I ended the last post by stating that Ellie Dominey would be more successful and less injury-riddled than Ellie Sutcliffe and, touch wood and whistle, so far that is proving to be the case. My first race as a Dominey, the Llanberis fell 5k, whilst on our “mini-moon” in Snowdonia, yielded a pleasing victory. We drove up to Wales on Wednesday 15th July to start a 10 night mini-moon there (our actual honeymoon will be in Iceland in September). We just fancied going somewhere quiet and peaceful where we could chill out, enjoy a moment of calm after the hectic few weeks leading up to the wedding, and, of course, enjoy each other's company as husband and wife. This did not mean that amidst all the relaxing and prosecco swilling there could not be a bit of running and racing thrown into the mix.
I mentioned in my last post that doing the Snowdon Twilight uphill race had seemed to do wonders for my dodgy achillies. It in fact proved to be somewhat of a miracle panacea of a cure as since then I have had no swelling or stiffness in it and no pain at all upon running! I can only assume that something was trapped inside – it certainly felt that way, and resting wasn't doing it a lot of good – and that stretching it by running uphill has released it and made it more mobile again. Not a conventional cure but, as it appears to have worked, I have nothing but praise for what I am calling the “mountain method” of healing.
And so I lined up on a beautiful, sunny Wednesday evening in Llanberis high street a little more confident about the behaviour of my unruly and defiant left leg and raring to race. Matt and I had been given race numbers '1' and '2'. He let me have number one, “ladies first”, what a gent! Wearing number 1 on my vest has never brought an analogous result on the few occasions I have been privileged enough to be given it in the past, but maybe tonight would buck the trend? I figured that as I didn't have a cat in hell's chance of placing in the top 10, let alone the top 3, at the main Snowdon Race on Sunday (it's loaded with international and national fell running talent and the standards are probably higher than any other race I've competed in), I would give it everything tonight at the 5k and then just enjoy the main race on Saturday.
The first mile of the race was entirely up hill and I was surprised at how fit I felt. I anticipated having to walk some of that first mile but, as it was, I posted an 8:28m/m split for it and felt relatively comfortable. One other girl had gone out hard from the gun but I soon realised she had overcooked it and I began to reel her in, passing her just before the 1 mile point and the brow of the hill. From here we were entreated to a flat section of running, even a little bit of downhill, before the route kicked up again to Hebron and to intercept the Llanberis path on the lower slopes of Snowdon. But, what goes up must come down and now came the part I most dreaded: an insanely steep and fast descent, on tarmac. I knew my achillies felt ok until this point, but I wasn't too sure how it would feel after subjecting it to forces 10 times my body weight on this 1 mile long, harsh, steep descent. But I was winning the women's race, so I had no choice but to go for it. For all I knew, there could have been some master descenders stacking up behind me waiting to pounce! Apparently I actually increased my lead on the descent and finished in 22:31; a respectable time on a mountain 5k involving 800ft of climb and a bit of a boost that my current fitness levels are not as dire as I feared! The race numbers proved lucky - I was 1st lady and 1st Dominey, Matt was 2nd Dominey! I was 10th overall, Matt was 20th overall... there's kind of a pattern emerging there!
Having just crested the first hill, running towards Snowdon on the Llanberis 5k fell race.
Husband and wife dream team!
On to Saturday, but first we were off to Llandudno to check into our hotel for the next three nights, which was on the sea front, right at the top, with sea and promenade views: a real treat. We ate out both night and, on the Friday night, we went to a Mediterranean restaurant and I decided I wanted to have mussels. Yes, I know what you're thinking, and my husband said the same: “Are you sure that's wise, the night before Snowdon Race?” “Yeh yeh, it'll be fine. I've had them loads of times before and never had a problem”. Well, you can probably guess what happened next.... It wasn't pleasant. Being violently ill at 15 minute intervals from around 9pm until 2am. I soon became so weak and shaky that I couldn't even kneel over the toilet, I just collapsed in a pathetic heap at the base, shivering and convulsing. Snowdon Race suddenly seemed like being yet another DNS. The one thing I will say for food poisoning though (and believe me, I'm fast becoming somewhat the expert having now had it 3 times, in addition to the Norro virus once), it soon passes. Once your body has rid itself of the evil substances within, you soon stop being ill and start to feel better. The problem is, you are empty and weak. I woke up feeling pretty bloody naff and not in the mood for any breakfast, but I knew if I were to have a chance of making the start line I would have to start replenishing everything I'd lost sharpish. I resigned myself to forgoing my last chance at a proper cooked breakfast and settled for plain toast! The start time for Snowdon Race is 2pm; normally I hate afternoon events as I struggle to get the eating balance right between having enough energy to get me through, but not overdoing it at lunch so that I feel sluggish. This time I was grateful: had it been a morning start there's no way I'd have made it! I necked that toast like a trouper and, after some fresh sea air to ensure it stayed down, we checked out and headed off to Llanberis.
View from our seaview hotel room in Llandudno.
We checked into our holiday cottage for the next week, which was in Fachwen; a lovely little village on the opposite shore of the lake to Llanberis, with stunning views of Snowdon, the Eilio ridge and the lake. As coincidence would have it, it soon transpired that we were renting the cottage of a couple of local fell running legends – Joan and Dennis Glass. Joan is a former 3 time winner of the Snowdon Race (1977, 78 and 79) and a pioneer for women in the sport in the 70s and 80s. She and her husband were the founders of the Moel Eilio fell race, now a firm favourite on the fell running calender and the second biggest in the area after Snowdon Race.
The amazing view from our holiday cottage in Fachwen, looking over Llyn Padarn, Llanberis and Moel Eilio.
Post-race prosecco rehydration at our holiday cottage.
At 2pm I lined up on the start line which was in the high street this year as the race was celebrating its 40th year and so the start was put back to its original place. This was not ideal for me: it made the race over half a mile longer, and all of that extra half mile was on flat tarmac – yuck! I felt surprisingly strong on the ascent, considering the state I was in sprawled in a pathetic heap on the hotel bathroom floor not 12 hours previously, and made good pace to the summit, churning out a steady rhythm. I didn't push as hard on the steeper walking sections this time, opting to save the legs and the energy for the descent, and I arrived at the summit in 1h06m. This was 7 minutes slower than my Twilight uphill only attempt and 4 minutes slower than my summit time from the 2011 Snowdon Race; however, when you consider that the extra half mile at the start would have taken at least 3 minutes, this time wasn't actually that bad.
About half way up Snowdon on the Snowdon International Fell Race (10.5 miles / 3300ft)
Three quarters of the way up, heading up to Allt Goch.
I was nearing the summit when there was suddenly a huge amount of congestion on the main path. As I got near it became clear that one of the female runners – I later learned an English international athlete who had been in 3rd place – was being tended to by marshalls. She had sliced her head open by falling onto some rocks at the start of the descent and there was blood everywhere. On an already queasy stomach and not being a lover of the sight of blood, this pretty much tipped me over the edge. My legs suddenly went wobbly and I felt rather unsteady, so I took the decision to just pootle down steadily, enjoying the experience and views, and to spare myself a similar fate. I have seen lots of trips and tumbles and injuries on the mountain, but this one really shook me up. By the time I made the turn around she was just being taken away by mountain rescue, but the pool of blood on the path was a stark enough warning alone...
The descent down Allt Goch on the scree - the part I dread most, especially on jelly legs!
A brief moment of cheer came in the form of passing friend and Exmouth Harrier Rich Bishop. I summitted 2 minutes ahead of him, so we high-fived as I turned around and passed him near the summit. “You'll get me on the descent”, I hollered, and, sure enough, in no time at all he came flying past and went on to register a super time of 1h42. I trailed in 14 minutes later, having been overtaken by over 100 runners on the way down! My overall time, a rather naff 1h56m, was 20 minutes slower than my 2011 effort, but I was in one piece, my legs felt good and I lived to fight (and race!) another day, having enjoyed the experience tremendously for not having been operating at my limits for a rare change! A few swims in the lake later and my legs felt good as new!
The best way to recover from a hard mountain race? Open water swimming in a freezing cold lake!
Next up? Well, I was entered into the inaugural Scott Snowdonia Trail half-marathon the following weekend. It was meant to be a swansong to our time in North Wales on honeymoon and I entered it when I was running descent mileage around February time. With my achillies niggle, that mileage had dropped off to less than 13 miles a month, let alone in one go, and so I made the sensible decision to DNS. Annoying, but it would have been more annoying if I'd ran, injured my leg again, and set my recovery back by months. Instead, we did the Penrhyn parkrun, at aNational Trust estate near Bangor, where I again surprised myself with my fitness levels to finish as 1st lady and post the 3rd fastest female time on the course of 19:49.
I now want to capitalise on the swimming and cycling fitness that I've been working on and so my next event is a duathlon, followed the week after by another sprint tri. More about those in the next instalment! For now, it's goodbye from me, Mrs. D!
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