On Saturday I did the Moor to Sea cycle sportive. It was my
last big training ride before I take on my greatest endurance challenge to
date: The Brutal Half Iron triathlon in Llanberis in two weeks’ time. With its
hilly Dartmoor course (5700ft climb over 64 miles), it was designed to be a
confidence boosting ride to show me that I am in shape and ready to race. In
reality, it did anything but! It left me feeling knackered, woefully
under-trained, ill-prepared and with the anguished feeling that the Brutal is
going to live up to its name in every sense! True, I was up half the night
before it with dreadful stomach cramps (some sort of delightful double wammy of
a gippy tum combined with women’s troubles… I won’t elaborate…), but even so,
after breakfasting, caffeining up, immodiuming up and paracetamoling up, I had
hoped to feel better than I did. It took me 4h11m riding time (4h13m including
the two toilet stops I was forced to make) and I was relieved not to have to
run off it like I will on race day but to go straight home and stuff my face to
refuel. This also confirmed another worry I have for race day: I have issues
with fuelling on the go. In truth, I just don’t like doing it. I enjoy going
out for a long ride or run, emptying the tank, and powering home on the
thoughts of all the lovely foods I will be able to indulge in at my leisure
once I return as a reward. I like to enjoy my food and eat foods that I enjoy.
Real foods. I have a big problem with gels – just the thought of them and their slimy texture makes me gag – and there are only so many home-made natural fruit and nut
snacks you can consume before their fibrous content comes back to haunt you…. During
my marathon running days, I developed my own refuelling system, which centred
largely around Kendal Mint Cake and Benedicts’ Bitter Mints. I plan for these
to feature on Brutal race day, but they are very high in sugar content and not
much else, and I know that for an endurance event of 7 hours plus I will need
to take on sustainable carbs, electrolytes and some protein to ensure I don’t
book myself on a one-way ticket to Bonkesville.
The swim, at 1.9km, will be the longest I have competed in in open water, but I have swum the distance in the sea several times this summer and so, strangely for me with my aquatic demons, this is the discipline I am least worried about! It will be cold, but we are allowed to wear neoprene gloves, hats and boots, so that will help (thanks Anne for the loan!). The bike, make no mistake, will be tough. With over 6000ft of height gain over the 58 miles, it will be hard even in perfect conditions... the chances of this occuring, being Snowdonia, slim. If it rains, it won't be much fun, but I have ridden the distance in training, I can do it. The run, hmm, different matter entirely....
That small spec is me on a training swim at Budleigh!
Thanks to my sea swim buddy, Rich, who has pushed me on, put up with my whining ("Aargh! A jelly, can we head in now?", "No Ellie, we've only been in 10 minutes". "Ok, just one more buoy then." "No, 3 more buoys, then we can turn back". "Humph".)
The run is 14.8 miles which is made up of a 5.3 mile circuit
of Llyn Padarn (flat for the first 2 miles, then undulating), then a 9.5 mile
ascent and descent of Mount Snowdon via the Llanberis Path. My Snowdon summit
PB is 59 minutes; my Snowdon ascent and descent combined PB is 1h36mins. These
were both run on tapered, fresh legs. After 1900m of swimming and 58 miles of
hilly cycling, I think the combined run efforts of lake plus mountain will take
me around 3 hours…. if all goes well. The truth is, I am grossly lacking in run
training. The last time I ran 14.8 miles in one go was in 2012…. I have been
injured on and off ever since then and unable to get myself beyond 10 miles.
Why, then, I hear you ask, would I sign up for a half-iron distance triathlon
(in which the run is in fact over the standard half-iron distance of 13.1
miles), knowing this? Good question. Well, first of all, because I miss the
long stuff. I always enjoyed the endurance events and, when not injured, the
marathon was comparatively my strongest distance. I like the challenge of
hitting big training miles and the satisfaction of increasing the volume and
watching your times and fitness levels improve. Running 5k and competing in
sprint triathlons is ok, but I can churn them out without any real commitment to
training, based on my general decent level of fitness, and so I wanted more
focus for my 2017 season. So, why not a flat half iron? Again, good question,
simple answer: my achillies hates the flat. Pounding out a flat half marathon
at the Exeter Half in 2013 was what started my long battle with lower left leg
injuries. The same slap-slap-slap stride on the hard, unforgiving tarmac plays
havoc with what is an over-use injury. In 2015, when my achillies was at its
worst, I decided to run the Snowdon Race anyway as we were on our honeymoon and
I just wanted to do it. Not recommended for someone with achillies problems,
but I ran it, and the following day I awoke pain free and not stiff for the
first time in months; it was as if the eccentric loading enforced on it from
running on my toes up a steep gradient for a prolonged period had released all
the gnarly knots and scar tissue and freed it up. My injury behaves better when
running off road and on hills, so, why not make my half iron debut on a course
which features a mountain?! There is also the matter that I just love
Snowdonia. It is my heartland, having had the privilege to live there for 9
years, the last of those spent living in Llanberis itself. It was here that I
took up running, in 2010, starting out as a fell runner and then branching out
onto the roads and running my first marathon on Anglesey in September 2010. (I
came 2nd in 3h19). I did the Slateman Savage double triathlon last
year and, whilst I might have spent much of the second of the two days cursing
the weather as I flirted with hypothermia in a hail-storm descending the
Llanberis Pass, I just loved the added challenge and the rugged beauty of the
terrain. Triathlons that take place in towns and cities tend to be on flat, congested,
built-up, multi-lap routes and, frankly, are totally anodyne and boring. Anyone with a modicum of fitness who can swim and ride a bike can then shuffle around a flat run course at 16m/m
pace and complete one of these; not everyone can run up Snowdon. I like the
fact that you are competing against everything that mother nature has to throw
at you, in addition to the other triathletes and yourself. It adds to the
challenge and makes completing events such as these that bit more satisfying. I
have also come to realise that I don’t like sharing my space too much!
Completing Bushy parkrun alongside 1200 other runners last month confirmed this
to me! In fact, being in London for five days and sharing my space on the tube
confirmed this to me! When I compete, I enjoy the solitude. When I train, I
also enjoy the solitude – aside from the relaxed pace, social coffee ride,
which is a highlight of my week – I just prefer to train alone. Alone, I am not
influenced by the pace of others; I do my own thing to suit my needs. I am more
than capable of motivating myself and get stressed by the presence of other athletes
and supporters around me rather than deriving energy and motivation from them.
When I am going through a mid-race bad patch, grimacing, swearing, having a
personal word with myself, I don’t want anyone around me to see or hear it
thank you very much! When the going gets tough, being able to gawp at stunning scenery
definitely helps me to refocus and take stock: how privileged am I to be
competing in such a wild, beautiful, untouched place? That is a big motivator
for me and another reason why I gravitate towards these tough, remote, iconic
events.
So, The Brutal. The clue is in the name I guess. It won’t be
easy. But, as I mentioned in my previous blog post, the half-iron in the
shortest of four races taking place on the same day as part of a Brutal Festival
of triathlon racing. A half iron, a full iron, a double iron and, new for 2017,
a triple iron. This latter, with its 11.4km swim, 352 mile bike and 78 mile run
is just mind boggling to me. That anyone should even consider wanting to put
their body through that is cause to warrant a mental health assessment alone!
We all start together, at 7am on the Saturday. All being well, I should be done
around 2pm or soon after. They will still be swimming. When I am finished,
making my way (slowly) back to my hotel for a warm shower, they will still be
swimming. When I am enjoying a fortifying evening meal and bottle of prosecco
with Matt, Moira and Sarah that evening, they will just about be embarking on
the 352 mile bike section (when we lived in St. Austell, Cornwall, and my Gran
lived 15 miles south of Leeds, that journey was 355 miles… it took us all day
in the car). On the Monday, when I am leaving North Wales and driving down to
the cottage in the Brecon Beacons we have kindly been offered for the week by
my friend Glynis Kelly, they will be running. 78 miles of running, including an
ascent of Snowdon. They will hardly have slept, just 20 minute cat naps here
and there. I don’t know if I feel admiration, amazement or animosity towards
these almost alien people who not only choose but PAY! to subject their poor
bodies to such an ordeal. I am certainly curious to go down to the event
village on the Sunday afternoon, after they have already been going for 30
hours, and see what sort of state they are in. I just cannot comprehend ever
wanting to put my body through such torture: with my shoddy immune system and
inability to cope with the cold, it would, in all likelihood, kill me!
So yes, I know a half iron – even over this terrain – is an entirely
achievable distance for many people, and certainly for me given that my summer’s
training has been building towards it. The problem is, I don’t just want to
complete, I want to compete. I don’t just want to shuffle round on the run; I
like to blast out of T2 and get to work on utilising what should be (if fit and
uninjured… ) my strongest discipline, offsetting my swim (my worst discipline…
in case I never mentioned this?!) and working my way through the field. I need
to remember that this isn’t the usual 5k run of a sprint tri. It is 14.8 miles
up a mountain and will require sensible pacing and, crucially, sensible fuelling.
Can I do it? Will I crash and burn? Well, if I do, I will have a foil survival
blanket, light, whistle, mobile phone, waterproof jacket and trousers (thanks Garry!), water,
food, blister plasters, hat, gloves, sun-cream, kitchen sink etc. in my
mandatory kit bag with me, so I should at least hold out until rescue.*
Savage woman last year, Brutal woman this? If determination has anything to do with the outcome, then hopefully yes!
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