Couch to 169K..... or bust

[Fellbeast]

A big big try out for my knee of doom at Saturday’s 22 mile Ullswater Way Trail race and, all things considered, my knee was just about up for the task (and I didn’t need to deploy the emergency walking poles I was packing). In fact I think I ran the first two quarters of the race pretty darn well, out anti-clockwise around the lake from Glenridding to Howtown and then climbing Barton Fell before dropping down and reaching Pooley Bridge at the 11 mile point. That side of Ullswater, the south/east side is as rocky as feck in places and, coupled with queues of runners at these tricky bits (there were 582 in the race), meant that it was a bit slow going to begin with, especially as I started near the back, but I did manage to make good headway and overtake a good chunk of the field. The steady pace probably suited me anyway.

The third quarter of the race after that, mainly spent steadily climbing Gowbarrow fell, was super hot but I think I did okay here too but the final quarter, descending Gowbarrow to the checkpoint at Dockray and then running in via Aira Force and the lakeside to the finish at Glenridding, was a bit of a grim do, with wheels falling off left, right and centre, and was all about hanging in through gritted teeth. For sure my knee wasn’t dead keen on the steep rocky descent off of Airy Crag but the heat and my lack of running so far this year also played their parts - I checked strava afterwards and my total running for 2021 now stands at 220 miles so this race accounted for 10% of it all!

My knee was definitely groaning a bit at the finish and I was feeling a bit sick and completely trashed too but I managed to stagger over to the lake and dive in, which seemed to help a bit

I finished in 4 hours 39, 215th out of 582 runners and 4th old bastard out of 24 old bastards - and in the circumstances I’ll take that. But jeepers I would have smashed that time last year when I was running fit

Me looking a bit battered, running down from Dockray into the woods at Aira Force in the searing Lake District heat. Apologies for my poor hair styling but I'd just doused my head in a stream:



As for after effects, my knee did swell up a bit on the day and aches a fair bit now too but, when compared to my run around the three peaks a couple of weeks ago, it feels like its aching a little less on a relative scale. So the graph is still I think going in the right direction. It was brilliant to be back in a race and finishing above the median with a gammy knee definitely exceeded my expectations beforehand. I am now though leaning towards a more patient recovery this year, just getting back and enjoying the fells, and am looking at the Lakeland 100 at the end of July somewhat more sceptically. I might still give the Lakeland 5 Passes a go later this month, if my knee continues to improve, and just see what happens after that