great low-impact alternative to running while maintaining a level of fitness during my ‘rest’. All these new activities helped my mood and gave me a fresh perspective.

One of the most valuable aspects of my recovery has come from diet. I’ve learnt that a heavily fatigued adrenal system can only truly recover with quality nutrition. This means a combination of unprocessed foods such as fruits and vegetables. This gives a rested body the right vitamins and minerals to rebuild in strength. I also took the time to step away from running much of my long runs in a fasted state. While I believe this has allowed me to become well fat adapted, it wouldn’t be wise to strain my systems any further. In my search for answers I also discovered the role of the autonomic nervous system regarding my medical plight. It seemed my sympathetic nervous system (responsible for the flight or fight response) had become over active. In contrast I needed to kick start the parasympathetic nervous system back into play which enables rest and recovery. To assist in recovering from an overactive sympathetic nervous system I needed to cut stimulants from my daily intake. That meant no more caffeine of any sort and a reduction in sugars, which although that sounds like drastic measures the results speak for themselves. Despite cutting back certain food types, I was cognisant of the fact that at the same time failing to fuel my body properly could easily be a backwards step. With this in mind, as well as fuelling on the run with mountainfuel.co.uk, I also used their recovery fuel to help me bounce back after training.

Over the last three months for every 3 steps forward in recovery, I’ve taken the odd slip back when I’ve over exerted myself, or when night shifts have just exhausted me further. However I’ve been monitoring my recovery using the sleep test on my Suunto that measures heart rate variability overnight. I’ve also run a regular 'fitness' test which involves running a flat 3 mile route at a specific heart rate – the results being that my pace increased at that same HR shows my health and fitness returning to normal.

The rejuvenation from trying new activities has proven ultimately healing physically and mentally. It's also meant more time available to connect and share new experiences with my family. While I’m well on the road to recovery now, it’s not without some hard lessons learnt. I’m excited moving forward armed with a new repertoire of knowledge and activities to enhance my fitness and performances going into 2017.

#TimeToPlay

Huge thanks to Salomon, Suunto and Mountainfuel for their ongoing support, especially through my testing times.