Leg 4 & 5 Superfast Headgame

Its been a while since I wrote anything mainly due to the bug thing which returned but now seems to have gone. I have been working away so the training has suffered a little, that coupled with the tiring 1:40 - 2  hour eachway drive and 5am get ups everyday has made taining les enjoyable.

I ran Askham last weekend and was pleased with 15th in a much faster time than last year.

Today I have just  been round legs 4 & 5 from Seathwaite at what felt like breakneck speed. I went with Kim Collison, Stu Stoddart & Clare McKeown. (who sawpped with Anja Phoenix at Honister). We got to Wasdale in just over an hour from Seathwaite and set off on Leg 4 in glorious morning sunshine. Reaching Yewbarrow in 35 mins I realised I might aswell scrap the 23 hour schedule that was in my pocket. However I continued to record the summit times on the paper for nostalgia. We carried on round leg 4 at a good pace arriving at Honister in 4 Hrs. Bloomin quick.

After a quick pitstop we set off up the climb to Dale Head. The pace seemed to have quickened and now with fresh legged Anja joining us, I was now the back marker. Determined not to drop away I dug deep on the climb to reach the summit in 27 minutes. I think this was the start of of the suffering. Up until then I had felt quite good but now I was starting to struggle.

We continued on finally reaching tarmac and putting on road shoes. I cramped up a little when putting on the trainers so I knew the final run-in was going to be difficult.

This is where the head games began. I was determined to keep going & pushing myself to the finish. The guys kindly waited for me at Portinscale and we ran into Keswick together dodging the market stalls & tourists. We finally finished leg 5 in 2 hours 18 mins. Again bloomin quick.

I am really chuffed to have got round that quick and persevered through the pain. For me it was too quick but I kept at it without giving in so I am happy to have ticked that box.

Post run we picked up some food & drinks from Greggs  and I really struggled to eat, finally heaving on my last mouthful of sausage & bean (but not quite being sick). I guess this is how some people fail by getting that feeling and not being able to eat.

I am 100% confident of success but I do realise that this is based on luck with weather etc but also that at a slower pace I will be able to eat OK.

Thanks guys for the workout.