The all-familiar burn

Excited at the prospect of competing in either a 100 or a 205 mile ultra- the grand raid pyrenees and the tour des geants respectively- I decided to do what I didn't do last year or the year before and train.
A friend of mine had just rented out a house in Tregarth, and being only 6 or so miles away, i thought it would be a good idea to run up there and check the place out. Problem is where I live, I need to run up very steep hills less than 10m from where I start so any chances of a warm up run before the steep bits are lost. Regardless, I started well, for the first five minutes. I underestimated how unfit I was! My lungs were burning as if I'd inhaled strong acid and my thundering heart was reducing my sternum to dust. These same nuisances I've experienced every time I've run in the UK and the same pain that puts me off running, leaving me in a catch-22 situation. My legs were already tiring. I'd only gone 1 and a bit miles! Gurning through the discomfort, I plodded my way to Tregarth just as the weather began to worsen. What as worse than the weather though, was a sharp pain emanating from the outside of my left knee. Perfect. I'd taken an active step to try and make the ultras a bit easier for myself and I bloody get caught in the rain and injure my knee ligaments! It's slightly better now but I'm still wincing as I walk around. Damn, if I knew training for an Ultra would be this much hassle, I wouldn't have bothered!

Back to work

Haven't been updating my blog as much as I should ( last update was in september!) so the new year heralds a new lease if life for my poor neglected blog.

Ok, so. Been back on the slate recently after my week long jaunt over new years to Berlin. My plan of action is to aim for french 8a by Easter.
I've been on Tambourine Man and The Medium, both of which are very technical and fall offable but completely my style i.e. not for the strong! At the end of last year, I was trying to redpoint Concord Dawn on rainbow walls and one thing or another got in the way and I ended up not putting my all into it. I've started again and it's all coming back to me. I've got the crux nailed as well as the bottom half of the route but it's all wet at the moment thanks to this miserable weather around North Wales. So today was supposed to be a quick trip to work some parts of the route, but lo! Seepage in abundance and I was miserable because I've lost my new Anasazi Verdes and someone's taken them from Twll Mawr where I'm sure I left them. I went for a look for them as all the other routes I wanted to do were wet, and as I was near the slag heap tunnel (one of the few I hadn't been through) I thought I'd be able to get into Twll Mawr. Wrong! The tunnel is blocked. I squirmed around and tried to squeeze through but there's no chance. Cool tunnel though.

Creepy! The tunnel at the bottom of twll mawr

Also the hut in twll mawr that was once standing, has now collapsed. Quite sad to see a bit of preserved history biting the dust like that but it was close to crumbling last time I was there.

Also, something worthwhile I did but didn't write about was going to Craig Doris with Mills and doing Cripple Creek - a three star E3. Awesome route, but get there before it all collapses! I only seconded but I can't wait to get back there and lead it, as well as path to rome, the other E3 round the corner and the Fascinating Witches traverse.

Mills on Cripple Creek E3 5b

'm also pretty stuck at the moment as the van is in the garage having failed its MoT. A vehicle around here is pretty much essential, considering that the public transport is dire. Plus one cannot walk everywhere when it's cold and pissing it down.