Trailwalker 2007 - A Sponsored Walk
...Everything you need to know about getting four people around 100km - together - in a time that you have set for yourselves -Without killing one another
**Shorter synopsis at the foot of the post**
This started a year ago
(apologies for those who have been to our donation website and have seen this bit before)
It all started when a throwaway comment after Trailwalker '06 was picked up and taken as a challenge!!!
And the comment was...
"How about doing it in 15 hours, then..??!!!"
A quick calculation was made in a tiny brain, and the feasibility of doing 100km in that time was carefully considered for a microsecond or two, and Lo and Behold, the 'team' was half formed!!
And in no time at all..... fully formed!
Trailwalker is, more than anything else, an event that requires Not Insignificant Training; Teamwork and Cooperation second to none; Fantastic Support; and much Good Fortune to complete intact, as a Team... and within the specified time.
By setting a difficult goal for the Team to attain, we will endure some physical hardship for a relatively short period in order to help alleviate some of the hardship endured by the many who are much less privileged and fortunate than ourselves.
Having participated in TW06, the importance of having a Group of people that would work well together both when things were going well – but more importantly would pull together in a cohesive supportive and kick-ass way (depending on what was needed)
AND would have the kind of Inner Drive that would only stop them if something was completely broken – was crystal clear!
TW06 was ONLY successful because of this.
And THAT medal remains my most precious to date, because of what it represented!
In many ways the Team formed itself! And it consisted of 7 people.
The 4 people doing the easy bit – putting one foot in front of the other for a while; and the 3 guys that made sure that everything went smoothly at every stage for us.
Our Support Crew had masses of experience of this event between them, and so knew exactly what was needed, and how to deliver it. And without them, this simply wouldn’t have happened!
The Walkers all got together for the first time for a 20ish mile potter around the Lake District. There we found that as a group we got on pretty well – we had slightly different walking paces – but nothing too insurmountable – and we started discussing strategy already at that point!!!
It seems like a lifetime ago now!
Velocirator and I had a trundle around my favourite hill in Wales – 10 hours on our feet and taking in the summit twice by doing all of the best routes up down and around the mountain.
All four of us did the District Double (White Peak and Windermere Marathons) as specific Run/Walk Strategy events (which pretty much sorted how we were going to tackle TW).
And the last thing (which Slowboy couldn’t get to due to work commitments, unfortunately) was the Rotary Across Wales Walk. Which was going to give us about 10 hours on our feet – with significantly more elevation gain and harder underfoot conditions that TW would – but a final chance to iron out any subtleties with regard to the Strategy.
Which it did!!!!
And so to Friday – and Slowboy arrived at ours at lunch time – and we whizzed down to the South Coast – depositing the car at Rob’s house, being transported via Havant Train Station to collect Heebiejeebie, to the camp site at the start!
Registration and Kit check followed tent pitching, and we sat down to a gourmet meal prepared by Heather (who just doesn’t do ‘roughing it’ )
Unusually for me – I was all nervous and excited the night before! Most odd!
A fairly disturbed but Restful-Enough nights sleep followed and a quality breakfast of porridge and toast was provided at Stoopid o’clock.
And before we knew it we were heading to the start.
We positioned ourselves just behind the Gurkha teams so as to avoid potential impaling by Pole-Wielding-Human-Quadrupeds in the rush for prime walking space!
And we were off…..
Stage 1: 9.5km - a nett uphill leg with 300m of ascent. It’s a nice undulating leg – so plenty of easy running – and we are COMPLETELY disciplined about walking the updulates. We made very good time to the checkpoint – where the girls had a quick ‘after breakfast’ toilet stop
Stage 2: 10.3km (19.8 total) nett down hill leg this one with 290m of ascent (590 total). One slightly stiff updulate in this leg, and a Grey Area undulatin section part way through which had us doing the “is it/isn’t it” thing with regard to it’s runnibility. (but information that was filed under Hmmm – If we trained for it – this bit could be run as well!). Checkpoint 2 and our first meeting with Iain and Rob. Food stuffed in faces – camelbak refused at this point. And we are still making fabulous time with minimal effort
Stage 3: 8.3km (28.1) Slightly nett uphill with 190m ascent (780). A REAL Grey Area leg – 2km uphill and then 5 that undulated frustratingly. Eminently runnable along it’s length – but we stuck to The Plan. Some light relief along this leg was provided by Harry, a Springer Pup who belonged to another team. He ran almost 100k on that leg – pretended to be a Springbok in the cornfield when he couldn’t see anything. Made us all laugh. He was very cute. DID ask his owner how far he was staying with them, and he was going to be dropped of at the next support point!!!!! That poor support team would have had their hands full with THAT bundle of energy CP3 (Cow Pat point – it was last year – and so it remained this!!! And through the chip point and quick Throne Stop – and on we went – still making really good time, and feeling good
Stage 4: 9km (37.1) and a decent nett downhill leg. Ascent 180m (960). Most of the climbing was at the beginning of this leg, and the knowledge that we’d be meeting Snoop and Tiger at the CP and the drop down to that point was really nice to run – AND we’d be nicely over 1/3 distance at this point – all good motivating factors! It was a relatively short stop – which the Support Crew had positioned at the exit to the field. It was a subtlety, but boy do things like that make a difference! Socks changed for some of us – I also picked up my Camelbak as the temperature was getting up. Suncream liberally applied, and off we went.
Stage 5: 12.1km (49.2) Nett uphill Ascent 280m (1240) most of which was in the first 3km! Snoop and Tiger ran along the first little bit and to the top of the hill (where they met us last year) before turning back. It was really great to see them, and to have their company for that time. Wonderful!!!!! The rest of this stage was quite drag until the last 2km where we could run for a more prolonged period. Another one logged as Could be Run tho! Down to CP 5 which was So Much Better Positioned than last year, in a field by the road. A quick stop here for fluid and Chocolate, and we were off again!
Stage 6: 10.4km (59.6) nett down; Ascent 210m (1450) I really love this stage. Almost the whole climb is got out of the way in the first 2 km, and then you drop mostly all the way to CP 6 (and the Support Crew) There is one steep downdulate, but it’s not too Quad mashing, and a gentle road section to the CP – and there’s something quite satisfying about running into a CP with 10 Gurkhas clapping you in with much gusto and enthusiasm! And Rob was there to take off and fill Camelbaks and show us where the Crew were waiting. Almost 60km down and 8:17 on the watch. We’re making great progress and generally feeling pretty good!The stop here is a little longer. More food is neded – some running repairs to feet – Oxfam video lady comes to talk to us – and a single member of another team asks if he can join us. We make it clear that he is welcome to – but we had already discussed what we would do in such a circumstance, and the Team consensus was that we’d not change our strategy (within reason, obviously)
Stage 7: 8.8km (68.4) the toughest uphill leg! Ascent 330m (1780). There is a lot of quite steep climbing on this leg – and it finishes at its highest point. The first couple of km’s are along the valley floor undulating very slightly so we decided to run that section, knowing that much walking was to come. The whole of the leg is on well defined tracks and roads, and our joinee lost us after about 500m. He caught back up again on some of the walking, (Heebie had some tightness in her back which was shortening her stride length while walking and our walking pace had slowed a little (but running pace hadn’t!) CP 7 always has hot food – but we didn’t need it – just grabbed Mars Bars/ bread/drink, and continued on our way.
Stage 8: 6.5km (74.9) nett descent with 190m Ascent (1970).This is pretty tough leg. A nice descent to start, and we passed a Veteran team (of 5 – not quite sure why) as we ran down this first section. There is then a stiff little climb up West Hill (text from Rob – “wave when you’re on West Hill – we’re watching through bino’s)
Returned text when we could see CP 8 on the next hill.
Phone call about 10 minutes later
“Is that you on West Hill?”
“No Rob we’re at the bottom – we’ll be there shortly!!”
The climb to the CP saw both Heebie and Slowboy having a slightly hypoglycaemic moment, and so we decide that we had to make this stop a longer one to give the upcoming intake a chance to start working. Rob had walked out to nearly the 1km to go point to come in with us, and the last bit was downhill, and despite everything, we ran to the CP – and the pictures show that the running form was actually pretty good!!!!! And despite how it felt, the leg had taken us just 7 minutes more than the 12 HOUR schedule time!
Stage 9: 13.8km (88.7) big nett down; Ascent 220m (2190)A really long leg this, and fatigue starting to tell a little – some more stoney determined faces than had been seen through the rest of the event, and some very sore feet starting to have an effect and the cumulative effect of so many miles on uneven ground making ankle Position Sense less secure than it had been - meant that it was more difficult (and less wise) to tear down some of the downs like we had been! There were changes made to the course on this leg which improved it no end – but some of the paths were just difficult underfoot at that stage, and turning an ankle or worse at this stage just wasn’t an option!!!!
Once again Rob had come back along the road to meet up with us – He’s a little bundle of energy – and it was SO great to see his face as we crested the bridge….
And Iain was a little further along the road – and then Heather was waiting at the ‘chipping in’ point.
These guys are simply the best – they couldn’t have done better job!!!!!!!
Amazingly – our time for the leg was still on 15hour schedule. And we knew that it was going to be tight from here on in!
Stage 10: 5km (93.7) nett climb; including the colloquially branded “B*stard Hill”; Ascent 180m (2370).
This was tough! Climbing up the hill was ok, but the conditions underfoot meant that fatigued muscles and concerns about injury meant that caution had to be paramount , and the downhill section to CP 10 was not so easy to run, and so the section took nearly an hour. But we got to the checkpoint intact. And knew that in 6.3km time – we’d be done!
Final Stage: 6.3km (100) Nett UP !!!! Ascent 180m (2550m)
There was enough glycogen in the brain to realise that the first half of the leg, although up – was actually runnable (in different circumstances) Slowboy also said the same…… but he also said “I’m fat burning, and my brain is mostly fat – so I’m metabolising my own brain at this point”
The slog up the hill seemed interminable, and I think that no-one could wait for the top and the ability to start running again. Fatigue was such for some team members that running had to be done in small chunks, and the depths to which people dug was absolutely awe-inspiring. The mental strength to keep on churning out the km’s when every part of the body was saying “just let me curl up and die Here – Now” was never more evident than on this leg.
I was feeling a little guilty at this point, because I was full of running and had a spring in my step that I wished I could share.
The end came into sight – and when we were on the racecourse, once again Rob and Iain had run out to meet us! The last 500 meters was like heaven for the feet – soft underfoot and grass just long enough to make it springy, but not too long to slow you down.
We ran all of that (even though the last 100m was uphill) and crossed the line four abreast – together – just as we’d done for the whole event.
So - 100km - 2550m of ascent!
We said we’d do 15 hours
There were those who doubted that we would.
For myself, I had ABSOLUTE confidence in our team of 7.
And for Velociraptor
This post should read…..
**Did TW. Was fab. Loved it!**
**Shorter synopsis at the foot of the post**
This started a year ago
(apologies for those who have been to our donation website and have seen this bit before)
It all started when a throwaway comment after Trailwalker '06 was picked up and taken as a challenge!!!
And the comment was...
"How about doing it in 15 hours, then..??!!!"
A quick calculation was made in a tiny brain, and the feasibility of doing 100km in that time was carefully considered for a microsecond or two, and Lo and Behold, the 'team' was half formed!!
And in no time at all..... fully formed!
Trailwalker is, more than anything else, an event that requires Not Insignificant Training; Teamwork and Cooperation second to none; Fantastic Support; and much Good Fortune to complete intact, as a Team... and within the specified time.
By setting a difficult goal for the Team to attain, we will endure some physical hardship for a relatively short period in order to help alleviate some of the hardship endured by the many who are much less privileged and fortunate than ourselves.
Having participated in TW06, the importance of having a Group of people that would work well together both when things were going well – but more importantly would pull together in a cohesive supportive and kick-ass way (depending on what was needed)
AND would have the kind of Inner Drive that would only stop them if something was completely broken – was crystal clear!
TW06 was ONLY successful because of this.
And THAT medal remains my most precious to date, because of what it represented!
In many ways the Team formed itself! And it consisted of 7 people.
The 4 people doing the easy bit – putting one foot in front of the other for a while; and the 3 guys that made sure that everything went smoothly at every stage for us.
Our Support Crew had masses of experience of this event between them, and so knew exactly what was needed, and how to deliver it. And without them, this simply wouldn’t have happened!
The Walkers all got together for the first time for a 20ish mile potter around the Lake District. There we found that as a group we got on pretty well – we had slightly different walking paces – but nothing too insurmountable – and we started discussing strategy already at that point!!!
It seems like a lifetime ago now!
Velocirator and I had a trundle around my favourite hill in Wales – 10 hours on our feet and taking in the summit twice by doing all of the best routes up down and around the mountain.
All four of us did the District Double (White Peak and Windermere Marathons) as specific Run/Walk Strategy events (which pretty much sorted how we were going to tackle TW).
And the last thing (which Slowboy couldn’t get to due to work commitments, unfortunately) was the Rotary Across Wales Walk. Which was going to give us about 10 hours on our feet – with significantly more elevation gain and harder underfoot conditions that TW would – but a final chance to iron out any subtleties with regard to the Strategy.
Which it did!!!!
And so to Friday – and Slowboy arrived at ours at lunch time – and we whizzed down to the South Coast – depositing the car at Rob’s house, being transported via Havant Train Station to collect Heebiejeebie, to the camp site at the start!
Registration and Kit check followed tent pitching, and we sat down to a gourmet meal prepared by Heather (who just doesn’t do ‘roughing it’ )
Unusually for me – I was all nervous and excited the night before! Most odd!
A fairly disturbed but Restful-Enough nights sleep followed and a quality breakfast of porridge and toast was provided at Stoopid o’clock.
And before we knew it we were heading to the start.
We positioned ourselves just behind the Gurkha teams so as to avoid potential impaling by Pole-Wielding-Human-Quadrupeds in the rush for prime walking space!
And we were off…..
Stage 1: 9.5km - a nett uphill leg with 300m of ascent. It’s a nice undulating leg – so plenty of easy running – and we are COMPLETELY disciplined about walking the updulates. We made very good time to the checkpoint – where the girls had a quick ‘after breakfast’ toilet stop
Stage 2: 10.3km (19.8 total) nett down hill leg this one with 290m of ascent (590 total). One slightly stiff updulate in this leg, and a Grey Area undulatin section part way through which had us doing the “is it/isn’t it” thing with regard to it’s runnibility. (but information that was filed under Hmmm – If we trained for it – this bit could be run as well!). Checkpoint 2 and our first meeting with Iain and Rob. Food stuffed in faces – camelbak refused at this point. And we are still making fabulous time with minimal effort
Stage 3: 8.3km (28.1) Slightly nett uphill with 190m ascent (780). A REAL Grey Area leg – 2km uphill and then 5 that undulated frustratingly. Eminently runnable along it’s length – but we stuck to The Plan. Some light relief along this leg was provided by Harry, a Springer Pup who belonged to another team. He ran almost 100k on that leg – pretended to be a Springbok in the cornfield when he couldn’t see anything. Made us all laugh. He was very cute. DID ask his owner how far he was staying with them, and he was going to be dropped of at the next support point!!!!! That poor support team would have had their hands full with THAT bundle of energy CP3 (Cow Pat point – it was last year – and so it remained this!!! And through the chip point and quick Throne Stop – and on we went – still making really good time, and feeling good
Stage 4: 9km (37.1) and a decent nett downhill leg. Ascent 180m (960). Most of the climbing was at the beginning of this leg, and the knowledge that we’d be meeting Snoop and Tiger at the CP and the drop down to that point was really nice to run – AND we’d be nicely over 1/3 distance at this point – all good motivating factors! It was a relatively short stop – which the Support Crew had positioned at the exit to the field. It was a subtlety, but boy do things like that make a difference! Socks changed for some of us – I also picked up my Camelbak as the temperature was getting up. Suncream liberally applied, and off we went.
Stage 5: 12.1km (49.2) Nett uphill Ascent 280m (1240) most of which was in the first 3km! Snoop and Tiger ran along the first little bit and to the top of the hill (where they met us last year) before turning back. It was really great to see them, and to have their company for that time. Wonderful!!!!! The rest of this stage was quite drag until the last 2km where we could run for a more prolonged period. Another one logged as Could be Run tho! Down to CP 5 which was So Much Better Positioned than last year, in a field by the road. A quick stop here for fluid and Chocolate, and we were off again!
Stage 6: 10.4km (59.6) nett down; Ascent 210m (1450) I really love this stage. Almost the whole climb is got out of the way in the first 2 km, and then you drop mostly all the way to CP 6 (and the Support Crew) There is one steep downdulate, but it’s not too Quad mashing, and a gentle road section to the CP – and there’s something quite satisfying about running into a CP with 10 Gurkhas clapping you in with much gusto and enthusiasm! And Rob was there to take off and fill Camelbaks and show us where the Crew were waiting. Almost 60km down and 8:17 on the watch. We’re making great progress and generally feeling pretty good!The stop here is a little longer. More food is neded – some running repairs to feet – Oxfam video lady comes to talk to us – and a single member of another team asks if he can join us. We make it clear that he is welcome to – but we had already discussed what we would do in such a circumstance, and the Team consensus was that we’d not change our strategy (within reason, obviously)
Stage 7: 8.8km (68.4) the toughest uphill leg! Ascent 330m (1780). There is a lot of quite steep climbing on this leg – and it finishes at its highest point. The first couple of km’s are along the valley floor undulating very slightly so we decided to run that section, knowing that much walking was to come. The whole of the leg is on well defined tracks and roads, and our joinee lost us after about 500m. He caught back up again on some of the walking, (Heebie had some tightness in her back which was shortening her stride length while walking and our walking pace had slowed a little (but running pace hadn’t!) CP 7 always has hot food – but we didn’t need it – just grabbed Mars Bars/ bread/drink, and continued on our way.
Stage 8: 6.5km (74.9) nett descent with 190m Ascent (1970).This is pretty tough leg. A nice descent to start, and we passed a Veteran team (of 5 – not quite sure why) as we ran down this first section. There is then a stiff little climb up West Hill (text from Rob – “wave when you’re on West Hill – we’re watching through bino’s)
Returned text when we could see CP 8 on the next hill.
Phone call about 10 minutes later
“Is that you on West Hill?”
“No Rob we’re at the bottom – we’ll be there shortly!!”
The climb to the CP saw both Heebie and Slowboy having a slightly hypoglycaemic moment, and so we decide that we had to make this stop a longer one to give the upcoming intake a chance to start working. Rob had walked out to nearly the 1km to go point to come in with us, and the last bit was downhill, and despite everything, we ran to the CP – and the pictures show that the running form was actually pretty good!!!!! And despite how it felt, the leg had taken us just 7 minutes more than the 12 HOUR schedule time!
Stage 9: 13.8km (88.7) big nett down; Ascent 220m (2190)A really long leg this, and fatigue starting to tell a little – some more stoney determined faces than had been seen through the rest of the event, and some very sore feet starting to have an effect and the cumulative effect of so many miles on uneven ground making ankle Position Sense less secure than it had been - meant that it was more difficult (and less wise) to tear down some of the downs like we had been! There were changes made to the course on this leg which improved it no end – but some of the paths were just difficult underfoot at that stage, and turning an ankle or worse at this stage just wasn’t an option!!!!
Once again Rob had come back along the road to meet up with us – He’s a little bundle of energy – and it was SO great to see his face as we crested the bridge….
And Iain was a little further along the road – and then Heather was waiting at the ‘chipping in’ point.
These guys are simply the best – they couldn’t have done better job!!!!!!!
Amazingly – our time for the leg was still on 15hour schedule. And we knew that it was going to be tight from here on in!
Stage 10: 5km (93.7) nett climb; including the colloquially branded “B*stard Hill”; Ascent 180m (2370).
This was tough! Climbing up the hill was ok, but the conditions underfoot meant that fatigued muscles and concerns about injury meant that caution had to be paramount , and the downhill section to CP 10 was not so easy to run, and so the section took nearly an hour. But we got to the checkpoint intact. And knew that in 6.3km time – we’d be done!
Final Stage: 6.3km (100) Nett UP !!!! Ascent 180m (2550m)
There was enough glycogen in the brain to realise that the first half of the leg, although up – was actually runnable (in different circumstances) Slowboy also said the same…… but he also said “I’m fat burning, and my brain is mostly fat – so I’m metabolising my own brain at this point”
The slog up the hill seemed interminable, and I think that no-one could wait for the top and the ability to start running again. Fatigue was such for some team members that running had to be done in small chunks, and the depths to which people dug was absolutely awe-inspiring. The mental strength to keep on churning out the km’s when every part of the body was saying “just let me curl up and die Here – Now” was never more evident than on this leg.
I was feeling a little guilty at this point, because I was full of running and had a spring in my step that I wished I could share.
The end came into sight – and when we were on the racecourse, once again Rob and Iain had run out to meet us! The last 500 meters was like heaven for the feet – soft underfoot and grass just long enough to make it springy, but not too long to slow you down.
We ran all of that (even though the last 100m was uphill) and crossed the line four abreast – together – just as we’d done for the whole event.
So - 100km - 2550m of ascent!
We said we’d do 15 hours
There were those who doubted that we would.
For myself, I had ABSOLUTE confidence in our team of 7.
And for Velociraptor
This post should read…..
**Did TW. Was fab. Loved it!**
;o)
posted by Leon on
Monday, July 16, 2007
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