After doing the Accumulator last May I do now in hindsight wonder what possessed me to do this again. It was tough and I finished the last one but with an injury. I guess we knew there would be no races, our ski trip was cancelled and the likelihood of climbing in Spain getting dim. Maybe this time would be easier?
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| Fantastic conditions on Bowland at the start |
The weather was certainly very different with some grim days during January. I did not have as much snow or ice as some in other parts of the country had to contend with but I would much rather be too hot than cold and wet.
No ultra runner goes out to run 1 mile and so on the 1st Jan I set out to enjoy a Calder Vale Round of my own invention. It gave me a lovely loop of 28km and a few hills plus some bits I didn't know very well at all which is always fun. We were really being asked to 'Stay Local' what ever that might mean so for the next two days I did run from home. Local paths and roads are a bit boring so I discovered Turfing. It is a game on an app- you go to places called zones and get points. Initially I was sceptical and my old I phone seemed to struggle for GPS, and for a link to their server and with battery life. I persevered and it became quite addictive. Three days done and 36 miles rather than 6 done but all was good.
To celebrate I ran The Wyresdale Skyline on the 4th. This goes from the old PO in Quernmore to the PO in Scorton. An early start and an amazing sun rise.
There are some great route suggestions on the Bowland Fellrunners website. A beautiful 37km and not a soul on the hills until the predictably crowded Nicky Nook. I was loving being out on the hills and the weather was OK. The next day was a recovery with just the minimum distance but the following day I was back out on the hills I love but exploring new trods and so a rather slow 22km. Two more days of turfing followed as I used it to explore places close by that I rarely visit. Then came the snow. I was hoping that compacted snow and frozen bogs would make a long trip on Bowland a great idea. How wrong can you be!
My attempt at the Bowland top 6 peaks failed due to deep drifts of unconsolidated snow. I knew in my heart even before Clougha and Grit Fell that it might be too tough as three people on skis were making considerably better progress than me. After Wards Stone I was in waist deep snow at times and struggling to move enough to keep warm. Zero visibility made me feel sea sick as the ground came up to meet me or suddenly dropped away. It was not safe for me up there. I abandoned and escaped to the valley where it was hard to believe what conditions had been like and had me wondering if I had been a wuss and bailed too quickly. Still 35km done.
I mostly turfed after this- often doing one big run for the Accumulator but then going back out again in search of more zones.
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| Hard to believe there is a 3m wide cycle track here |
Much of it was wet, so wet that our local stream that is canalised flooded badly; by far the worst we have ever seen it. High tides (yes, this canal is affected by tides), heavy rain and melting snow...
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| The path has gone |
There was another trip to Bowland but it was shorter and on decent paths. I think the average total miles on most days was about 18 in the early/middle of the month. By the 25th it was getting tougher to find interesting local routes and to make my body move. Suddenly on the 27th after 8 miles something deep in my glutes and groin objected violently and I walked the remainder of my miles.
What to do? Could I walk it off? Should I stop? I had invested well over 400 miles in the challenge by now and only had 4 days left. In hindsight being pig headed and competitive has cost me dear but at the time it seemed that pushing on and avoiding another dnf was the right thing to do. I walked and hobbled the last 4 days, mostly in discomfort or pain and yes I even took a few pain killers.
Total of 620 miles for January and my worst injury yet. I could not walk up or down stairs, had to manually lift my right leg to get into bed etc and had to hold furniture to move around the house. Not good at all. It did ease very slightly and after a week of rest I could limp about.
I mentioned Turfing. Well you can Turf on foot or on a bike. I was still struggling to walk never mind run but I found that I could cycle OK. Getting on and off the bike was a bit of a comedy sketch and I only really had power in one leg but I could be outside and active.
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| Green are yours! Record for me pph of 666 |
A local orienteering club had challenged us to this 'Round' of Turf and so from 7th Feb for a month my competitive head was back on. At first that's all it was- a low key attempt to beat PFO and win for SROC. Then I realised I was winning the North West turf points. Getting on and off the bike became slightly easier and I cycled a bit more. Suddenly winning the UK points looked likely and so we hatched a plan. We found loops that gained maximum points for least effort and also loops that others did not do so we did not have to worry about being blocked and with the bonus that we kept the zones and so gained points per hour even though we did nothing. Fearglas in Scotland was cycling late each evening and taking zones giving her up to 1600pph over night. This was very frustrating as waking up to find the effects of this was a bit demoralising. In the end I came to realise that she was likely frustrated that her zones were only worth a few points by comparison whereas mine were often worth the full 185. We became addicts. Mid way through the month we had beaten PFO but our competitive heads were well and truly on. I started working my way up through the world rankings and getting a podium position looked very possible. Bob sacrificed his rides and we had a system where I followed him round as he cleared zones so we both got good points but I kept all the pph. We messaged other local turfers to check who was riding where and make sure we didn't block each other. By doing 3 big rides a day in this manner we stacked up points.
We started to love the dark rides each evening and the lack of people and dogs did make it more pleasurable. There was also less traffic. Knowing where all the zones are made it faster and getting an android phone solved the tech issues. It didn't all go smoothly. I had a very heavy fall on Blackpool Prom when a dog shot under my front wheel and another fall closer to home in the dark when I overcooked a complex kerb area. There was also a slightly disturbing few days of Trolling and stalking from some odd ball. Long story but nothing bad happened in the end.
Nearing the end of the month I was in 3rd place and just needed to make sure a guy in Berlin did not turf madly through the nights and catch me. He didn't. So 3rd rank in World and another good month of activity. This ended on Sunday 11am 7th March.
Sadly although I had kept a residual fitness I had done nothing about repairing the injury. Time for some serious rehab exercises and some physio. These worked up to a point but it was very very slow progress. Almost a month on and I can now do a decent walk although if it is very tough I am still sore and limping a little by the end. I still cannot really run and nothing much seems to be helping. I have started just doing long hard walks and trying to run a few hundred metres more each time and with days off with easy walks and cycle as recovery. Yesterday should have been our return to racing with the first race in the Runfurther series. I spent the day marshalling and running a CP instead. It is nice to volunteer and give back but I was madly jealous of the runners and to make matters worse they had great conditions underfoot and beautiful blue skies. I should perhaps avoid all Cockbain challenges in future?
