The Tintern Trot
The name of this race is misleading. There was no trotting involved.
I found out at the beginning of the week that it was a 600ft climb and this then considerably scared me. So much so that I so nearly didn’t do it. I didn’t make the final decision till the afternoon.
I arrived and saw the map and pretty much thought it was going to be like the paths going round vassals, and even if there was a really steep climb it’d be something I could really through myself into. The first 2 miles and a bit were like that. Then it got hard. Really hard.
At one mile (the person infront of me had a watch that beeped after every mile) and I was at 10.2mins. Sadly this lady soon got too far ahead of me for me to hear her watch again.
At 2.5 miles (roughly) I was having trouble breathing, I’d looked at the map just before I started the run and I thought I’d read it that it didn’t quite go up as far as devils pulpit. I was wrong. So we were at the bit where we were definiitely off road and it was almost steps in the mud like. I ran out of breath and started wheezing finding it much harder than normal to regain control of my breathing. The guy I was running with told me to stop for a bit (I had already walked a couple of short sections – about a minute max- but he suggested properly stopping for a few seconds, but then as soon as I did I went light headed. This didn’t help the breathing. Put my head between my knees, had some chewing gum which he offered then plodding on. My face felt so hot and red I thought it was going to explode!
The next mile or so was a little better, was pretty much on the level though getting used to the terrain took some getting used to.
At about 4 miles we were on about 55mins then came the bit I had not considered would be part of the equation. Going down really steep hills but not on concrete (which would have freaked me out enough) but proper earth worn steps, wet rocks and wet grass. Oh yes did I mention it was raining. I forgot just how much I hate going downhill. Somehow I’d forgotten till that moment – like I forget everytime I go hill climbing. – that I am so scared of falling over and falling down hills that I’m always slow walking down them and now I’m supposed to be running down it! Eek!
Finally at a mile to go the terrain got flat and was a lovely run. I got quite excited by this and tried to pick up pace to make up time then my calf cramped and I fell over, might well tripped too.
Got up walked a little and then kept going running till the end after a few more freaky clambering down steps. When I was running on the flat and got into a rhythm the person I was running with said I was wheezing and suggested I go to the doctors and get checked for asthma. I wonder if it was just hayfever. Finished at 1hr18 and 53mins
I found it really stretching and tough and seem to have hurt my ankle and bruised me knee again.
It would be good to.do it again next year (though I can’t quite believe I’m saying that because I wanted to cry and quit from not far in.
But my theme of the year is just do it, so I did it!
Chloe replied:
You’re brilliant! I wouldn’t do it! Good effort. Times mean absolutely nothing on a course like this, but I’m still impressed you did it in under 90 minutes with that sort of climb.
It sounds to me however that you got really dehydrated, then it becomes hard to control your temperature. I did the same this week on only a 3 mile run and nearly passed out at the end, body temp, spiralling everywhere. It made me feel so ill! Make sure you drink a lot before you run again in this weather. If the weather is wet while it’s warm it’s actually even worse as the sweat doesn’t evaporate to cool you down, so even more important to drink!
July 3, 2010 at 11:41 am. Permalink.