Project 1: The Fan Dance Training Initial thoughts

Now I have gotten my rant out of the way about how truly dismal this is and is going to be, I can focus on the training part. You may want to skip this if you have no intention of doing anything like this. Below are just some initial thoughts and then more training will follow.

Initial Thoughts

1. Pack sensibly. Women need to carry 25lb (11.3kg) and men 35lb (15.9kg). How this is distributed will make a big difference to comfort. Water bottles are not disastrous but it is quite headache making, running with those bouncing around. I will not be taking ANY extra weight! Maybe a 30g pack of peanuts and maybe gaffa tape to strap down anything that moves!

2. Time can be made up on the gentle ascents and descents (Roman road drag). This is where you need to be able to run or walk/jog to do a good time. This is what I found hardest, so train train train I will to run with that weight. Tip: Hone skills on removing wildlife from paths!

3. Training needs to include some permutation of carrying more weight and and/or faster speeds than necessary. Very little of my training will be done non weight bearing as it just bares no resemblance to the event. It is not "clean fatigue" so shouldn't be trained like that. I might change my mind but I don't think so.

4. Learn to run FAST down hill. If I could swear on these "posts", this is where it would happen. It is dismal. Downhill running is essentially eccentric loading for the legs so strength is a real issue here. Eccentric = the muscle lengthens whilst generating force. You can generate more force with these type of muscle contractions (think length-tension relationship) so the potential for "delayed onset muscle soreness" is big (DOMS). You have to be able to absorb a LOT of force. Your body weight plus "dead" weight.

So....lots of downhill running with "load" and gym work to keep injuries at bay.

5. Take no "faff" time, so no changing of clothes. I will probably wear a helly hanson base layer and a waterproof outerlayer, lightweight trousers and trail shoes or lightweight boots.

Hold it in!! (toilet) and Gels for fuel.

6. The route is fantastic for testing all elements of fitness on very varied terrain. It is worth splitting the route into chunks and seeing where your personal strengths and weaknesses are and where you can make up time. Below are example of my splits (min:sec).

37:30 Corn-Du
43.21 Pen Y Fan
1:11 Start of the Roman Rd.
1:46 to the road turn around (Half-way mark)

I gave up looking at my watch after that as I was too tired! But you have steep ascents, steep descents, gentle descents, gentle ascents, steep ascents and steep descents all on uneven ground. You need to be able to cover all types of ground well. Pen Y Fan in my case was actually less than 1/4 of the total time so there is probably little reward for bashing up it. Better to save energy for the roman road drag, where potential for improvement is big.

7. Do the event with a good friend who will haul your ass up and down it.

8. Maintain a sense of humour!