St Sunday Crag
2000' of descent in under a mile
To my mind the Grisedale Horseshoe is one of the most stunning races I've ever entered, even if it involved a tortuous climb up the face of Catstye Cam and a murderous descent off the back of St Sunday Crag. It was a simultaneous exultation of pleasure and pain. Just the kind of tough stuff that I'm now focusing my attentions on.
I would also like in particular to recognise the sacrifice and kindness of the race marshals and organisers, both for keeping us safe and laying on a great spread in Glenridding Village Hall on our return. All for a fiver!
Now, I'd just like to say one thing: 10 miles my ar*e! The 'revised' Grisedale Horseshoe is 12 miles by my reckoning.
My gripe about the distance is but a thinly veiled excuse for why I DNF. The truth is that in my silly little head 5,000' of ascent was within my capabilities. What I completely failed to consider was the 5,000' of descent, and that's where it all went a bit off piste. All was fine until the run back down to the valley floor from St Sunday's summit, which turned my legs to putty. When I landed at the check point at the bottom of the 'drop' my pins were trembling like a newborn foal. Not wishing to be defeated, I picked myself up and had a crack at making the final checkpoint, but alas, after 100 metres I turned around, had a laugh with the marshals, and bowed out in disgrace.
The lesson learned is not to try this kind of event unless and until you've had a good reconnoitre of the course. Also, hill repeats are of no benefit if they only train you to climb. In future I'll start my sessions at the top of the hill and pause between reps. Leg strength is my weakness, and so where I'm going to do some hard work. From now on I'm not going to shy away from the hard events; XC, fells and tough trails are all on the menu, only that way will I ever develop as an 'all rounder'. Besides which, I love getting filthy!
While up in the lakes we stayed in the Helvellyn YHA, along it seemed with a large number of competitors doing the eponymous Triathlon. So on the Sunday morning we walked down to Ullswater to watch the swimming leg, then took off up Arnison Crag, Birks Fell, St Sunday Crag, Dollywagon Pike, Nethermost Pike, Helvellyn and back via Swirral Edge. In other words, a reverse Grisedale Horseshoe. I was able to take my camera on this more sedentary jaunt, during which I reflected on why I adore both running and photography, which is that they both provide me with rare quality meditative time in which to live in the moment. I hope you like the photograph of St Sunday that I took above. The brooding portrait feel to it has an almost Constable quality, perhaps created more than anything by the afternoon shadows.
Quite unsurprisingly, Monday morning felt like a post-marathon day and I had to take 3 days off.
That last climb is a b#####d. No shame there.
ReplyDeleteIt took me about a year of fell running before my legs started to work proper on the downs. Hope to see you next year, unless you do
Ben Nevis?