Pen yr Ole Wen 1 – Vegan 0

With 6 weeks to go to the Vegan Carneddau and no real improvement in my shoulder it seemed about time to try myself out, I’ve never actually walked or run to the top of a mountain before. We had already booked a couple of nights B&B in Betws y Coed for a break and had been jammy enough to get some wonderful sunny weather. So after a long mornings drive then vegan pastie and chips at the Alpine Coffee Shop Jane dropped me at the east end of Llyn Ogwen with instructions to pick me up in 3 hours allowing me time to find my way up Pen yr Ole Wen and back, maybe with a leg out to Carnedd Dafydd thrown in if I was making good time. I had brought a choice of trail shoes and light showerproof or boots and proper coat, it was warm at the bottom but I could see a couple of patches of remaining snow up there so went for the boots and coat.

East of Pen yr Ole Wen

The way up

I’d plotted on Garmin and map what I understood to be the easier but longer way up, following Afon Lloer up the east of Pen yr Ole Wen then following a path left round to the south to reach the summit. It turned out to be pretty boggy by Afon Lloer with no clear path but marking posts and steps over walls showed the way quite clearly at first. It was of course all uphill and pretty soon I was regretting bringing my coat as the sweat flowed. I took it off and carried it under my good arm, tied my fleece round my waist and slowed the pace reminding myself that the hard work was yet to come.

Llyn Ogwen and Tryfan behind

Llyn Ogwen and Tryfan behind

One of the marker posts had fallen so I stuck it back in it’s hole. They ran out after 40 minutes or so but I could make out a sort of path leading to the rocky bit below the summit and was still on the course I’d loaded the Garmin with. I wasn’t in sight of the small lake, Ffynnon Lloer, snuggled near the top yet but remembered a route description had cryptically stated the need to bear left before you could see the lake. I continued on to the start of the rocks where it was fortunately a bit cooler with altitude as I had to put my coat back on to free up my good arm.

Still looks like a path

Still looks like a path

I picked my way up what seemed to be a steep path over rocks and grassy bits but soon found my way blocked by some larger slabs resting at a quite steep angle. I thought I could see a level bit not far up that could well be the path but there was no way I was going to get past these without a bit of what’s know as a scramble and that wasn’t going to happen with my lack of experience and only one arm working properly. Turning round to retrace I was reminded that I don’t like heights, particularly where the footing is not secure – I pushed that phobia back into it’s hiding place where it was quickly forgotten as I took in the view.

Pen yr Ole Wen view eastI retraced a bit but couldn’t see any obvious path further south so decided to ignore the Garmin and continue towards Ffynnon Lloer to look for a way up I could manage. Perhaps that hadn’t been the correct path and it was a little further on, there were no shortage of false tracks. It was an hour since I set off and I’d not seen anyone since leaving tarmac – not exactly a multitude of walkers to tread a clear path. The little lake was pretty and it was a great place to have to myself. The continual wall of loose rocks towering to my left didn’t offer much promise though. I tried a couple of possible paths but they tapered to nothing, one got so steep that I ended up sliding part way back down on my bum as the vertigo gremlin tried to crawl back out his hole.

A week and a bit of research later and it seems I’d failed to find the proper route though looking at a couple of videos of the scramble I still wouldn’t have got up there without 2 good arms.

Ffynnon Lloer

Ffynnon Lloer

 

Not that way either

Not that way either

I continued round the lake to the shallower looking slopes below Carnedd Fach but really knew it was time to admit defeat. If I couldn’t gain the first summit walking in perfect conditions I wasn’t going to be up to running the Vegan Carneddau with a further 6 peaks. I reckoned I had another 30 minutes maximum before I needed to start back down so decided to follow a clear path up from the lake to a big rock I could see a bit before what looked like another yet more loose rock. Getting closer I could see that with sufficient skill, strength and limbs it might be possible to gain the ridge this way but it wasn’t for me. Time to give up!

Ffynnon Lloer from above

Ffynnon Lloer from above

Time to go back down

Time to go back down

Download from Garmin

Where I actually went – download from Garmin

 

 

Shotover Resolution Run 10k 2013

The omens were good for the rescheduled Resolution Run 10k up Shotover. This fund-raiser for the Stroke Association (their website says they don’t fund animal research) was postponed from a freezing, muddy, snow covered day in March to the 21st April which promised spring sunshine instead.

Along with the improvement in the weather there seemed to be progress with my frozen shoulder. The aching, previously consistantly uncomfortable since early February, had started getting noticibly worse a couple of weeks ago. Despite my daily diet of 3 doses of ibuprofen and 2 of paracetamol and codeine the night pain seemed to have spread to every muscle even vaguely related to my shoulder and I could find no position comfortable to sleep in for more than a couple of hours. I was reconsidering the option of a cortisone injection. Then a few days ago, just as I was about to start 2 weeks leave, I realised I couldn’t even feel it through the painkillers so stopped taking them. The pain seemed to have retreated to the quite bearable ache it started as at the end of last year and for the last 3 days I’ve just been using Tiger Balm and occasional ibuprofen gel if it gets uncomfortable. Hope I’m not speaking too soon but seems the 1st stage of frozen shoulder, the painful stage, may be over just leaving the frozen and rehabilitation stages to go through. Unfortunately I still can’t raise the right arm above shoulder height so it wasn’t just a bad dream and I’m going to have to keep at it with the daily physio exercise regime. (Three days later and it’s back to the aches and ibuprofen – oh well!)

So out the door I went, Garmin set to show nothing but the time of day as I had no plan to rush round, and jogged the half mile to Brasenose Woods then onwards through them to walk and jog up Shotover Hill to the the start. I passed a couple of puzzled marshalls on the way and explained that I lived less than 2 miles away. Ten minutes to start time and I found a lot of purple clad people being warmed up in the field by Military Fitness. I couldn’t see the registration tent but a volunteer relieved me of my donation which I’d paper clipped to my race number. We headed out onto Shotover Plain where registration and start/finish became apparent and chatted till we were called for the start talk. I couldn’t see George who said he might enter on the line but Barry from the parkrun was there. I let a few people know just how very hilly the course was going to be!

Then we were off – 1 lap for the 5k and 2 for the10k. I started about halfway down the pack and gained a few paces running along the Plain despite taking it easy. We entered the forest at the western end and followed the curving, now almost dry, trail to the top of a lovely long descent that I run down most weekends. Emerging into the field at the bottom we ran round 3 sides of it instead of straight across to get to the still muddy gap through to the next field. Again right round 3 sides, both fields are sloping so gently up then fast back down, a chance to see how many were in front – maybe 20 runners but I was expecting several to pass me as I walked the steeper hills.

Along the path at the edge of Brasenose Woods, a pretty showing of white and yellow flowers, then across the end of The Ridings and up the bridleway. As planned I walked the steep 1st part of this, I’d already been up it once today, and was passed by 2 or 3 runners one of whom I re-passed as I started running on the flatter bit and he ran out of puff and took a walk. Instead of going all the way up we took a path to the left which swooped down then climbed steeply – my 2nd planned walk. An arrow sent us right up a path that led to the big field at the top where the warm-up had been. I spotted a couple of fast runners emerging from a path to the left, it seemed someone had tampered with the arrow and I was lucky it had been reported and replaced by the time I got there.

Resolution Run 2013

Instead of going back onto the Plain we ran the parallel path through some of the loveliest bits of the forest with some very old oaks. The 5k was sent left to run back along the Plain to finish while we continued on. I think a few of us may have missed an arrow here and followed a parallel path as we spotted one of the arrows on the long downhill to our left and cut through to join the path while another runner was already descending and had obviously joined the path further up. Subsequently comparing my Garmin track to the the map there didn’t seem to be a lot in it.

Then down for a second time, round both the fields again, tiring a bit and losing the odd place to the more determined but loving the race. My second walk up the hill, a young woman passing me. Down and up the next one, losing another place to a young chap with a backpack. Then along the top path to be marshalled back onto the Plain for the last kilometre to the finish where I saw I could just scrape in under the hour and managed to push the pace a bit. The lady who’d passed me offered a swig of her lemon and I hung about to see Barry finish not far behind me then a pleasant run down the hill then back home, passing the marshall at the Ridings for the 4th time as she closed up shop. 59:54 28th of 48 participants.

Resolution Run 2013 Finish

I do like a good trail run in the sunshine 🙂

Compton 20 2013

The weather forecast for Compton was the best for a long while so I decided to be optimistic and run in long-sleeve top under Vegan Runners vest, shorts and gloves carrying a windshell in my bottle belt just in case. I trusted my feet to my almost new Inov8 295s as my 315s, while nowhere near dead yet, have worn a lot on one side of the sole and I didn’t want to tempt fate with a wonky gait. My usual plan – get to the start, collect number, return to the car to faff – was blown when I was directed into the overflow parking which was further away. Instead I carried my stuff up to the start and made use of the free bag storage while struggling to pin my number on to my vest whilst wearing it – another task made difficult by my frozen shoulder but not quite as difficult as getting the vest off and on again. Many of the other runners were swaddled in full bad weather gear but standing at the start with a bit of sun and not much sign of that freezing wind I reckoned I’d got it right.

I started near the back and took it very easy, the woods at the start were a walking bottleneck as usual but the mud wasn’t too bad. A slope to walk up after a mile but mostly easy running to the Hampstead Norreys checkpoint. I washed down the gel I’d just eaten with the water provided then it was a walk up the steep footpath, through some woods, then out onto a high and windy airstrip. We ran past a small biplane which a couple of runners posed by for a photo. My only real aim was to finish in under 4 hours with the minimum of pain while enjoying the scenery. I left my Garmin on the course page and just had a look when it buzzed once a mile to tell me the last mile pace. 11:25, 11:26, 9:25, 9:25, 11:59, 9:34, 10:10, 11:51, 11:13 reflecting the regular ups and down but comfortably under the 12:00 mile minute average I hoped for.

There was an extra checkpoint somewhere I think. The long climb up above Streatley came a little later than remembered and became my slowest mile, I didn’t see anyone run up it like I foolishly did during my first go at this event. A lovely descent over grass with the Thames way down below on our right and Didcot Power Station in the distance on the left (though a Didcot Runner had to tell me where it was as I was looking the wrong way).

Compton 20 2013Then up and up to the Bower Farm control, I remember this climb as long and gentle – I was right about the long but didn’t find it that easy. Getting tired now a few walking breaks found me at the top after 2 slow miles. Still feeling good I drank squash and ate a couple of orange segments before trotting off to see the errant baby calf we’d been warned of wobbling about on the path outside a barn. A farm worker came and took it away.

Compton 20 Profile

Compton 20 Profile

Final stage but I was knackered now having run further than any time since last October. I walked all the up-hills and ran the down-hills, still under 12 minute miles except for mile 19 much of which I spent wandering along reminding myself mile 20 was mostly downhill. I was pleased that my shoulder hadn’t set into a block of concrete as it had earlier threatened. I think it helped that I made myself dangle the arm loose then wave it about a bit every couple of miles rather than letting it settle into the usual 1 dimensional running groove. Much of this last stage is on the Ridgeway and similar chalk tracks parts of which had been turned to white, clingy, mud by the recent weather.

Then down and down on a fine bit of single track. Past the place where the 20 and 40 mile routes usually diverge, though this year the 40s were being treated to 2 laps of what I’d almost finished as their usual route had suffered from weather. I wrongly remembered the course as being 19.9 miles on my Garmin, it was more like 20.4, so my will power finished about half a mile before the rest of me resulting in a couple of walk breaks even on the flat roads of Compton with the finish round the corner. 9:54, 14:56, 9:41, 11:03, 14:03, 13:16, 11:15, 10:58, 12:42, 10:50, 5:42. I did run most of it though including the playing field and the final field then over the line to finish in 3hr 50m 13s 118th of 168 – a personal worst for this event but feeling pretty good and still smiling.

Run Like The WindCompton Harriers always do a good finishers shirt but this year they surpassed themselves – I had to use Google translate to find out what it said 🙂

Another Personal Worst at the Oxford parkrun

Recently I’ve taken a new angle on parkrun. In the past it has always been a fast effort, a race, a tempo run or whatever. As both weather and body have been less than perfect I’ve felt much less competitive about it realising that dragging myself to the start for a slow run towards the back end of the field can still be rewarding. The fact that the nagging ache in my shoulder usually gets me out of bed early helps as the alternative of a pleasant Saturday morning lie-in isn’t on offer.

So a week ago Saturday I plodded round in filthy conditions, snow and sleet from above, real slippery mud below, to a personal worst of 28:09 20th of 32 which is less than half the usual field. I hung my cycling overshoes off my handlebars for the run and they must have filled with snow as by the time I got home both feet were freezing and I found the overshoe toes packed with blocks of ice – they took ages to defrost and felt really unpleasant 🙁  I was taking it easy as I planned to trot up to Shotover, run the Resolution Run 10k, and jog back home on the Sunday but the Resolution Run got postponed due to the conditions (though I ran up there anyway).

Gratuitous close-up of Honey taking a nap

Gratuitous close-up of Honey taking a nap

This Saturday’s parkrun I was to be even slower at 29:30 61st of 77 runners but it was very much a planned recovery run, in fact I set out too fast and would have been better going even slower but it’s hard with other runners all about you. On Friday I had run (mostly) 15 hilly miles – the furthest since last October I think – to try myself out for the Compton 20 next week. It was a bit slow, averaging just over 11 minute miles, and various bits started hurting towards the end. Good enough for me to have the confidence to try for a 4 hour trot round Compton next week if the weather isn’t foul again – I’d be happy with that considering!

Wobbly Image of a Prism

Wobbly Image of a Prism

Taking It Easy

After a couple of months of attempting to ignore the increasing ache in my upper right arm, a constant ache which becomes very painful with even the slightest bash or overstretch, I dragged myself along to the doctor a couple of weeks ago to be diagnosed with a frozen shoulder. I’d already done some research and thought it wasn’t frozen shoulder as the pain was mostly in my arm but as it’s progressed I realise he is probably correct. A choice between a cortisone injection and a referral to physiotherapy was offered so I chose the physio though I have to wait till late March for the earliest appointment. Meanwhile I’m doing some passive exercises in the hope of losing any further movement range.

From what I read on the internet frozen shoulder can take months, even years, to go through it’s usual 3 stages. The painful stage, which I seems to be in now, the frozen stage and the rehabilitation stage. Meanwhile I am consuming regular ibuprofen and paracetamol to stop it nagging me and to help me sleep so won’t be doing any particularly fast or long training for a while. I also have reduced swing in my right arm so have to stay aware to avoid running even more asymmetrical than usual. My legs still work fine though and my plantar faciitis has faded to a gentle reminder to keep up the stretches so at least I can still run.

If there is an upside to this it is that I can just get on with enjoying trail runs and shorter races without any pressure to perform. I’ve got 3 parkruns in this month, all very cold, all around the 26:30 mark – 3 minutes off my pb. I didn’t bother driving to the Wokingham Half as it was clearly going to rain and be cold so why put myself through it with no hope of a PB. There are several local races coming up: Wrap-up and Run 10k, OX5 Run, Brill Hilly 10k – these should be fun to cycle out to and plod round.

I seem to be fine for a few trail miles so hopefully I’ll be ok for the Compton 20 in April, there’s lots of variety and some inevitable (for me) walking to break things up. Similarly I’m optimistic about being able to do the Vegan Carneddau in June though I’ll need sufficient and comfortable right arm flexibility for the odd scramble.

Meanwhile those cats are settling in well. They can both use the cat flap now though unfortunately they prefer to crap in the nice warm litter tray. Molly continues to be a bit timid, the only time she’s been on my lap was when I was trying to eat a plate of teacakes, she does like to rub heads with Jane though. Honey is very affectionate, she loves a knee and likes to sleep on the bed which isn’t always convenient what with me already struggling to get comfortable. Jane has got them a huge scratching post in the hope of saving the furniture.