The next time I post on here will be about the Fan Dance itself. I'm getting excited now and cannot wait for Saturday, I feel like an 8 year old 2 days before Christmas!
Good luck to everyone who has entered the Fan Dance, I'll see you Saturday.
24km, Bergen weight 35lb minimum weight not including water and food, around 4-4500 feet of ascent in total.
Just a very slow jog home from work to keep the legs moving. No weight and wearing trainers. I've definitely got fitter as before I was running with weight I used to run at this speed but found these hills a bit hard, today they were easy and I was taking my time but this 'slow' speed was my natural running speed when I was running before I started suffering from gout in 2008. Yes, 2008 was the last time I did some serious running before starting this blog. The next time I post on here will be about the Fan Dance itself. I'm getting excited now and cannot wait for Saturday, I feel like an 8 year old 2 days before Christmas! Good luck to everyone who has entered the Fan Dance, I'll see you Saturday.
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Another day of blistering heat and I was out running carrying approximately 45lbs. I did the Troserch cross roads route with the burning Calfs Hill loop added. This, according to Strava is 7.6miles and I completed it in 1hour and 41 minutes carrying the minimum required weight of 35lbs and 3litres of water. As usual the hills were tough. I didn't even bother trying to run up the long hills. Troserch road hill which I don't find too bad I had to walk up most of the way. The weight of the pack didn't feel too bad except for when I walked when I just wanted to get the damn thing off my back. But when I was running it felt fine which I would have expected to be the other way around. If the last few runs in this heat are anything to go by, and the long range weather forecast is right being 29 degrees it'll be a killer next week and every single person who has entered will deserve their well earned patch. Today I went through about a litre and a half of water in the 7.8 miles and I only climbed 815 feet! I'll definitely need the full 3 litres next week. As Wednesdays are the only night I get off my night job during the week I ran home from my day job again. It's either the 25 degree Celsius heat that's affecting me or I have lost fitness.
The 3.4 miles was completed in 39 minutes almost 5 minutes slower than last time carrying the pack weighing 56lbs. The run can be seen HERE. Forty five minutes later the second run of the night was back up the hill but this time I had removed the extra 5kg disk and only had in the pack just over the minimum required weight. So I had 37lbs plus 3 litres of water. This run climbs 203 feet overall and it 2 miles I completed the run in 26 minutes 16 seconds, but again no records broken. The stats of the run can be seen HERE. I had intended to do a 16 mile run that would have climbed approximately 2000 feet overall carrying my 56lbs bergen. unfortunately due to the heat and being to stingy to buy energy gels I only managed 7.6 miles.
I am going to have to get out of this mindset that gels are too expensive to use on training runs and that I should only be training with water and only use gels to improve my performance on the actual event. I'm not in the military, I'm not a prepper delusional enough to think that I need to train for a Chris Ryan style escape and evasion. I'm doing this because I enjoy it and I did not enjoy today's run. The weather was glorious, clear blue skies, no wind, 23 degrees Celsius in the shade. I was running with 56lbs on my back including 3 litres of water combat trousers, 2 pairs of socks and boots. There were several points during the run I felt dizzy to the point I had to almost go down on my knees or I would have fallen over. I knew from the start it was going to be a killer so when I got to the first hill I only ran up the steps then walked the rest of the hill as I wanted to save energy for the rest of the run, because at that point I still intended to do the full 16 miles. It was when I came to the hill up Troserch road that leads to Burning-Calfs Hill I realised that I was taking on too much in that heat. Troserch Hill I usually find difficult but not overly difficult. Today I ran where I could trying to make myself run but it just wasn't happening. I had a very strange insane moment where I had a small panic attack, feeling claustrophobic just because my hands had swollen so much my wedding ring was digging into my finger (I know I'm a freak!). I knew that there weren't many people likely to be in the woods and my wife wasn't expecting me back for 4-5 hours, so if anything had happened it would be about 6 hours until I was found so I decided to just call it a day at the end of the loop. I know this sounds a bit extreme, but that was how I was feeling. I completed the 7.6 miles in 1 hour 54 minutes. Details on the route and performance can be found HERE. My plan on race day was to carry 2 litres of water in my bladder and the 3rd litre in a separate container and at the earliest opportunity just empty it and do the Fan Dance with 2 litres saving 2.2lbs. That plan has now changed as during today's 7.6 miles I used ALL of my 2 litres and was thinking of breaking into the 3rd. I'm actually going to take a 2 litre bottle of electrolyte water for the DS to take to the half way point instead of the required 1 litre. I'd arranged to meet someone I've been 'chatting' to on Twitter and go for a training run. As soon as we met it was like meeting an old friend and we had a chat for a while before setting off on the run. Phil ran with his 35lb pack, he only has to carry 25lb on the Fan Dance, so with his 3 litres of water and food the 35lb is more or less his minimum weight. I had my bergen weighing 48lb which is more or less the minimum weight for me.
We started along a cycle track which is pretty flat as a warm up, then we headed for Llanguicke hill, which climbs 553 feet in 1.7 miles and for the most part has a 25% incline. Although we tried, it was too much to run up this hill, so we walked, both agreeing that most people will be walking up Pen y fan anyway. The hill seemed never ending, rounding corner after corner expecting to see the top, but it was a long time in coming. Across the top and onto the Gwrydd mountain road we ran at a steady pace, chatting the whole time. Phil was surprised at how far the road actually went when I explained to him where we would be joining the main road. We ran back down into the town... is Ponty a town? Then we headed back up the golf course steps, Phil's personal Jacob's Ladder. I haven't been up these steps since I was in school, which would mean that the last time I ran up them was in 1985, I'd forgotten what a killer they were. At the top we both had a well earned rest then ran down the road with jelly legs. Then it was back to running through the 'town' back to the car park receiving the usual looks and comments, completing the 6.8 miles in 1 hour and 36 minutes. Giving a per mile time of 14 minutes. I have been using GPS tracking software but after seeing the data from the software that Phil uses I think I'll switch to that as it breaks down the individual miles. I'm looking forward to meeting Phil again and running with him. I ran home from work, utilising the extra time I now have as my college course has finished (though I still need to catch up on course work). This is a distance of 3.34 miles and last time I ran this route the bergen weighed 47lbs and I completed the run in 33 minutes WEARING TRAINERS, today I ran it carrying the bergen weighing a total of 56 pounds in boots but was 3 minutes slower, finishing in 36 minutes and 47 seconds. I'm pleased with this time being only 3 minutes slower but wearing boots and carrying an extra 9lbs, but also I feel a little disappointed, not because of my performance but due the the fact that I know I could have carried on and did a much longer distance.
I've had a few people ask me what I'm packing in my Bergen for the Fan Dance and exactly how I'm going to pack it. Well they say a picture speaks a thousand words.. So here's a few thousand in the form of a video! This is not in any way endorsed by Avalanche, it's just how I pack my bergen when going for a wild camp in the hammock. The only thing that is different is that obviously there wouldn't be 10kg of weights disks in there, I would have added my cooking equipment, food and wash kit. The reason I've chosen my hammock kit instead of the tent is because the hammock kit is all soft, with no corners to risk digging in my back, almost like having a tightly packed bag of cotton wool, especially at the bottom where I have the equivalent of two sleeping bags. This will fill the bergen to maximum without anything being loose inside as the bergen has no compression straps. The 5kg disk at the top will help with correct posture while carrying the bergen as the equipment is almost uniform in volume-weight ratio. Also if the worse did happen I will have all the equipment I need to survive a night on Pen-y-fan in relative comfort. Shelter including a tarp, bivi bag and a -15 degree sleeping bag. On race day the extra 5kg disk will come out, as the weight requirements are 35lb plus 3litres of water plus food. I will be keeping the waterproofs in there as extra weight as I don't want to include them in the weight and get caught out at the check-point wearing my waterproofs and have my bergen under weight. After yesterday's effort I was pleased with today's run. I did the Millennium coastal path from Bynea to Millennium Quay Llanelli and back carrying a bergen that weighed 56lbs. I wen't along this route because my children wanted to come with me and Squatt wanted to ride his bike, but Cola-Bottle was insistent that she runs better than she rides a bike and could keep up with me for the full route. Approximately half a mile into the run, I looked at my watch and we'd been running for 7 minutes, my daughter gave up.... Shocking! I made it to the turn around point at the Millenium Quay in 1 hour and 4 minutes, 13 minutes quicker than last time, which I thought was amazing. The way back however was a little slower than last time which took me 1 hour 22 minutes. Today the return journey took me 1 hour 30 minutes. I completed the run in 2hours and 34 minutes, giving a per mile time of about 12 and a half minutes. Last time I ran this route I had a half hour break at the half way mark, today I didn't. Maybe that ice cream last time gave me a boost.
After I had driven the couple of miles home and had a shower I suddenly felt very hot and thought I was going to throw up. Luckily I didn't. Today's run was very frustrating, it shows the importance of good nutrition. The experienced runner reading this should know exactly what I mean. I started out feeling good, the weight of the bergen felt ok for the whole run, I felt strong, mentally I felt as though I could easily do the intended 14 miles; I couldn't though. I just didn't have the energy, with experience you can tell what is causing the fatigue. I'd eaten chips last night for the first time in months, this morning I had a bowl of Cheerios, I then expected to be able to run 14 miles carrying a 56lb bergen... I was kidding myself with such poor quality nutrition. Good nutrition isn't just for race day, it's for all training runs too. I've spent almost all my life 'listening' to my body (mostly ignoring it) and I knew to just give up today and try again tomorrow.
To say the least I'm disappointed with today's 4.38 miles in 1 hour and 4 minutes. After the poor performance of the last time we did the full route where, on the way down after 7 hours we were in so much pain we just stopped by the river below Corn Du and wild camped. Today we went prepared with Lucozade sport, energy gels and Haribos. They all rescued us at various points.
When we signed up for the event we both said that we'd be more than happy with a time of 6 hours or under. We're happy with today's run. After a bit of tweeking and adding some weights disks we got both our packs as close as we could to the weight requirement. My pack weighed 37lbs and Stuarts was 34lbs then we added 3 litres of water each and each had 4 gels, Stuart added a massive pack of Haribos while I added 2 medium packs of Wine Gums. We walked up the steep parts leading up to Corn Du, only running along the flat part and down to the river, then walking again along the path that skirts around Corn Du summit. When we joined the path that runs up from the car park instead of the phone box we started running again and arrived at Pen y fan summit 57 minutes after leaving the phone box. The weather up there was absolutely abysmal. Anyone thinking of doing the Fan Dance or just walking up Pen y fan even in summer needs to take good waterproofs, a warm hat and gloves as well as any emergency equipment needed.... I wish I'd remembered my gloves, my hands were so cold I couldn't rip open my energy gel. We carefully made our way down the stream that was Jacobs Ladder only feeling that it was safe to run when we had got almost to the bottom. We passed a number of people on the Roman road and as Stuart was in front of me I heard quite a few comments from the people who didn't realise I was running close behind him like 'OMG He's mad' or 'WOW'. The comments kept me smiling anyway. We made it to the turn around point in exactly 2 hours, twenty minutes quicker than last time, we allowed ourselves a 10 minute break and we started running again. The running however was short lived. Stuart had decided to try a different pair of boots, which are much lighter than his hiking boots which are HEAVY. The sole on these boots is great for running on nice tarmac paths where they offer a VERY high degree of comfort. The paths on the Fan are designed to trip you up and smash every bone in your body when you hit the deck, so Stuart was feeling every single uneven stone and this put unnecessary strain on his feet which transferred to his legs and ultimately his knees, which he suffers from anyway. So we basically walked back from the half way point. Even though Stuart was obviously in pain he would not give up and we still walked at a fairly fast pace. Going around the bottom of Cribyn heading back towards Jacobs ladder I 'bonked', right at that moment I would have been more than happy to sit down and stay there, freezing in the torrential rain and howling wind. This is where the energy gel saved me and I'm so glad I'd decided to take them. I greedily slurped down a gel and eat a huge mouthful of Wine Gums, within 2 minutes I was ready to RUN up Jacobs ladder, in fact, just to take the mickey out of Stuart I told him I'd meet him at the top and I ran off 20 yards. I stayed with him all the way back to the Storey Arms though. At the top crossing the Summit of Pen y fan the temperature had dropped and combined with the fact that I was soaking wet and the wind chill factor I really started to feel cold, I just wanted to get off that mountain. Going down the hill you would assume would be quite easy... No, it's not! The extra strain that was put on my knees soon took it's toll and my left knee started to hurt, I couldn't straighten it at all, plus by this time I had started to shiver quite badly IN JUNE!!! We were both so glad to get back to the Storey Arms and change into dry clothes in the van, we even abandoned our plans to walk back up to Wild camp just below Corn Du. We had been on the hill for 5 hours and 35 minutes. One and a half hours quicker than the point where we gave up last time plus we'd actually completed the full route. OK not a record time but a PB for us which we still hope to improve upon, and under race conditions with the camaraderie of everyone involved in the Fan Dance and decent boots, I see no reason why we couldn't improve on this time. |
Key to runs at the bottom of this section.This Blog has now gone onto 2 pages! Click 'previous' at the bottom of the page if you'd like to read older postsAuthor-BaldyI plan to do this race with my brother 'Strider' (Link to his blog above) on 20th July 2013, mainly to see if at 44 I still have the 'stones' to be able to do it. Troserch oval onceDistance 4.13 miles
Total elevation gain of 449ft. Troserch oval TwiceDistance 6.97 miles
Total elevation gain of 837ft Burning calfs hillBurning Calfs Hill climbs 194 feet within a distance of 0.39 miles giving an average slope of 9.2%.
Troserch figure of 8Distance 5.95 miles total climb of 743ft very muddy and treacherous single track, some parts up to mid calf in mud and crossing through 3 rivers.
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