After a good strong run out on the KD, i went downhill fast and almost passed out the next day. The cold was stinking. I persisted with the long work days (hard to take time off when you're self employed) and got worse and so didn't run at all until Thursday evening, when 15 mins and one railway was enough to floor me. I tried again on Friday, my supposed big day, when all i could manage was a 3 hour run on moel famau which clocked up about 14 miles and 3500' of climbing when i was supposed to do double that. I just had to turn back after bagging Fennli and Moel Famau twice via a bracken fest of a route as i ran out of energy and felt sick. Being able to knock off a mid-winter BGR seemed like a world away and far beyond me.
The next day i was booked in to do Race the Train at Tywyn (middle of bloody nowhere), a 14 mile muddy trail race which has about 1200' climbing in it. 21 runners from Tattenhall were organised, along with new, customised club gazebo (!) for what i knew was going to a good laugh. I felt a bit better and decided to go and do it as a training run, just get round... I should have respected it a bit more, esp as it was pouring down. We all got soaked and i ran harder than i thought i would. I felt 'fuzzy' all the way round and clocked 1:48 which given the terrain and distance and horrible head was quite a decent run. I couldn't just run, i raced and pushed hard. Kill or cure just about landed on the 'cure' side but it was a gamble.
Next day i felt very stiff, the race was persisting. I decided to go and do six railways with sore legs, good practice for those later legs on the round. I imagined each climb was the last 300' of Fairfield and just kept moving. In truth i know Fairfield on leg 4 will feel much tougher going a/c!
In all I managed about 7,400' ascent and descent that week, which was reasonable given how i felt, but the simple fact is that it is not enough.
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| Wet Tattenhallers after a soggy Race the Train |
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