The Marathon des Sables

The weather took a rather exceptional turn at the weekend and left us with a coating of unseasonal November snow and biting winds. You would have been forgiven for thinking you had bonfire night, went to bed, slept in and awoke in mid January.
Still, this isn’t going to get your genial host down! So off I plodded for a 5 hour jaunt around the local trails of the Yorkshire Wolds.

I set off in a blizzard and after a couple of miles was out of town still in a blizzard, with the snow sticking more and more. The temperature was close to 0C when I set off, by the time I was out of town and the snow had set in it had dipped off further. At this point I could blame the snow in my eyes, the brain freeze inducing water from my bottles or the amount of snow that was stuck to the posts obscuring the signs, but alas there were no signs in all the places that you need signs.

So after going round Leconfield a few times and following a clearly marked path into a farmyard and following the right of way sign from the pig pen round and back to the pig pen I took to field hopping. I maintain the view here that you should always stick to rights of way but if a land owner doesn’t maintain the sineage and markings then ya boo to you. Now the snow and biting wind was really setting in so I followed some more footpath signs which petered out after about 15m from the start. Only one footpath I found was clearly marked and it took me out, across to the center of a ploughed field where a sign instructed me to go left which took me in almost a loop back to where I had set off …

I managed to pick up the original route I was looking for in the next village and went along it for a few miles before turning round and heading back. I tracked the route back until the signs ran out again. Thankfully I saw a landmark on the horizon I knew, followed a kind of path found a single sign pointing home and was spat out at the point I ran out of signs originally.

20 something miles and 4ish hours later I made it home intact with snow in virtually every orifice and wet socks. It wasn’t quite the distance or route I wanted but had certainly been a good slog.

Now the only thing left to do is taper for the Beacon Ultra!

This isn’t strictly ultra running related, or related at all … but it’s such a good weekend away that I feel I need to spill the beans and tell the world.

The Real Ale Wobble is a unique event and comprises the two normally mutually exclusively activities of Real Ale and Mountain Biking, they have though fused these two events into one amazingly crazy weekend in the Welsh hills around Llanwrtyd wells Wells.

Now that I am sat by a roaring fire in the front room it seems almost unreal that at some point during Saturday afternoon I was up to my waist in a peat bog requiring assistance of a fellow madman to pull me and my new bike out …

During the past 5/6 times I have done this event I have seen some serious mud, snow, rain, blood and beer but this was by far the wettest Real Ale Wobble I have been too! Waiting for the Enduro start along side over 600 riders, there was some great banter, Storm Troopers, single speed bikes a tandem mountain bike, and a dog in a bag.

To say it was muddy would be an understatement and it wasn’t long before I had to be pulled (bike and all) when I was up to my waist in a peat bog which I had found, inconveniently, in the middle of the path.

After some of the best riding in the UK, some of the best beer and much wetness it was back to Llanwrtyd wells to further enjoy some excellent beer and company. In terms of the people we met there was the two GPs and there partners (who we met earlier riding the ultra muddy loop), Jed and his stag do and of course Dave and Brian ( see http://www.kinverbrewery.co.uk/ ) and anyone we met, had a beer with or helped us out!

Now please stand for a chorus of “Davy, Davy Crockett, the man with the beaver on his head!”

• http://www.green-events.co.uk/
• http://www.neuaddarmshotel.co.uk/
• http://www.stonecroft.co.uk/
• http://www.kinverbrewery.co.uk/ - try the “Over the Edge". Tasty!

It was pointed out that the event is only 20 weeks away, that doesn’t sound a lot, because well … it isn’t! So for now I’ll be looking at it as just under half a year and concentrate on the “Before Christmas” part :)

This means that I must concentrate on two rather large and close events!

• The Beacon Ultra - 45 miles in the beautiful Welshest Wales - Dec 6th.
• The Round Rotherham 50 - 50 miles in er … Rotherham - Dec 13th.

And yes … they are just a week apart, thankfully though the training is going well as shown by tonights 17 miler at about 8.5 min/miles complete with backpack. It feels great to be able to lock my computer at work, get changed and set out on a good 17 mile run.

Because of the closeness of the two ultras and there relative severity I am going to ensure I have a good two week wind down before them, so my last big run pre-Beacon will be in two weeks time, then I’ll just ensure I keep stretching and have a few gentle looks out.

The weather really has taken a turn and the chill of winter seems to have set in for now. A couple of weeks ago I couldn’t believe it was October because it seemed so warm, now it’s too cold for October. With frost on the ground shortly after dusk over the past couple of nights training have been very cold!

That is it though now, it’s probably not going to get much warmer at all until after the MdS itself, which begs the question, did I get enough heat aclimatisation in this summer … that’d be a no … there wasn’t much heat!

Thankfully I am now equipped with my Marmot Powerstretch Gloves my hands should stay toasty warm, unless they get left on the dining room table … cycling to work in them though morning (-3*C according to my garden thermometer this AM) I can vouch for there effectivness, especially so for a lightweight glove.

I had a quick run round my tempo route, where after the first mile I go for just under 3 miles over 20 minutes. A good pace for a self confessed slow coach like myself.

Tonight was a touch slower but was a pleasent 8.45 miles at 8.2 minute mile pace. This weekend is going to be a long run on Sunday and a 23 mile route in Dalby forest on the new mountain bike… it’s going to be cold.

Perfect desert training …

Decided to add a few miles to the run tonight - I talked about a long one but time was not quiet as permitting as I would have liked so I decided on a character building half marathon. Why character building?

1. It was damn autumnal tonight - very windy, a bit wet, dark and generally miserable.
2. I decided that at 10 miles I would stop off at the small Somerfield only 1/2 a mile from my home pick up my tea - fresh pasta, tins of tomatoes and other stuff - and then promptly continued running away from my house …

It was a nice steady run but autumn is certainly here, it’s all puddles, soggy leaves and wind. Brilliant!