North Rhinogs : cracking day out.

I 1st remember the concept of the traverse of the Rhinog being floated by this gentleman probably 20 years ago. Took a while to start exploring it, but Wednesday was a really nice day and so explored the north section for the 1st time. Not the fastest traverse,  but this was about getting to know the area and what a fantastic area it is. If you have not visited you should, unless of course you don't like mountains.

This is rough ground, part of it are very rough. 10 miles in you know you have done 10 miles.
Some of the navigation after Clip is tricky (at least to get anything like an optimal route). Still great day and I feel the need for some further exploration. Mid week near the shortest day, of course I saw no one else.

Nothing like a view of Port Merion and the power station for a bit of context. Bus and train schedules do not make doing the whole traverse easy, more so in Winter.

back in the swing

Seem to have got back into the swing of things. Now suffering the after effects of 22 good hard miles on some not particular interesting hills to the East of the Cairngorms.

We are back with a plan for next year, more to follow .....

Peter Douglas RIP

Sad to hear that Peter has passed on. For the 5 or so years I have been fell running he has been a regular fixture, taking photo's and more recently video and making them available on the web.

I guess that him and I did not exchange more than a few 100 words in the 5 or so years, but he always had a cheery greeting and words of encouragement.

The fell running world is poorer.

Snowdon race

With Myra away, I enlisted the help of virtual Granny Mo (not a granny by blood, but by deed) to look after the small people while I was on hill and the 3 seemed to have a great time while I was away.

For my fitness (and it was better than I expect) it was tactically just about perfect (again). 1.20 to the summit was OK. Took 0.5l of Nuun and refilled the bottle when I could which was spot on, though maybe should have taken more fast at the last water station at 1/2 way down.

It was a 1st outing for a Chill Tech head video camera. I put it on just after the top to caputre some of the descent. About a minute in my sun-concious worked out I had probably put it on my head upside down, so set it the right way up and my of turned it off. So I got 67 seconds of footage offset at 90 degrees. Still, it was an experiment.

The 1st half of the descent was fast, but did not feel as fast as previous years, just did not have the lung capacity to keep the going flat out. The last 1/4 of the race was brutal. The breeze had disappeared, it was got hotter and I slowed to a jog. Finished in 2.02.48, a little slower than I would have liked by under 2 hours on a hot day is OK. A lot slower than my best time of 1.42, but maybe half down to being less race fit and half down to the heat.

I did see 2 runners go down, one girl I spoke to after had a broken writs and a chap took a nasty fall just below the 1/2 way point.

It is a great race, it does have an element of being a big event, but done in Llanberis style. I am not one for external motivation, but I still get a lump in my throat thinking about running past the Vic. The reception and encourgaement is just great and every year it is such a lift.

After a 3 year gap, I am pleased I ran it again. I do the race for the 1st half of the descent and the run past the Vic and will do it again. Well done Steve and co.

Where am I ?

I spent last night gear and food carrying on the Arran section of the Meirionnydd Round. I had only been on part of that section and our navigator(Rob Woodall) knew the section(and the entire round) rather well, so I just tried to keep up, but spent most of the 4 hours in the dark not having a clue where I was. Visibility was down to about 15ft in places, though at no time was the weather unpleasant or even wet. The same can't be said for the middle section under foot which was just bog with added slippy planks. I enjoyed being out at night again, the company and having a long run.

Bad luck Stewert, much respect for a great  effort and look forward to supporting you when you have your successful attempt.

Drygan Fawr

Starting out about 8.15pm (on my way back from Reading) I got to about 15 minutes from the top of Drygarn_Fawr. This is a place you can guarrantee that on a Tuesday evening in June there will be no one else.

I would have liked to get to the top, but just after 9pm, the sun was starting going down behind the hills, I was *very* lightly kitted out with no torch and there was a significant cooling wind, so decided not to risk a push for the top. The other motive to get down before the light started going was the descent which was fast path over moorland and a very fast run down a gentlly sloping track which was one of the most fun runs I have done for ages. So backing off on the push for the top was a good call.

Out for about 90 minutes, did 6 miles and very much looking forward to going back, next week maybe, but come in from the south.

Properly humbled

Properly humbled by Ras Cwm Pennant last Saturday with a solid last. Still, if I was to pick a race to be humbled in, that would probably be it. 17 miles and 5500ft with lots of rough ground, but a cracking race all the same. Well done to the team (Matt in particular) for putting it on. I did not like the last 4k on the road, but will be back to do it again next year, something to prove.
My lack of training showed, but at least I finished.

It must have tiggered something as I was out 3 times running this week. Couple of miles in the hills about Cwmystwyth on Wednesday morning followed by a dip in the river (a bit on the cold side), 1000ft of steep hill reps on Saturday and 30 mins of less steep, but faster hill reps on Sunday.

Lets see what we can manage this week !

back on the air waves

I know this blog has been dormant since late January. We have been out training a bit.  Have done a few races including the Moelwyn Race in April in super weather.

A couple of weeks ago I was in Phoenix in Arizona at a customer site. Quite hot for a welsh man with temperatures just below 100 F. I did have a couple of morning runs in the hills around Phoenix, lots of people getting out early and lots of cactus!

As the customer was not working over the weekend, I drove a couple of hours north to the Grand Canyon. Loaded up with food and water, I decided to wonder downt he Kieber path and see how far I got.  The advice was to start very early, but I concluded that doing the climb back out of the canyon in the evening would probably be more comfortable. The paths were well marked and very clear and I even took a torch.

 

I encountered a pair of adventure police (Park Rangers) as I was running down, dodging Janpanesee families as best I could and the conversation when something like this

• Ranger : Hi, looks like you are on your own
• Clive : yes
• Ranger  : How far are you going
• Clive : 3rd of water in, 3rd out and 3rd as backup
• Ranger : I like your thinking
• Ranger : said something else but Clive had run out of ear shot

Took about 1 hour 30 mins of not particullary fast  downhill to get from rim to river, with a few photo and water stops.

maybe the bird of prey knew something I did not

 

I made it to the bottom of the canyon, fill up the water bottles (added about 2 litres), hung around, drank, eat among other things a cliff bar I had left over from the Pacific Trails race in January and waiting till 4pm to start going back up on the assumption it would start to cool down.

At the river it was 97 F (hot for a Welsh man) and a lot hotter than 5,500ft higher. It did start to cool about 5pm, but was still warm and it did cool as I climbed up. The return took about 3 1/2 hours but I did not flog myself, particulay for the 1st 2 hours when it was still very hot.

 

I stopped about 300ft from the rim to enjoy the sunset, take some pictures, it was quite something. It is true that you don't get the scale of the Canyon from the rim (or indeed the river), but go maybe 1000ft into the canyon and the scale becomes very clear.

so what would I have done differently. 1st time in this type of environment. My conclusion was 1 thing I would have changed. I would have brought some Nuun tablets with me.

Going forward we have a Merry round to help out on. Might try Moel Hebog race next weekend for a change, something short. Been wanting to do that race for a few years. I also have a big hairy challange in mind, just need to get some serious training unde rmy belt before "coming out".

     and I was stupid enough to pre-register for the Dragon's back in 2015

Going international : Pacifica Foothills Trail Run 50K

I can't find a link to the site now, perhaps it was all an illusion.

In San Fransico area with work for 10 days, so with a spare Saturday, I decided to enter a race.  Using that Internet thing found the Pacifica Foothills race in San Mateo country park just to the west of San Francisco and you could pick a couple of distances : 20km, 30km, 26 miles and 50km. Of course, in the light of having done minimal running since by Bob Graham in August 2011 and not run more than 15 miles in one go since then I decide the 50km (31 miles) would be the most appropriate distance to opt for. Totally logical of course.

The organisation was great, aid stations could not have been more helpful and prepared, you just turn up and run. The folks at the aid stations filled your water bottle with water or electrolyte. As much as you could eat. I found the provided Clif Bars worked OK on the 1st lap, but were too strong/rich for after 15 miles.

I did find the concept of running 2 different loops a couple of times was somewhat alien. There was more climb than I expected, about 8000ft at a guess, but it was never steep and if you were only doing 1 loop it would almost all have been runable.

By the time I finished, the organisers were packing away. I was well looked after and to my surprise I was not that wreaked. Of course driving back to the hotel[ about 40 miles] was entertaining as my legs took turns to cramp up.

Looking east back towards area of the race

So all went well, I paced it just right, but as expected was not fit enough to be competitive, but that was never the point. It was the experience of doing a long-ish US trail race, the people and looking at the Pacifica from a hill I will almost certainly never visit again. These races are not cheap to enter, but it was still I believe for me good value for the experience. I clearly would not fly 6,000 miles just to do a race like that, but if you are there anyway, it would be rude not to sample what is on offer.

A nice place to chill post race

Post race Burrito with a view

Hill east of Llandewi Brefi

• Monday : 8 miles, 1000ft
• Tuesday : hill reps 6 * 200ft
• Wedneday : rest
• Thursday : 6 miles, 1000ft
• Friday : wore myself out chipping wood and destroying a static caravan. Hard physical day
• Saturday : Climbing wall
• Sunday : 8 miles in bog and mist in the hills and forestry east of Llandwei Brefi. Bless the investor of the GPS with a map on.

Planning to enter an Ultra (50km) in the next 2 weeks. Should be a complete heap after it, not that fit or used to running more than 15 mile at the moment. What is there not to like !

New year and all that rubbish, major running plans for this year are

• A anti clockwise Paddy, probably start of July 
• Welsh 1000m race [ and finish it this time, those runner who plan to have convulsions or hyperthemia, please stay out of my may ]
• Sub 4.30 Peris Horseshoe (might be a struggle, 30 minute improvement, but I think it is possible)

Need to get back to serious hill reps if we are going to stand any chance of finishing a Paddy.