3 Peaks Hill Race

My first proper race of the season and a reccy for the Fellsman rolled into one. 24 miles and 5000ft going over the three biggest hills in the Yorkshire Dales sounded like fun. It wasn't. Having spent much of the winter up here either hill running or climbing I haven't had much oportunity for running on the hard and stoney tracks that make up much of the race route.

The race was certainly well organised with route flags every 10 or so meters and water stations. Crowds of spectators on all the ascents and 750 runners did make the event stand out from what I usually associate with fell running. However, sections of the route were really quite tedious and I quickly discovered that I lack pace on the flat. As soon as we hit hills I began to drop people whilst not even going too hard. Every level section was in contrast torture and I could barely hang on.

I dropped 3min from my intended 3h50 schedule on the first hill (Pen-Y-Ghent) due to the sheer number of people. A further 6 minutes driffted away of the long track section to Ribblehead and another 3 minutes on the last flat 'descent' of Ingleborough. So all in I came in after 4h1.27 in about 245 place. Cramp was a serious problem which came on about the 20km mark. Bad eating and drinking?

At I learnt a few things for the Fellsman. An MP3 player will be invaluable for maintaining motivation and pace on the flat bits, I am feeling strong on the hills, I need to eat and drink more regularly and I now have 24 miles of hard track in my legs. Looking at my heart rate with an average of 166 and a max of 188 I think I may need to train at a higher level to be able to cope with the stress of racing.

My recovery is going alright (I couldn't walk that well on Sunday) and a two week taper should just about see me right. Fingers crossed for the 10th May.