Here we go again: less than 24 hours until I'll be lining up at the startline of the 13 Valleys race in Keswick for the second time. The nerves have been steadily building in the background of the week; I probably didn't help by packing my race bag and drop bag four days prior to race day, but after a last minute rush in my previous race, I wanted to remove some stress from the occasion.
The approach to this race has been far from ideal. When booking the event, I imagined that doing the Plague (100k race) at the start of the summer holidays would provide a useful stepping stone, and help me to maintain my race-readiness from the UTS in May. I'm starting to understand that it doesn't work like that; training happens in cycles, and you need to time your build up to a race. Additionally, the summer holidays are a busy time, and I found myself emerging from August without having kept up anyway near the training load of the start of the year.
Six weeks out, with training in disarray, I thought I should grab a few weeks of proper training, including a recce of the course; some navigational confusion happened in the second evening of last year's race, and I wanted to avoid repeating that. So I planned some solid hill training, and a visit to the Lakes four weeks before race day, with a view to starting the taper at three weeks out.
As I ramped up the training, during the week before the recce, I did a short but tough run up and down a couple of tricky routes on the Edale side of the Kinder plateau. As I descended the second, I caught a rock with my foot and landed hard on my hands, thankfully missing any other rocks. It was a painful hobble back, as it became clear I'd hit my foot pretty hard, and an x-ray the next day revealed I'd broken my right big toe - a partial fracture down the inside edge. Four weeks until race day, build up of last minute training was aborted, no recce, and I was unsure what condition I'd be in for race day.
Two weeks out, and I'd already removed the bandage as I was concerned that I was adapting my walking. No painkillers had been required, and I was observing no ill effects. Following the advice of the nurse to respond to the pain, I did the obvious thing (from my point of view) and tried a short run. The toe wasn't causing any issues, so I launched back in with four days of 10k runs. Still fine. After a day off, I headed for the Lakes to do a recce. I was worried about doing big miles during what should be my taper period, but this was damage limitation; I needed to finish my training, learn the route and convince myself that this was still possible.
It was a mammoth weekend. Given an already busy week of running and little sleep, I pushed myself through a 31-mile hilly route, at steady pace and in grim weather, for the morning at least. It was a good test, getting used to carrying the kit and dealing with adverse conditions. Importantly, I gained some confidence about the route. I felt battered on Sunday morning, but saw this as an opportunity continue the endurance training. My toe was a little sore, but I put on my hiking boots and set out to cover another 20 miles. Ascending the majority of High Street from Troutbeck to reach Thornthwaite Crag was tough. I added to the difficulties by detouring via Stony Cove Pike, complete with scrambling, and a challenging ascent over Scandale Pass. The latter was therapeutic - visiting the scene of last year's race, where the a mid-race route change happened due to bad weather. Scandale Pass was rough but seem moderate on a dry day in daylight, but I could understand why it had been so problematic in horrendous story conditions on the second night of the race.
Back to the week of the race, and my body has not fully recovered from that weekend. Perhaps the hiking day was a bad move. As ever, and despite my best efforts, sleep has been inadequate and disturbed. At least my logistical preparations have been good - a detailed plan for my support crew with a couple of hours spent talking through it, and carefully crafted lists have been followed as I've packed my things.
I shouldn't be this nervous; this is my fourth century run, and for the first time it is one I am repeating, and less difficult than the previous. But the mental battle is not won that easily. 114 miles is a very long way; throw in tricky terrain, two nights of sleep deprivation and potentially difficult weather conditions, and even with the best preparation, a finish is not guaranteed. Beating last year's time might be optimistic, given the chaotic training period, but with experience and hopefully some better weather, it isn't out of the question. I would like to enjoy the experience more than my last race, which means holding a realistic pace, ignoring what people are doing around me and running my own race.
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