Etterbeek to Ennerdale (Running)

Monday 15 June 2009 11:26AM

I spent much of last month in Brussels with my girlfriend, combining a string of social engagements with spending a longer spell with her than usual. It was nice, and for once Brussels was sunny, since it usually seems to rain when I’m there.

I was stuck with a curious problem though, I was to be doing the Ennerdale race a few days after my return, one of the longest, toughest Lake District races, and yet I would be spending the previous 14 days in a city where the longest hill takes about 30 seconds to run up. It was time to get inventive. When I was a junior I used to find that my uphill running performance improved dramatically if I spent a bit of time on a bike. So I installed my old road bike on a turbo trainer on the balcony and did a few savage interval sessions in the sun. The suffering rationalised that I would be both stronger uphills and stronger in the heat upon my return to the UK.

Unfortunately Ennerdale was run on a cold, wet and windy day; hypothermia was more of a threat than heatstroke. But I did feel like I was running pretty well, both up and down hills. I tracked Rob Jebb for the first half of the race, until he decided to stop jogging and start racing, then ended up following Nick Fish, then a bigger group when we were caught. Not having reccied the course was very frustrating – the whole way I was completely tied to what the person in front was doing; you have to eat when they eat, you can’t break away if you are feeling stronger, you have to descend behind them and you have to hang on for dear life if you are starting to flag. The route choice on these classic courses is so intricate that even if you were a demon with a map and compass there is no way that you’d find all the little sheep trods and secret scree runs. In short it’s impossible to run your own race unless you’ve reccied the course. I got just within 4 hours and finished 4th overall, which seemed good given that I had no prior experience of the hills.

I’ve decided to do the Lake District classics rather than the British champs this year, since completing the British would mean missing some days on my Msc, so the next big race is Wasdale on July the 11th, I’ll hopefully have time to squeeze a reccy in before that one…