[Photos c/o Alistair Tye]
Distance - 9 miles
Ascent - 4000'
Route - HERE
My time - 2:18:53
Position - 30/59 (52%)
What was it like?
It was a lovely, difficult, classic fellrace. 9 miles, tough climbs, long descents, a sting in the tail and some terrific scenery - all of which is to be expected in a race containing three 3000 foot peaks. It was a beautiful day with perfect conditions although the increasing heat meant a fast start would have been unwise.
This is just as well because I got a shocking start. I was pushing it to arrive on time and was preoccupied. I left the house in reasonable time, although I felt I was pushing it a little. THe A55 was slow with holiday traffic and i was really stressing out in the car. Also needed the loo desperately! A quick pit stop near Bangor and a fast drive to the start, a hurried registration and a walk to the start line and I was really mad with myself. When I got to the start, I realised I'd forgotten my skins calf-compression thingys, which do help me quite a lot. I need to prepare better for these things...
After a delay for another late arrival, the race started with a long climb out of the intruiging outskirts of Bethesda, a town seemingly clinging to the fellside and which seems to stop very suddenly, so one moment you're in a residential backstreet that almost could be anywhere and the next you're amongst the wild fells - no transition. The climb up Carnedd Daffyd is tough - 3000' straight up and not always on good ground. I was very slow. Couldn't get going and slipped down and down through the field. I was really feeling tired from a tough week of training, including a brutal return to the track after 6 months. Calves were screaming. Couldn't breathe too well. The virus that plagued me at Glaramara last week and that I've been having trouble shaking off was hanging on - so today was kill or cure... If felt like kill for the first half an hour.
As the view opened up and the breeze picked up I started to improve. The calves had warmed up and stopped hurting and my breathing seemed to have settled down. I started picking up places on top of Daffyd and caught the group of Eryri runners I was chasing on the climb up lofty Llewelyn. Snot count was getting lower - so it was either cure or dehydration!
I got into a battle with a strong looking lad and we were nip and tuck from about halfway. This woke me up a bit. He was a stronger climber but I passed him on the downs and flats. He did his ankle on the last descent which warned me a bit about the ground. I backed up a bit and cruised home and my race was done.
Nice to have got it finished and boy it was hot, but I'm annoyed that I don't seem to be performing too well. I think I'm in that zone where you increase the training and don't get the benefit until you've been through an adjusting, tired phase. We'll see...
Week seven starts tomorrow, and that's when week seven's race is going to be. I'm off to France to a wedding on Thursday and am supporting a BG in 2 weeks, before doing the Welsh Castles Relay the week after that, so it'll be a bitty few weeks of racing and training. Hopefully, next time I get on the fells proper i'll race well. That's the aim...
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