Project 1: The fan dance - Done but not dusted!

Hmmmm where to begin;

18th January 2014: 8.30am Storey Arms.
Weather: Clag, gale force winds and horizontal rain. 

Recounting this story from approximately 6am on the morning of the event would culminate in me appearing like a complete maverick with very bad admin so I'm going to omit the "prep"; thank goodness for poetic licence.

I've been training for a few months for this event so it was very nice to see how my training strategy paid off.

The event http://www.thefandancerace.com/ was a 26km loaded march over the Brecon Beacons. This route is used in the military SAS selection, a there and back (nav free) route that is basically just a thrash. Luckily us civvies only had to weight bear 25lb (females) and 35lb (males), plus food and water. I think I would have creamed in if I had to carry anything heavier. There is also a non weight bearing category called clean fatigue.

However, I was very pleased to see when I finally stumbled over the finish line the time on my watch was 3:35:00s, so 24 minutes faster than my first attempt. This placed me 1st Woman and overall 5th, out of 320 load bearing competitors (500 total competitors).
The weather, needless to say was absolutely appalling with cross winds of 40-50mph up on Pen y Fan.
There is no doubt that this event is really hard and is universally viewed this way. There were a lot of people falling arse over elbow en route and the only problem with this type of falling over is when you have the weight of a small child on your back, there is no getting up quickly and often relies on the help of a passer by to pull you up. In fact, a very kind chap bought me a bottle of beer at the finish when I had to scoop him up after he face planted into the bog.

Collecting my prize from Ken Jones the organizer; Hair!! Proof of high winds and not a pre- race perm. 

What worked from a training perspective

1. Time on feet: It doesn't need to necessarily be at pace but being accustomed to 3-4 hours on your feet on tricky terrain in crap weather is very helpful. I would often walk for 9-10 hours non stop, at least once every two weeks.

2. Split the route into sections and run these sections at faster than race pace e.g do half of the route at a min/mile faster than target pace and then just walk the following half. Experiment with pace at different sections of the route.

3. General strength training 3-4 times a week; 4 sets of 12-15 reps, compound exercises like deep squats, lunges, step ups, chest press etc. Get used to putting heavy weight through the spine (barbell), as it seems to work a treat on the spinal stabilising muscles and preventing knee and back issues.  It is also great core training, without doing a single sit-up. I didn't get any hint of a niggle the whole way through the event or training for it. I did however have to live with 4 months of DOMS (muscle soreness!).

4. Always train with a backpack with weight; the optimum for myself was 5-11kg. More than this didn't work well. I trialled 15kg on a training run and it was a disaster.


A word on nutrition....
Honestly, I think jelly babies and dairy milk buttons are the way to go. Sod the "techno" gel, I keep cutting my mouth on those foil wrappers. In error, I force fed myself half a snickers bars every 30min and 72 hours later I still have post traumatic stress induced by that dry combination of peanut and chocolate. It's an overwhelming feeling of asphyxiating from trying to eat a frozen chewy nutty bar and breathing whilst running. NOT to be repeated. Snickers is the "fan dance" enemy.
I have to admit I only drank about 30ml of water the whole race and that was stupid because I managed to get cramp in my adductors and quadriceps not surprisingly after the transition between downhill running off Pen y Fan and a short ascent just before finishing. It is not pleasant and trying to walk out cramp, not only is it severely painful but looks something like the "ministry of silly walks". Not dignified and I suspect wholly avoidable. The cold didn't help but hydration is something you have full control over.


All in all, this is a fantastic event. Great camaraderie and a real test of mental and physical endurance. The race was really well organised and I take my hats off to the race marshall's that made sure no one walked off a cliff top or died of hypothermia. A big thank-you to them!

The art of suffering is to do well!

What I also realised was how easy it is to suffer when you are doing well. Although I didn't look at my watch through the race, I was aware of my pace and relative position so I knew I was doing well. It is no surprise that to push and suffer is not difficult when you are doing well. The reverse is when you are not on target with your goal, then you are going to experience real pain! This is when ones fortitude is really tested, justly summed up by Mike Tyson's quote "It's all very well having a plan until you get punched in the face". But in all honesty, morale was high doing this.

I hope I can conclude that good preparation and training has paid off. It doesn't always work that way but a good amount of time spent on that route, replicating race conditions in diabolical weather seemed to have worked. It also helps that I love the Beacons and it is always a treat being there.

So, I can sign off from this event... until the next one! 20th July.