Well 2014 did not have the start that I planned for. I had a
few hiccups in 2013, but it ended well with a reasonable result at Tour du
Helvellyn. I was in fighting form and looking forward to the next challenge;
the Montane Spine Race (http://thespinerace.com/) in early January. My fighting form lasted until around 4.5 hours into the
race. I was on my way down Torside Clough, tripped, hyper extended, sub-luxed
my hip, hit the deck and sprawled about for a minute or so in a lot of pain.
Luckily I was only about a mile from a road crossing and managed to drag and
hobble my way down to it. A race Doctor was also amongst the marshals at the
road crossing along with my support crew for this section (George Bate and
David Bethell). I was told by the Doctor that if I was given any pain killers
stronger than Ibuprofen I would be pulled from the race. I was still convinced
that I would be able to walk it off after a mile or two. So I dosed up on
Ibuprofen and carried on with the aid of sticks. To cut a long story short the
next 6 miles were very grim for me, it took me around 4 hours to get them
completed to the next road crossing. My race was done, as was I. Handing my
tracker back to the race marshals was difficult for me. Still it had to be and
was done; then after a hot brew and some commiserations from passing runners and
a big hug of fellow competitor Jen Gaskill, my support crew bundled me in the
car for the journey to the A&E.
The next few weeks went like this;
Week 1: In bed on rather heavy duty pain killers. A minimum
time of at least 30minutes to get out of bed and make the toilet and return to
bed! And yes the toilet was in the same house!
Week 2: More movement but only on crutches. Loo trip down to
about 10 minutes.
Weeks 3-4: Managed to get rid of the crutches and move to a walking stick. Managed to start getting my sock on my left foot! Physiotherapy at
NHS starts.
Weeks 5-6: Managed to ditch the walking stick (although my
walking style was similar to the hunch back of Notre Dame) and got stuck into
rehab exercises. Started to see Mike Perry Physiotherapist as well as NHS.
Weeks:7-8: As weeks 5-6. Walking style improved to that of
Huggy Bear of the original Starsky & Hutch TV show….. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc6rbEt7Xwc
Weeks 9-10: I decided I was strong enough to try running
again……..bad idea. I was told the soft tissue and tendon damage would take 12
weeks to heal properly. I thought for some reason I would be different….nope, I
am the same as everyone else. I tried to run twice, but it was too early, there
was too much pain. So I heeded the experts and stopped, switched to turbo
training.
Weeks 11-12: Turbo training mixed with core training. At the
end of week 12 I went to Annecy with the Fell Fairy (aka Tracy Dean). It was a
do or die trip for me. It ended up being a ‘do’ result. I managed to put 3 days
of running together. It was the result I hoped for.
Week 13: In the words of Fat Boy Slim…Right about now…. I’ve
started training again with gentle runs and a view to at least a month’s build-up
of this before I progress to harder sessions.
So the overall results of the 12 weeks were a weight gain of
around 9lbs, a loss of muscle mass in the legs (a very visible difference
between my left-injured- leg to right leg), a general loss of fitness and a
general runners low, but on the plus side plenty of time to look at my race
plans for the season. I had drafted one at the beginning of January on my Spine
taper, but with my hip injury and lack of fitness I had to scrap all my races
planned for the first 6 months of the year. So my proposed slimmed down 2014 calendar
looks something like this;
May: At some point run the Pennine Way(aka Spine route). My
DNF at the Spine was a double disappointment as I was also running it to raise
money for the Charity Mind. I therefore still want to complete this as a
challenge to myself and honour my sponsorships. It will also be a great
training session.
June 28th: World Skyrunning 80Km Championship,
Chamonix, France (http://www.skyrunning.com).
I will not be up to speed for this race but I have an entry. If I feel I may
not have the fitness to complete I may substitute this with the first UK
Skyrunning race; the V3K http://www.vegan-welsh-3000s.co.uk/
July 26th: the Montane Lakeland 50 http://www.lakeland100.com/the-lakeland-50
.This race has now become the British Ultra Trail Championships for 2014. It
will be super competitive for sure. Once again it will be too soon for me to be
in tip top condition but I will certainly be planning to run as best as I can
on the day. It’s also going to be a great social weekend, so looking forward to
this no matter what.
August 29th: UTMB, Chamonix, France, http://www.ultratrailmb.com Blinking ‘eck, I was not expecting to be doing
this race! This is the first time I have put an entry into the UTMB (I was
actually going to do the CCC, but the entry system showed I had 7 points, so a
spur of the moment decision saw me press the UTMB button!). So much to my
surprise I was drawn from the hat as it were. I should be getting somewhat fitter by
about the time this race occurs, so I am looking forward to it, albeit with also rather
a lot of nervousness as it will be my first 100mile race.
September 27th: Mmmm not sure maybe the RAB http://www.rabmountainmarathon.com/
but it is a week before the 3x3Ultra.
October 4th: 3x3 Ultra Skyrace, http://www.highterrainevents.co.uk
as above not sure if it will be this or the RAB.
October 26th: Choice time Snowdon Marathon or
Grand Trail Les Templiers 47mile Trail race (20th Anniversary
Edition) http://thetempliersgreatrun.blogspot.co.uk/
. Templiers is more my thing, but I’ve never done a road marathon……
So as can be seen a bit wishy washy at the end of the year
but I will make my judgment calls on the races closer to the time when I can
gauge how I am running better. I will also be getting involved with a few
friends challenge rounds offering support on Bob Graham and Paddy Buckley
Rounds plus very excitingly the Hardrock 100. So although it is a slimmed down season, it's still going to be a busy
one for sure.
I am also lucky enough to be involved in organising a
Skyrace this year in the UK, The Peakskyrace http://www.peakskyrace.co.uk/ It’s an interesting transition from being a
competitor to race organisor but one I am enjoying along with my co Race
Directors Richard Weremiuk and Billy Craig. We hope to put on a race to
remember; for all the right reasons. I’ve also been out on the course and
tweaking a few parts of it to increase the elevation. At present my Garmin has
a reading of around 2350metres over 29miles. So just on the cusp of an AL fell
race, but with the benefit of it being a fully marked and marshalled course.
More details will be posted on the web site soon.
I will end with saying thanks to all at the NHS physio
department and A&E who looked after me first class, to Mike Perry for then
continued physio support http://1stcontactphysiotherapy.co.uk/stokeontrent/
, my Spine Support crew-George Bate, David Bethell, & Janson Heath who were
all giving up their time and resources to help me out over the days that the
race would have taken…sorry the adventure didn’t happen lads, Tracy Dean for
sports massage and phsio support to keep me running whilst in France. And last
but by no means least all the messages of support from everyone out there I
have received about getting myself back out into the running mix, including all
at Buff UK and Raidlight. Cheers to you all J
