Back to base, reflecting on Spine Challenger 2019

Photo - Dawn on the CCC

This blog was written in early 2019 after my Spine. I didn't publish it then because I was still thinking it over, and then I forgot about it and it stayed in draft.
Its interesting to read it now after Challenger 2 - happily most of the mistakes and advise-to-self and corrections I followed...!


Spring 2019

I felt at home on the Spine.

I have three enduring Ultra memories that I think will stay, always. I have photos of two of them.
The one without the photo was the 2018 Oner, at Durdledoor. It was around midnight and I was alone, going up and down the exhausting roller coaster that is the Jurassic Coast. I knew Lulworth was close, and I thought to myself "Durdledoor must be out there". I set my headlamp beam to high and shone it out to sea. Just visible in the darkness was the Door, waves crashing around it. It was beautiful and slightly terrifying. I feared it might somehow suck me in to it. I watched a few seconds then hurried on.

At CCC, dawn was incredible. The sky a beautiful blue, complementing the lamps of those following me, I was not alone. I did photograph that.

Then the Challenger, again the first daylight of the second dawn, on the Cam Road. The beauty and relief of knowing the night was over.

Those memories are pretty special for me, and I've no real desire to go back to those races, I have all the memories I need from them. Well, except the Spine.

The problem with the Spine Challenger is that it has a big brother. It was staring at me all the time I did the Challenger, and it followed me all the way home. I had two good reasons for not thinking about the full spine before. The first was it was un-doable, and the second was it probably wouldn't be much fun anyway. Reason two stands of course. I'm not entirely sure there is a lot of type 1 fun involved, but it is legend, and I've had a lifelong ambition to do the Pennine Way, sometime.
Reason one however is looking pretty shaky, for reasons I shall come to later.

Reflecting on the Challenger

I'm going to divide my thoughts and learning in to three areas:

1. Training
2. Kit
3. Tactics and race plan

Training

I suspect all ultra plodders beat themselves up over "not enough training", I do what I can. No excuses really, except for holding down a busy job and being a domestic god (specialities refuse and vermin), which eats away at time.
Looking critically at the Challenger run in, I have a few reflections:

Firstly I think my training volume was pretty good, peaking at 70-80k/week. However I think that peak came quite late, and I would have preferred to have been running at that sort of volume earlier, and for longer.

Long runs - I did a couple of my longer runs on the South Downs. The South Downs is perfect for Spine training - similar undulating terrain (just without the mud!). I would do more of those, starting earlier in the autumn/year.

Kit training. Father Christmas brought my Spine pack, and typically waited until the 25th to deliver it, so I had never done any long runs with the Osprey I used in the race. I had used another pack for “full kit” training runs, but again more would have been good and I would definitely start training with, say 8kg, earlier. My final Spine pack was 10Kg inclusive of food, exclusive of water.
Flexibility. I think I risked injury through not focussing enough on stretching and flexibility. Some formal activity such as yoga would have helped.

Practising realistic non-running scenarios. The anecdote around my lukewarm partially hydrated meal made me think about how to test cooking and other practical stuff. I had rehydrated and eaten an expedition meal at home before the event, but that was using freshly boiled water. What I really needed to know was how I would make a meal in the wild.....! Also how will I feel about having 2/3/4 or more Expedition meals over the weekend. I had 6 packet with me. I ate one and a half. I wasn't mad for the others after that.

Training for injury - blisters is the most obvious one. I only really get blisters on 4hr + outings. When I do I ignore them, and they get better. They are never really an issue. At the end of Challenger I had 2 or 3 small blisters - no great shakes, but in a full Spine those blisters would become a big issue, and I should be preventing them. That needs practise and training.

Kit
Looking at some kit specifics, want worked well and what did not:

The good:

• Jacket - My 8 year old Mountain Equipment Alpine jacket was brilliant. It is Gortex Pro, feels bombproof, and has 4 large chest pockets and a large wired hood. The wrist velcro had fallen off before the race and my base team (aka Mrs Ultracrazy) had replaced them. I checked it was waterproof still by standing under a cold shower, and had re-proofed it. My "usual" running OMM jacket whilst brilliant in most conditions, and much lighter, is nowhere near as robust as the ME one. The chest pockets were fantastic for the race, accessible and enough to allow good organisation (left side - gloves, left middle - cash, right middle - mobile phone and sugar/"emergency" chocolate, right side hats and sunglasses.
• Overtrousers - I did use the OMM kit here. They don't feel like waterproof trousers, more an over-tight. contradicting myself wrt the jacket above, these were brilliant and sufficiently warm and robust.
• Tights - again these worked well. I used my 2XU compression tights as a base layer and Karrimor running tights as a second layer. This combination worked well and was not too warm.
• String vest. I saw these being talked about, but was late getting hold of one and was slightly nervous about using new kit first time, but it was fantastic, I felt dry throughout - I think I'd have had a lot more sweat sog without it.
• Hoka Tor Mid GTX - I had high hopes for these after training all autumn in them, and they did not disappoint. Slipper comfortable, warm and dry. Fantastic shoes, in combination with:
• Sealskins and Injinji liners. Warm and dry. Minimal blistering (see above).
• Garmin GPSMap 64s - this is a great bit of kit, easy to use, easy to hold, bright screen. The batteries lasted fine with only one change at CP1, although I was switching it off when not needed. It powered up and got a fix quickly on starting, so not a problem to flick it on and off.
• OMM Pods and OMM Front pocket. The two Pods were great - I used left for my GPS (perfect fit) and the right was my trash can. The front pod was perfect as my nose bag, and I kept my map and compass in the back pocket. The front pocket is a minor hassle to take on and off, but once you get the knack (head goes through as you put the pack on) its fine.
• Sleeping bag. After much research, and after finding my existing ME bag was too bulky and not warm enough, I bought an ME Glacier 450 bag. I love this bag, very compact and very warm.
• Tights - the bottom base layer of 2XU compression and Karrimor over-tights worked really well, I would definitely use the same combo again at Spine and other races around zero degrees.

The bad:

• Head torch. It failed! I was really disappointed with this, and more disappointed that my backup Petzl torch was limited in power. I would carry two identical torches next time, allowing proper redundancy and battery sharing. It was also a slight hassle carrying solid batteries for the head torch and spare AAs for the GPS. The same batteries for both (AAs) would have been better, although would raise the issue of proper battery management and not running out.
• Stove - my MSR stove, fantastic as it is, does not fit inside my Alpkit medium bili can/mug. I had the three components of my cooking kit - bill can, stove, canister in separate places in my pack. My stove was wrapped in a fleece inside a dry bag (to protect the pack from sharp edges) and I kept my ice spikes in my bili can (they fit nicely). This meant it was a major hassle to assemble the stove, and probably the reason why I didn't heat up the water again before cooking my second expedition meal - which I hardly ate, and probably contributed to my near-DNF at Gargrave. Next time I would have all cooking kit easily accessible to use quickly hassle free.
• Sleeping mat - I used a 3/4 length self-inflating mat around the standard 2cm depth. Its ok, but I had no pillow and found my head on the ground on occasions, and the mat was not deep enough to lie on my side comfortably. I would upgrade to a full length thick 6cm inflated mattress in future.

Ok but maybe some issues?

• Osprey Talon 33. I really like this pack. It is light, large and has good inner and outer top pockets, and side stash pockets. However I did find the hip belt a bit uncomfortable at times, and the chest strap did "self adjust" (slip) a bit. The hip belt would in part be down to lack of training with the pack. I might even consider taping my hips where the pack sits in future.
• Ear plugs. They fell out in the YHA. I need to try different ones.
• Anti-snore device. I don't sleep well on my back, and think I will look in to this for CP use.

Tactics and Race Plan, including:

• Sleep
• Food
• Route planning
• Injury planning

Sleep planning was the main thing I'd been thinking about when considering tactics pre-race. The options really are no sleep, sleep at CP1, sleep at some other point after CP1 or multiple sleeps. I had discounted no sleep as I knew I would struggle to manage a second night with no sleep. I didn't like the idea of sleeping at CP1 as I thought I would probably stiffen up after a night's sleep and given the 48 mile / 60 mile split before / after CP1, the thought of sleeping with less than half the race done was not a good one. I had checked out sleeping points after CP1 and considered Withins, Malham village or CP 1.5 to be the best options, with a "plan" to get as far as I could and then sleep.
That plan really worked about as far as Withins. I felt ok to that point, and on leaving Withins felt ok, but throughout Saturday night in to Sunday I was feeling increasingly tired. It is a long stretch from Withins to Malham - and once day appeared I would not have wanted to sleep as it would waste time. Lack of sleep I am sure contributed to the near-DNF at 70 miles and 30 hours in to the race. On reflection no sleep at 24s+ when the end is in sight (CCC, Oner) is a very different prospect to when you know you have a second night and a long way to go ahead.
It sort of pains me to know this, but I am sure now that the correct strategy would have been to sleep at CP1, with a pre- and post-sleep meal. Had I done that I could have left CP1 around 4am after sleep, and I am sure I would have made much faster progress to Malham Tarn. I would then plan to eat at Malham village, and try to push through to PYG cafe and the end without a further sleep (with the option of a PYG sleep if needed).

Withins remains a slightly attractive option, but the huge advantage of CP1 is the space to do admin and food. I think Withins will be only sensible if I am on a huge sugar rush at CP1, or there is no space in the Inn.

Food

My food strategy was bang on until the M62! Snacks and the meal at Crowden worked well, but I had been banking on the mythical Burger van at the M62 for an evening meal. It wasn't there. It is only about an hour from the M62 to White House and the pop up aid station. However the shelter there was poor, and I only had a porridge and hot chocolate there - no proper evening meal.
Looking back therefore, my only "real" food between 8am and 11.30pm on day 1 was a single expedition meal. That's not acceptable!
CP1 was great food, that worked well.
After CP1, I had breakfast at Lothersdale pop up, which was very welcome, but on reflection possibly not quite enough. Think bacon butty and sausages yum. I then attempted an expedition meal for lunch on Sunday, but threw most away as it was poorly cooked. I had therefore not had a substantial meal between midnight and 3pm on the Sunday.
The cafe at Gargrave, Malham village pub, and PYG cafe were all fantastic, worked well, and very well spaced facilities.

I should have eaten properly at White House. I didn't bother for a few reasons - it was pouring with rain, I wasn't really looking forward to another rehydrate meal, and I also figured it was not that far to CP1.

I should have had a proper full breakfast around the Lothersdale area, or a good brunch an hour or so after leaving Lothersdale.

The whole food issue is really making sure you have access to really yummy food when you need it. Back to back dehydrated meals will only work if they are yummy. More work to do - taste testing!
Next time I would plan meals specifically for the times I am likely to need them, and ensure a proper variety of food.


Injury Planning

I pack compeed. Thats the extent of my injury planning. The Spine guys warn against Compeed as it is super sticky and can pull of sheets of skin if its really wet (yuk). The recommended combo is moleskin and KT tape (with some using medieval remedies such as Fryers Balsam) - I need to try...). I packed the moleskin/KT combo, and at CP 1.5 taped the pressure areas I found on my feet (not then blistered). That certainly helped to make them more comfortable, but I missed the toe which was my largest blister, and I still ended up with a forefoot one. I am going to give more attention to my feet over the next year and practice blister prevention vigorously.

The other major issue I had was bum chaffing. I've never had that before (I'm putting that one down as a 24hr+ thing). I think the first awareness of bum chaff started around 24hrs, but I ignored it completely - it was minimal at first, and when it started to be more sore around 48 hours in I figured it was not far to the finish. When I got to Hardraw it was pretty bad. My bum cheeks were swollen and raw. It took a few days to settle with Sudocream. Without attention the bum problem would I think have been race ending on a full Spine. There would have been a significant risk of a very nasty deep infection. In retrospect it was stupid to ignore it, especially as I had vaseline and KT tape which would have helped stop the problem early.


Route planning and timing

When and where you are on the course is dependant on how you get on with the food and sleep.
I didn't find the navigation difficult at all, I was with or following others who knew the route much of the time, and when alone the GPS was superb at showing me where I was.

The A to Z was useless though, and I would take the Bartholemew 1:40,000 laminated map next time.
Since the race I've used this on the South Downs and its a great map and perfect scale (25 and 50 are too big and too small!).

My plan for next time is to finish the race in 43 hours. The reason for that is that to complete a Full Spine you really need to be able to sleep at CP2 during the second night, to then be able to take advantage of daylight for the CP2 to CP3 stretch. Some don't, and still finish, but I'd hate to be playing catch up from CP2.

43 hours means getting in at 3am on Monday. Eats and calm down means sleep at 4am. Dawn (and departure) would be 8am, so a good 3-4 hours sleep on offer.