Three Peaks Yacht Race

[Petal]

Can anyone tell me how to get ready for this?!? I hardly ran in 2009 after busting a knee ligament falling over a gate Christmas 2008, but now find myself entered in the 3PYR - help! I'm running with wee Damon Rodwell (not sure if he hangs around these parts), and have a very wee boat (a 36ft Red Admiral), and reading previous accounts and posts on these forums, I'm getting a wee bit apprehensive!
We've started a blog to track our painful progress...
http://autonomy3peaks.wordpress.com/
Any tips greatly appreciated.

[ifor]

Don't worry about the running but get practising with the rowing if last year is anything to go by....

[Petal]

OK, thanks Ifor, I've done 20 mins on the rowing machine (after shovelling the dust off) - will that be enough?

[Marvin]

Don't worry about the running but get practising with the rowing if last year is anything to go by....

...or find yourself some strong rowers to join your team.

Last year, I did Snowdon and Ben Nevis which gave plenty of recovery time with the light conditions. In this year's race, I'm doing all three, and likely to get much less time to recover.... at least I hope there will be more wind as heavy weather favours our boat. It could be much tougher.

[Mark G]

Ancient history now but when I did it the thing I found the hardest was coping with the lack of sleep (we shared the sailing and running, so we all did a big share of the sailing, or at least being told which rope to pull) - giving even less chance to snooze. Not sure how you might best want to prepare for that, might depend on if you are 'just' running and on how good the boats accommodation is (we had a Contessa 32 - very comfortable parked up overnight in a sea loch on cruising trips, much harder to sleep in when it was going places and trying to snatch an hour between other jobs etc).

[Zlod]

Petal> I think that the things that are important for the Three Peaks Yacht Race are:

- being able to do 25-ish mile runs with maybe less than 12 hours rest in between
- to run as a team with your partner
- being able to run and navigate in the dark
- being able to pump out the miles on the flat

Doing the first four races in the Vasque series would be excellent training!

From the sailing side:

- that's the sailors' problem
- make sure you get enough sleep after the runs rather than being tempted to enjoy the vibe on deck (although you're going to want to spend a few hours on deck enjoying the Menai Straits and watching the Lakes slip into the distance)
- look after the sailors food-wise, in general cabin management and anything they specifically want you to do

I'm not exactly sure what a "Red Admiral" is. It sounds like the name of a boat rather than a type of yacht. Is your yacht based in the Bristol Channel?

I like the photos of the Black Mountains on your blog. Is there enough snow up there for snowboarding (somewhere steep - west face of Waun Fach kinda thing)?

[IanDarkpeak]

Can anyone tell me how to get ready for this?!? I hardly ran in 2009 after busting a knee ligament falling over a gate Christmas 2008, but now find myself entered in the 3PYR - help! I'm running with wee Damon Rodwell (not sure if he hangs around these parts), and have a very wee boat (a 36ft Red Admiral), and reading previous accounts and posts on these forums, I'm getting a wee bit apprehensive!
We've started a blog to track our painful progress...
http://autonomy3peaks.wordpress.com/
Any tips greatly appreciated.

get some practice on the boat even if you are 'just' a runner try and get some over night sessions with long runs at the end. Where is the boat based?

If you practising rowing see how it's set up up on the boat. a rowing machine may not work the correct bits.

In rough weather You may have to sleep on the rail. but as Martin says lots of long runs and know where you are going. the number of bikes that miss the turn off at Whitehaven just 100m from where you start is so funny. It's not unknown for a team to run up the wrong mountain. Also practice with a pack. Some of the kit list is just plain daft.

[Wheeze]

36 foot??!!! LUXURY!!!!
When I were a lad we 'ad 30 foot an' were grateful!
An' whats all this prattin' around wi' bikes??? Pah, in ma day it were all on't foot!
Seriously Crispin, this is all about slow and steady. I would not worry about racing speed. The fact you are a runner will give you all the ability you need on the day. You might run 20 minutes faster than another team on one running leg only to see half a day go to pot on the next sailing leg!

As others have said, the ability to have almost a telepathic relationship with your running partner and a willingness to muck in with running the boat are probably the most important things. You WILL get into the most unbelievable scrapes and you WILL have tales to bore your grandchildren with!

[IanDarkpeak]

36 foot??!!! LUXURY!!!!
When I were a lad we 'ad 30 foot an' were grateful!
An' whats all this prattin' around wi' bikes??? Pah, in ma day it were all on't foot!
Seriously Crispin, this is all about slow and steady. I would not worry about racing speed. The fact you are a runner will give you all the ability you need on the day. You might run 20 minutes faster than another team on one running leg only to see half a day go to pot on the next sailing leg!

As others have said, the ability to have almost a telepathic relationship with your running partner and a willingness to muck in with running the boat are probably the most important things. You WILL get into the most unbelievable scrapes and you WILL have tales to bore your grandchildren with!

Wheeze makes a good point.

Q do you seriously think you can win? there is perhaps only 3-4 boats in with a shout usually. So enjoy it

We had a 5 hour lead at one point and then missed a tidal window and when it swung back there were three boats side by side

The places to watch out for is geeting back from Snowdon to beat the tide up the straights and if possible it go in and out on one tide at Whiteheaven. This is very hard.

[Petal]

Wow - loads of brilliant advice, thanks all. I've been work-crazy for a few days, hence delay in replying.
Zlod... the Blacks Mountains are slathered in the stuff. Bloody awful for running (ice crust - my shins are scabs and bruises), but might be ok for boarding etc (not my expertise though).
Are you racing the 3PYR again?
Marvin - what boat are you?
My skipper said our boat is a Red Admiral, meaning the type; it's called "Autonomy" and is parked in Pembrokeshire. It's got lovely wood panelling etc, so is probably some antique! There are a couple of pics here:
http://autonomy3peaks.wordpress.com/...winter-jobs-2/
I don't know how fast it is, but they seem to do well in their local races (me = ignorant about sailing!). And the sailors are fantastic (I have to say that because the skipper is my boss ;-).
I've been on it before for SIPR2008, and it was much more comfy than the trimaran Blue Chip!! We actually overtook the leading trimarans (Blue Chip, Memec etc) coming down past top end of Jura - very amusing! But then my partner's knee broke...
Zlod - I'll have a look at the Vasque series - good tip. Not ready for 25 miles yet, but need some targets after a lame year.