Ep 27 - Kev and Hannah do and review Ultra Wales 50

Kev’s not been around since the Northern Traverse so here is a chance to catch up with where he is at. This episode includes a ‘jog interview’ with Hannah Hall and reviews GB Ultras Ultra Wales 50 miler.

https://www.gbultras.com/ultra-wales/

https://www.centurionrunning.com/races/thames-path-100-2024

Hannah’s new business - mpower.fleet.uk@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100093997789736

Aid Station website where you can find the episodes or leave comment https://www.aidstation.co.uk/

Please feel free to give the show some feedback on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/aid-station/id1549735359

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:12

I just I can see it. Next nation.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

Hello and welcome to episode 21 of 8 Station. It is now the end of June, and you haven't heard from me since the beginning of April, so where have I been since the Northern Traverse? Well, I've been taking a long, slow recovery, and it has been a long, slow recovery, to be honest. I have been um quite fatigued by the whole thing in the recovery process. I developed some sort of weird virus in my head. Uh I went to the doctor a couple of times, had a couple of lots of antibiotics which didn't work, which makes it uh seem like a viral thing. Um it involved a lot of coughing, daily annoyance to my wife. It seemed to generate a sort of phlegm in my head rather than my chest. My oxygen levels were really good, the doctor said, um, and my chest was clear, but it just kept feeling like a constant sort of uh flu coming on in the head. Eventually it took about ten weeks for that to clear, and I don't think it was fully gone. And my next race was the uh Ultra Wales, which was 11 weeks after the Northern Traverse, uh, which I have just completed, and this podcast is really about that event. So I'm going to run through that, but before I do, I just wanted to discuss a bit about over-training syndrome, um, and how I seem to or I believe that that's part of the effect that I've had from doing Northern Traverse. I think you know I got myself into a completely fatigued state and r ran down my immune system, which you would expect somebody in their 60s to have done having run across England on 50 hour 50 minutes sleep. So I think I've paid for that all in all in the long run, but it's a real thing over-training syndrome. Uh, it normally happens to people who are training for marathon or longer and who tend to get up to 100 miles a week or more, um, and they just keep training rather than backing off and taking enough recovery, and tend to believe that their poor performance in training is because they're not training enough when the reverse is really true. I mean, I haven't been in that mindset at all, of course, because I haven't been training anywhere like that, even in the build-up to Northern Traverse. I was only on about 60-65 miles a week maximum. Um, so I think it's the whole result of that distance covered that's the problem, really. It's quite interesting. I looked up some literature, I've got a what I call my Bible, which is the um law of running by uh Tim Noakes. He deals with this overtraining syndrome in the book, but it doesn't mention in anything in longer than um 60 mile ultras. So I guess that it would be a symptom of running for over three days non-stop would have the same outcome in terms of fatigue levels for the body and and how run down you would be in your physiological state. We'll move on from that um and hopefully this whole thing will go away. Um I'm probably running myself into a hole. Um I don't recommend that anybody does this sort of thing, but the problem is I got to a point where I felt like I was capable of running again a decent distance and couldn't really tell without trying, you know, over a longer way, uh how far I could go. Because I I did a test run uh two weeks before the uh Ultra Wales, which was only about three and a quarter hours. Um that all went well, it wasn't particularly hilly. Uh but I was then at a point, well, how far do you run before you find out that um you are gonna run into uh any sort of problems that affect your performance during a race. So I decided to do the uh Ultra Wales event and uh went up there with Hannah Hall, who you will have all heard on here before. Hannah was in quite good running form. She'd also done really well, which you'll hear later on in the Centurion and Thames Topath Hundred event, um, which you'll hear about later on, and you'll hear from Hannah later on in the podcast.

unknown 5:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:53

So I entered the um Ultra Wales event after Hannah uh emailed me and asked what the I thought the route was like to do it, and would she be able to cope with it in terms of the mountains? And I of course said, yeah, no problem, and um decided to enter myself as I thought this would be quite a good interim race for me uh and a uh test draft of the northern traverse. Of course, that entry was made before the Northern Traverse, um, so I wasn't sure what condition I would be in for it, but uh thought that I'd just go into it and easy, relaxed race. So we drove the five and a half hours up to Dogethl, which was near where the race start is, which is at Coody Brennan Forest. Um, we were staying about 15 miles away from the start point of the event in a cottage just outside Dogethlough. Um, and uh once we got there we decided to go straight on up to registration because the there was a registration on the Friday before the event in the afternoon between 5 and 9, and then there was a registration in the morning as well. Um, but we thought we'd get up there, get the kit check done, and get registered, and then get back to our accommodation. Uh disappointingly, um, and I'm gonna start with a bit of a negative here. This was a GB Ultras event and my first event at it. I was quite disappointed that there was no kit check when we got there on the Friday because I guessed quite a few people would be travelling there Friday and would expect to get kit checked. Uh, instead of that, we got given a race number and ticked off that we were actually going to be present for the race. But we had to pick our tracker up and have a kit check the next day, which I thought was a bit mad as it was going to be 160 odd people there that were all going to be kit-checked in about uh 45 minutes on the morning of the event. And as it turned out, uh we got up at four in the morning on the Saturday morning, uh had to make sure we got some breakfast downers, tape up feet, that sort of thing, and got up to the Co de Brennan Forest Centre at um about five o'clock, an hour before start, and there was no kit check. Uh which is I think is really disappointing to be honest, um, because the whole way through, I mean they the GB Ultras have an online pre-race briefing, and they also have an online YouTube video on the kit that you're required to carry, but that doesn't mean you're carrying it and you're checked with it, and that every competitor has the same safety equipment and level of compulsory kit with them, which might give somebody else an unfair advantage, and there were no spot checks during the event either. Well, I certainly didn't see any and didn't get any, so sorry to get off onto a bit of a high horse about this. I'm not knocking the event or the organisers from any respect. The marshalling was brilliant, the checkpoints were really good, the food was good, all the support crews that were there on the checkpoints were excellent, all the competitors were lovely people. Um, there were loads of photographs, and all in all, it was a lovely event, but I just thought it was let down by a bit of a lack of discipline in that respect around safety, and I would not want to be in a situation as race director where there had been an incident on the mountain and there hadn't been any kit checks, uh, because any investigation would have found that out. So that was a bit of a black mark for me. Sorry to get off on a negative, but that's the way this is going with the linear recording of how things went about. As it and also as it happened on the actual during the actual race, um we got diverted away from the summit of Cadaridris, fairly near the top, due to very low visibility and a danger of disorientation. Um it's a very open uh on the top there with few landmarks to reference on the approach, and there's also a long drop-off uh on the north face of the mountain. So it was a good call by the organisers to do that. Um, and the mountain rescue team up there and everybody were really good at redirecting us, but it just highlighted to me how important the kit check was really, as the conditions were a complete uh whiteout with the uh low cloud cover and rain. Enough of my whinging about that, let's talk about the actual uh race itself. The race is around 52 miles, it has 10,000 feet of elevation and takes in Cadaridris, Elithia and Rhinog Fach in the Rhinogs. The route diff descends off Cadaridris all the way down to Barmouth, which is at sea level, and then climbs again back up into the Rhinogs. So you actually up to the top of Caderidris, down to sea level and back up again. So quite a lot of climbing in the event and much of it steep to get up to these uh the higher mountains. Uh the race has a 24-hour cutoff time, um, and I had about between 15 and 17 hours in mine to do it myself as I was taking it easy. Uh, both Hannah and I were just out for um a nice more lighter casual run as Hannah was coming off the back of her hundred, and uh we both agreed that we should aim to get in before we needed to use our head torches if possible, which uh meant finishing before 10 pm at this time of year, which is really good, but especially as the last two or three miles finish in the forest. So it meant getting in around 10 o'clock if possible, as the race started at 6. So once uh we'd hung around a little while and the race got underway, um there was just a decision to make about because it was raining quite heavily at the start, and it was whether to wear a jacket or not at the start. It was quite it was actually humid, mild, uh, with rain, and decided not to start in a jacket, which turned out to be a good call, really. Um didn't feel any cold at all running in the rain. Uh, the first five miles twisted through forest trails uh all through the Coe de Brennan forest, um, which was quite well marked, um, and we got out onto the open hills on a route appropriately called the Precipice Walk, um, which took us to checkpoint one down in Delgethlau, um and then after the checkpoint, when you take the same route out of Dolgeth El up towards Cadaridris, uh, which is the same route for the Dragons back race, um, and it was poles out for me for the first time as I clacked, clacked my way up the steep road section to Cadaridris. Um, but you go round the back of Cadaridris on this route and not up to um Gale Crag, uh, and it takes you right round the back and you run alongside the A487, which takes you down to checkpoint to uh Dolly K, which is at the bottom of Catheridris. Um and I was feeling good there on the run down, chatted with a legend whose name I can't remember, but he finished the Dragon's Bat Race in 2021, which was a really hot year, and it's become well, it's the known as the toughest year to date, um, with the smallest finishing ratio in the field. So he he was a um real legend in my eyes that he got that done in 21. He said he was hanging on by his fingertips, and I think most were that actually got that done, so that was a great performance. And of course he finished this race. I'm sorry I don't know his name, I've tried to find out by comparing the two star sheets, but couldn't come up with a comparison so that but at least it I got to know him and uh it was a it was a really interesting run and talk down about the uh events that we'd done when we got into checkpoint two. Um, after checkpoint two, the climb up to Cadarindris is about 550 metres of climbing. Um and I made my first stupid mistake. I think quite a few people have probably done this in the past, but took off up Cadarindris and left my poles in checkpoint one. Had to turn round, it wasn't very far, and run back and get my poles. And I passed a guy on the way back who said, Where the heck are you going? And I said, I'm left my poles in the checkpoint, uh, and turned round and came back up. That guy turned out to be John Bernard, who I saw later on in the race, um, and he was a great guy, he was shouting out things on the way up the the uh Cadaridris, um, which was sort of a pumped-up way of getting himself up the mountain, which was quite interesting. And uh yeah, he was a really good guy to follow up there actually. Uh, and as I said before, once we got up towards the top of Caderidris, we got diverted us across to the pony path, which is the main descent down, um, and we took the long, which is a very great descent down, came out of the cloud cover down to Abergwinnent, where I got myself lost for the first time. Um, I went up the road at uh Abergwinnent and not down through the farm, which takes you onto the uh low trail along the side of the estuary. Um, and once I'd realised I was quite a way above the trail on the road, a guy passed in a van and said they all went the other way, mate. So uh I chose to climb over a dry stone wall and descend down through what turned out to be a load of brambles and got a bit torn to bits. Um, climbed over a gate and a through a farm, and eventually got myself back on the course, but I'd have been better off running back down the road and turning back in again. Got myself onto the trail along uh which is about three miles long actually, that takes you all along the river into Barmouth. And at this point, about halfway along, I was doing run walking. I recognised a familiar voice behind me, which turned out to be Hannah, who had got herself lost in the Coody Brennan Forest, subsequently taking that time to catch me back up. Uh, and she encouraged me on, but I said I was sticking to my own game plan because I wasn't feeling like I was going to get around if I didn't uh keep it under control, and she slowly uh moved away from me. She was running quite well, but within her own well within herself, I think. And then we had this lovely run along the estuary and over the uh really long low wooden bridge that carries pedestrians and the railway line over. The train literally passed me very close as you go over the railway line across the estuary at Barmouth. Beautiful place, Barmouth. The sun was out at this point, and as I went into checkpoint two, Hannah was coming out. She'd been very efficient in the checkpoints, and she was carrying a slice of watermelon, and I thought, wow, that's just what I need. So uh got myself some coke and a slice of watermelon. Uh John Bernard was in there tucking into pot noodle, he was taking longer in the checkpoints than me. Um, and Hannah seemed to have been very efficient in the checkpoints, so I decided to turn it round quite quickly and come out. Um, but as soon as I got out of Bartmouth itself and started to climb up towards Elithia, uh I really started to slow and suffer in the heat. Um, I started to have my first breathing issues on Elithia, which actually involved me having to lie down, get my heart rate down, get my breathing back under control. And this happened a couple of times. Uh, and uh I could see Hannah off in the distance. She teamed up with a couple of guys, um uh which she ended up running the remaining 20 odd miles with. Uh, but after this point and my first lay down, I never saw them again. Um, and on the open moorland, as we were crossing across to Elithia, I was caught by John again, um, who I'd seen at checkpoint uh two. And uh John is quicker than me um over the ground, but had spent longer in the checkpoints, as I said, he in Potnooble getting his feet taped up and and stuff like that. So we kept uh overpassing each other at different points across the course since Calaridris. Um and at this point he asked me how old I was, so I told him that um uh next month I'm drawing my state pension, which I think he was quite impressed with that I was uh doing these events uh at that age. And we arrived at checkpoint five together, and uh again John took a longer break than me, and by now I'm struggling to eat anything, so just drank some orange and coke and set off again. And I'm now travelling very slowly and having to stop and lay down. Eventually uh I make it up Elithia and swear to myself that I'm never gonna do another mountain ultra again. Um, I think I'd I I felt like I'd be fine on the on the downs, um, and I mean that by the north or south downs around here in England, but not on the mountains, and uh they seem to be really hurting me these days. Anyway, I moved on up as to keep going forward, um and it's a steep rocky section then, and a real scramble up Rinog Fach. And again, I take a number of breathers and sat on some. Large slabs of rock on the way up. At one point, I sat down next to one of the race photographers and just was breathing, heaving heavily, and I'm sure he didn't seem to show any concern, he was more interested in taking photos of people moving, I think. But anyway, I got my recovery in. The views at the top were absolutely stunning, and I looked back at uh northern Snowdonia uh and had fond memories of the DBR route on the way back up there, some of which I could see, uh which was really nice, and at last we had some really great weather at the top and some lovely views in uh Snowdon. The descent off Reno Crack is very steep and really rocky, um, which equaled uh very slow uh descent for me on tired legs. I wasn't worried about the descent, but it was just so slow going. Um it is very steep on there on the way down. Uh but once down it was flatter, um, and it was a run-out through a bit of forest towards the last checkpoint, which was checkpoint number six, uh, which was a little bit of an out and back. Which is always not much fun when you know you've got to turn around and go back again. And again, I only drank Coke uh and with about 10k to go just wanted to get it done. Uh luckily it was much flatter, uh more rolling, most of it on uh undulating forest track and grass trail. And I found my running legs again, and uh was able to run most of the remainder of the route back to the finish at Kerry D. Brennan Centre. Um I was encouraged by Hannah as I came in uh to get a run, because I was actually walking past the centre at this point, and I ran under the banner, got presented with uh my gold medal, uh which the top 100 finishers get. I mean it was only 160 in it, so I was happy to get my gold anyway. And a kind of airing alcohol-free beer, which I was most grateful for. Um and as I was having my picture taken, I hear John Bernard's voice shout, Well done, old man. Uh which did make me laugh. Because that's what I am. Um anyway, the whole i the race took me 16 hours and two minutes, so I was pretty spot on between 15 and 17. And I was happy to get it done. And Hannah and I had our picture taken afterwards, and uh the post-race story is now taken up by Hannah, who I met up earlier this week, for an aid station style interview jog.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

Well I'm out with Hannah and we're having a gentle jog recovery run after the Wales Ultra 50 around our local pond as it's called, which is actually a lake in Fleet. Um and I wanted to catch up with Hannah so that I could well basically get some material together for the podcast and to talk about the Wales Ultra which took place in southern Snowdonia last weekend. So how's your recovery been Hannah?

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Oh good, I just um I think the worst of it for me was mosquito bites and uh a very raw and sore back from some chafing from my backpack.

SPEAKER_04 25:48

Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:49

Uh because it was wet to start, wasn't it? And then uh very humid the rest of the day and hot.

SPEAKER_04 25:56

So the legs have been alright then.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

Yeah, they have actually, but I I went went to do that one to kind of enjoy it and not race too hard, so I think that's why the legs are okay.

SPEAKER_04 26:06

Yeah, and you you went there with a relaxed attitude to that one and not race it uh because of what you achieved at the uh Thames Path 100, the centurion event, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

Yeah, I've been pushing and training hard for a year and the Thames Path 100 um I went and managed to do what I wanted to do, so which was tell everybody did a sub-2200, uh was fifth lady.

SPEAKER_04 26:35

Brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Um yeah, it got the time I wanted despite some unexpectedly uh unfavourable conditions. Yeah, the mud was horrendous. So yeah, I think sometimes it's good just to go and take part in a race and just really enjoy it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:54

Um what was so what was the recovery gap between the hundred and the fifty we've just done?

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Uh seven weeks I think.

SPEAKER_04 27:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Which was the same as I had between the South and the North Downs hundreds last summer.

SPEAKER_04 27:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:08

Um I think it's quite nice, Gab.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

Yeah. What did you do in that seven weeks then?

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Uh not low, it's a couple of weeks proper recovery.

SPEAKER_04 27:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

And then um, well, my biggest problem this time is training for the Thames Path. It was you know pancake flat. So I deliberately avoided hills for eight months. So uh my biggest concern was getting in any kind of shape to cope with the climbs and the descents on the South Snowdonia. So a bit of time on the stepper in the gym, a few hill repeats around Fleet, but as you know Kev, it's uh it's not very hilly here.

SPEAKER_04 27:48

It's not going to prepare you the stess master, is it for Cadidris and no and the Rhinox really uh kick my ass, yeah, uh, but it was good fun. And uh so just give me a bit more on the uh Thames path in terms of how you set about in the actual race. Uh because you obviously had a time target. I guess you were trying to go sub-24 or something or less.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Well I entered it because all I ever wanted was a sub-2400, yeah. But training went really well. Um so about a month out from the race, I started thinking about aiming for a sub-22. Uh thinking if the wheels fell off, I'd still be on for a sub-24. I had a run-walk strategy which went really well. Just because it's so flat, you've got to find a way of breaking it up a bit.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

It's a Centurion race, so it was a super professional, lovely race to be part of, as they always are.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

Uh it was a funny one because it was coronation weekend, so there are lots of people out on boats drinking champagne, having parties.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:01

Thinking, Jesus, how come this is my idea of should we do something a bit more civilised? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:09

And uh so like how did the race go? Like, first quarter, where where were you at?

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Like clockwork really, I quite I found it quite hard doing the um the run walk from the start because obviously it means you've got to let people who are just running, yeah, come past you, but by about 30 miles it looked obvious that it was starting to pay off. So I had a cracking first half, the first 50, I got a 50 mile PB and was feeling strong.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

But then the mud kicked in, it's uh sort of floodplain territory, and the mud is very clay-based and it's like being on an ice rink, it was ridiculous. It was hard to uh hard to walk on, let alone run on. Yeah. I would have loved to have seen the the leading guys and how they managed to negotiate it.

SPEAKER_04 30:06

Did you have poles? Were you allowed poles?

SPEAKER_01 30:08

No, you were you're allowed poles, but I like I don't like using poles on the flat.

SPEAKER_00 30:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

Um and actually I was right before that I could stick my arms out for balance.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

So I got a bit dejected in the sort of third quarter.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Because at halfway I was an hour up on my schedule. And then I lost all of that time in the third quarter.

SPEAKER_04 30:33

Right. Uh so did you have that demotion demotivational thing of people passing you or this is where you came in, Kev.

SPEAKER_01 30:43

So Coach Kerr very kindly messaged me all night long. I don't know if you got any sleep, did you?

SPEAKER_04 30:48

Yeah, but you know, it's a kind of happy thing.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Telling me at different checkpoints uh where the next lady was, and so I think at that point I just had a word with myself and thought well it's the same conditions for everyone, and I was slowly climbing my way up through the ladies' placings. Yeah. Um so sort of pushed on as best I could, and then somewhere in the last 20 miles, realised I could still get a sub-22. So I came in at uh 2153, I think it was.

SPEAKER_04 31:23

Yeah, brilliant. Excellent time, and great to be right up there, you know, at this sharpen. I I actually joked with Hannah that she couldn't come on this podcast anymore because she wasn't mid-to-back pack.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

That's why I had to go and take it easy in Wales so that you'd let me back.

SPEAKER_04 31:40

Yeah, so yeah, so she doesn't spare us to come back again on the podcast. Oh, I know what I want to do is clarify one thing, you just called me Coach Kev. Um and although I am a running coach, um I am not Hannah's coach, so I didn't want to give the wrong impression. So I think you should give some kudos to your coach.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

Yeah, absolutely. So um I've been with Mike James, the endurance physio, uh, since September, so he's pushed me really hard. Um I think for me the thing about having a coach is that it feels like it gives you permission to do the training when there's sort of competing demands in the rest of your life.

SPEAKER_00 32:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Um so yeah, that's been great and sort of thoroughly enjoyed being part of his team.

SPEAKER_04 32:32

Yeah, I think that was uh one thing you said to me that struck home was that he related to you and your life as a busy mother and businesswoman. And uh that's really important and just want to get it across to listeners how important it is to find the right match, really.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Yeah, absolutely. I mean he's similar age to me, does a similar job, has kids similar ages. Uh and his first question when he plans any month is you know what's coming up in your life? What do we need to work around?

SPEAKER_04 33:04

Which um which I would never ask you.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

Yeah, absolutely. Um so he's yeah, it's not to say he lets me take it easy, yeah, um, but there's just that degree of accommodating, which means that it's it's doable. Yeah, it's bloody hard, but doable.

SPEAKER_04 33:24

Great stuff.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

And and have you got is that a long-term thing, or is it uh you know you're doing it for that race or well he he coaches a lot of much better athletes than me, but he's kindly said he'll have me back in September.

SPEAKER_00 33:38

Oh great.

SPEAKER_01 33:39

So I'm gonna have the summer off now, yeah, and then get stuck in again in September.

SPEAKER_04 33:44

Excellent. So let's have a bit of a chat about the totally different uh mountain terrain of the Wales Ultra. Uh but I'm puffing as you everybody can hear. Um just not been recovering so well since uh Wales Ultra. Um yeah, it was our both of our first time with GP Ultras who were the organisers of the event. So it'd be good to get some feedback on what you felt about them and their organisation.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Well, I thought they were hands down the some of the nicest runners I've ever met out on the course. Uh I thought the marshals and the mountain rescue were absolutely superb. I don't think I've ever seen so many marshals out on the course. Yeah. Uh including some who rooted us away from the summits of Cardi Riddles because visibility was so bad. Yeah. So hats off to them for all of that.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:50

There were a couple of minor things, logistics-wise, which weren't ideal, but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:57

Well we I felt the same, exactly the same as you. I thought it was really well organised. Um for those that don't know, GB Ultras are based up in Cheshire, I think. A lot of their races are northern-centric. Uh and the only real hiccup I thought was the uh the uh tracking which didn't really bother me but bothered my wife and quite a few other competitors, families I think, because there was a lot of it um very random of where we were and people going backwards and forwards and getting bumped down at the finish every time another runner came in when they were going slower than you, which is all a bit.

SPEAKER_01 35:48

Well I've had the awkward situation of my finishing timers reported about two hours faster.

SPEAKER_04 35:54

So lots of people tracking me when I w you did so well, and I was like, um yeah, well I'm sure it's just but hopefully that was just a hiccup on that event, and uh they did have the nicest chocolate brownie cake at all the checkpoints. Yeah, the checkpoints were very good. Yeah, well I shall find out because in three weeks' time I'm due to do the Beacons 100, which is one of their events as well, along with Izzy Gatherer. So we shall see whether they sort of the tracking out. Not that I'm that worried about the tracking, as long as I can find my way around. So let's talk about the mountains then and running in the mountains. You you hadn't been up there for a while, had you?

SPEAKER_01 36:43

No, no, not running anyway, any hill stuff for ages, but I just I just love being out there and it was a stunning route. I mean it was rainy and claggy in the first half, wasn't it? Yeah. And then we came to Long Flatbit in Barmouth. Bartmouth was just stunning. Running along the bridge there over the estuary and then climbing out, and from there it was all just just magnificent, really. Yeah uh got a little bit warm uh and then had the Rhinox, so I think we had nine miles to go and you're sort of thinking, yeah, I've got this. And then that next mile took me 54 minutes scrambling up sort of boulder fields and coming down some pretty tricky descents, and I'm a complete wuss on descent, so I was taking my time. So shout out to uh Ryan and Carl who we teamed up together and Ryan got us got us through the more technical bits, which I really appreciated.

SPEAKER_04 37:49

Yeah, yeah, that's great because uh the it's not just the climbing, the descent is no quicker, is it? It's what people don't realise, I think, when you get in the mountains and you get on a very technical descent, which is nothing like the mountain tracts of the Alps, believe it or not. Yeah, Snowdonia isn't love this trail, isn't it? Yeah, Snowdonia is a place all of its own and totally different, but still thoroughly enjoyable.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

How did you find the day Kev?

SPEAKER_04 38:22

Well I uh I've been suffering since the Northern Traverse, um, and it came 11 weeks after the Northern Traverse and hadn't really been ready if I'm honest for it and be fretting about it. Um but felt much better the day a week before and then ironically I don't know whether it was psychological, and you you commented yourself that I started coughing and bringing up phlegm and stuff on the day of the race, which could have been to do with the humidity and the amount of moisture in the air because it well it was actually drizzling rain. Um so I just well set out what I set out to do and cope and just hope to get round because I've you know got a bigger picture things I want to do and just wanted to know whether I was gonna recover enough to do a bit of a daft event to do, but um I'm in one piece, I must admit that I've had a bit of a relapse since I came back, my guys, and uh this is my first jog out with that.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

Um I think it's kind of my fault because I sent you the link to that race and asked your opinion on how technical it was, to which he replied, nah you'll be fine about 30 seconds later. The second tech said, Can I come?

SPEAKER_04 39:54

Yeah, well the thing is it's part of the leg, you go up those that know the Renox and those that are going to be uh will have wrecked them for the Dragon's Back race. You go up Elitia and Rhino fucking reverse, so um I just loved it to rain to get back out there.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

Well hats off to anyone doing Dragon's Back having done just a little bit of the Rhinogs.

SPEAKER_04 40:24

Yeah, yeah, it's it's just a different event altogether different level. So anybody who's listening, and I know there's lots of dragons back competitors past and future that do.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

Uh you'll be fine.

SPEAKER_04 40:38

Get your backsides, get your backsides out there. You need to check it out.

SPEAKER_01 40:45

Anyway, um are we gonna tell them about our embarrassing complete epic failure at the finish? Yeah, well you you do that.

SPEAKER_04 40:53

Tell them how you were waiting for me.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

Kev and I had sort of got a decent plan that he'd even put a sleeping bag in the boot of the car and given me the key in case I finished before him. But I finished, so I think it was about quarter to ten in the evening. I looked at the tracker and Kev was about 45 minutes behind me. So I thought I'd just sit and wait. And then I suddenly realised there was no food at the end because I didn't have a kitchen there. I was like, oh, it's getting quite late. So uh started googling with places to eat in Delgethla, which is our nearest little town. Found a single takeaway that was open till 11. So when Kev crossed the finish line about 20 past 10, I was like, really sorry to rush you kev, but if you want to eat, we're gonna have to go.

SPEAKER_04 41:50

Kev was a bit a bit knackered and uh yeah, eating wasn't where I was at at that point, just because I spent about 15 minutes wandering around the car park trying to find the car.

SPEAKER_01 42:03

And then we had a slightly panicked drive to Dorgetha. Never found the takeaway. The 24-hour service station we thought we'd get a sandwich from turned out not to be 24-hour. So Kev and I went to went to bed that night with no food in our stomach.

SPEAKER_04 42:19

Yeah, which is not not the best coaching advice ever.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

For a couple of fairly experienced ultra runners was uh a bit of a numpty mistake.

SPEAKER_04 42:28

Yeah, I can't believe I mean we had mountain food as it were, which was all sweet snacks that we'd been eating all day. You couldn't stomach another jelly baby. Yeah, I was exactly the same. In fact, I couldn't stomach when you said to me we need to go to the takeaway. That was I'd been avoiding food for about three hours. So yeah, that wasn't great, but we made up for it the next morning with a huge breakfast, and I can recommend the Sosfan Cafe in Del Gathai. Uh brilliant, absolutely brilliant place, great food, great coffee, and it tasted all the more better, I guess, because of the unnutritional state we were in. That's not a word but I couldn't think of one. And yeah, so it all wrapped up uh I think a nice outing myself. I'm really pleased I did it. Really happy to tag along and do it with you, Hannah. And uh so what's next for you?

SPEAKER_01 43:31

Uh summer off, and then uh I got hardmoor's 80 in November. Shit, I've said it now, so now I'm gonna hardcore now. I'm committed.

SPEAKER_04 43:40

Yeah. Oh wow, oh well so well you've got a nice time to build up for that. That's a very sensible approach.

SPEAKER_01 43:48

Yeah, to take that on. It's good to have a little break and a bit of time off.

SPEAKER_04 43:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

Mentally as much as physically.

SPEAKER_04 43:57

Alright, yeah, I don't know, that's a great

SPEAKER_01 44:00

idea yeah I think it and also it gives you time in the summer with your family you know you think about other things yeah exactly and uh spend some time on them catch up on all the other crap in life I haven't done I'm sure there's a tax return somewhere that needs my attention yeah oh let's talk about your new business oh okay there's the entrepreneurial manner who already has two I think businesses is now uh got another plan she told me about in this car journey up to Delgas I so I'm gonna leave it all to you oh I'm just about to launch a uh a program for ladies in the paramenopausal menopausal time of life to help them with their fitness their nutrition and their mindset so a bit on the mental health side as well. That's pretty so I'm really excited I don't think anyone else is doing anything quite like this it's a seven week block which hopefully I'll give them all the tools that they need to be able to sort of manage their menopause because I think it's just a really tough time for women. Yeah absolutely and it's being a lot more talked about now yeah but knowing where to turn and what to do is still a bit of a minefield.

SPEAKER_04 45:17

Yeah absolutely I mean having living having lived through somebody else's I fully understand well I don't understand at all but typical male comment really but um so that must revolve around other than you know I mean obviously it involves physical uh work or exercise there must be other stuff involved with that is there yeah so they'll get uh some one-on-one time with a nutritional therapist uh some group mindset coaching looking at overcoming some of the mental health barriers during menopause then a six week program of fitness classes because I think even even women who really know their fitness and know their bodies can get to this point and they're not quite sure what to do or how to do it. Yeah or things feel different their body reacts differently yeah I mean if you've been used to a certain training as a runner and then the menopause comes along it must hire wire everything that you ever knew about yourself or your body or what you could do I guess.

SPEAKER_01 46:24

Yeah and actually the kind of exercise that is most beneficial is quite specific in terms of offsetting some of the negative impacts from the drop off of estrogen. Yeah so sort of the neuroprotective benefits and the metabolic protective benefits so it's really important.

SPEAKER_04 46:43

Yeah that's brilliant I wish you the best of luck with that thank you very much and uh I'm sure well it's a bit sad really but I'm sure there's a a lot of women that will benefit from it and uh anything that helps with that situation can only be good.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

I think also it's about turning it giving women the tools to turn it into a more positive time here when they can openly talk about have a community around them and know that with the right help you know they can get through it.

SPEAKER_04 47:18

Yeah absolutely brilliant well thanks very much Hannah thank you and I know a lot of people driving me all the way to Snowdon I love it that is brilliant and uh any opportunity and uh well I'm gonna see you all over the summer at different times but we'll definitely get back together when you've done hard moors anyway. So thanks very much. James Club thank you's bloody age station