My Lockdown Challenge – 6 Reservoirs It is a 100km circular route starting at Meldon Reservoir, travelling to a further 5 reservoirs (Fernworthy, Vennford, Avon, Burrator and Wheal Jewell) on and returning to Meldon.

Phase 1 – Meldon to Fernworthy The route I chose for this section with hindsight was a poor choice given I would do this section at night and if visibility was poor would require a compass as there are no features to follow. However, I chose a nearly full moon weekend but alas the mist. Perhaps a better choice would be to cross Yes Tor and pick up the trail to Quintin’s Man from Hangingstone. But that felt like a lot of elevation. I was joined by Rob Hicks and Elliot Hails and we followed the Meldon reservoir to the source then along the West Okement river to Kneeset Nose. Elliot returned and I continued with Rob. Upon climbing to Great Kneeset it was very misty, extremely wet and boggy with long grass, holes and probably a whole host of other things that were best left in the darkness. I had previously recced this route so needed the compass to follow a bearing that found my way to the track joining Quintin’s Man to Whitehorse. Rob left me at this point, and I continued. From there it was an easy run over Sittaford Tor, through Fernworthy forest to the dam where I had earlier that evening hidden some drinks. I was behind 40mins, but I put that down to the struggle in the wetland where the West Okement, Taw and the head begin.

What motivates me? I do these runs because I can. It takes me away from the competitiveness and the desire to win or chase a time. Age has a lot to do with it, because my mind wants to win and beat people who are much faster, younger fitter and capable runners but I just can’t do that. So, by doing events where the competitiveness is to complete, then the competition is against myself. Hence these are very mentally challenging challenges. The body and mind are very complex but amazing things. They often send conflicting messages to the brain, “legs ache….”, “Ignore the pain and keep going….”. The resulting outcome therefore becomes your individual battle with yourself. Of course you have to maintain the physical capability to keep moving, but the ability to manage the aches, pains, the strong desire to stop, all messages your body is sending to the brain because it knows you are causing damage but your will-power, strength of character, continually overules it. This process remains true whether you are running 5km, sprinting 100m, 10km, Marathon or any distance. The process remains the same. The effort however to keep moving becomes more of a mental challenge than a physical one. Those of you who have run marathons will begin to understand the changes that occur in the body once you have reached exhaustion. This typically is around 20 miles. You “hit the wall”. This is effectively where you have used all your energy stores and the body is trying to get energy from protein in the muscles which is effectively “killing the host” so you have an overwhelming desire to stop. Your energy store is empty, so it seems, but in reality, it is not. You have loads of fat stores which the human body no longer accesses due to changes in diet. So, once your body learns to access that store then you get a second wind. This can be called “fat burn”, or “Ketosis”. Phase 2 – Fernworthy to Vennford I have only ever crossed Common at night and never found a good path across. I must go in daylight just to prove to myself that there is a path. On this occasion I couldn’t stay on it. Found myself trudging through the brambles for what seemed ages before stumbling upon the B3213, between Two Bridges and . Through Soussons Down and around Yar Tor, which was covered in head high ferns this time of years but the going under foot was good. Across the bridge at Dartmeet, along the valley below Combestone Tor before arriving at Vennford. More dropped drinks, a change of socks and shirt. Plus, a welcome cup of tea provided by a fellow running club member Paul Evison.

How do I prepare? Preparation on the physical side is essential, you can’t simply choose to run ultra-distances without conditioning. You will cause injury. I ran my first marathon in 2017 and ran my first 100 mile within 12 months because I continued to increase my distances through the year, keep the miles in your legs and learn to rest. Preparation for a first event can take a long time, but once you have done one then you can maintain it. For me, my last 100km was September 2019, I rested for several weeks only venturing out for short steady runs. 2-3months following I would pick up the distance over the moor but would rarely go beyond 30k. Speed work is good for strengthening and if you have time some gym work. The fuelling is the most important thing for me. It can be so wrong, and it can be perfect, and you really don’t necessarily understand why. There are lots of strategies, lots of advice but you need to find one that works for you. The only way to do this is try different things. I tend to become nauseous at about 30km, so during my training runs I try different foods and drinks to see if I can get to 30km without feeling ill. Even when you think you have found a solution you try it another day and it didn’t work. Some people are lucky, and it never happens to them, others no matter what you try it happens all the time. Prior to events, about 7 days before the challenge I remove all carbohydrates from my diet, my body “hits the wall” once all the energy stores appear depleted, then it finds the fat burn. This takes about 72hrs. The more often you do this the quicker it happens. It’s like oiling a rusty switch. Then you know when it occurs during your challenge it doesn’t overwhelm you and cause you to prematurely give in. Then 48hrs before the event I reintroduce carbs. I don’t overdo it but just make sure they are “clean” carbs. This week I have eaten prawns, fruit, and pasta. Mostly normal food but just a little focused on fresh food. Pasties and pies are out! The hours leading up to the challenge will have a rice meal all washed down with lots of water. Maybe 2-3 litres during the day. Phase 3 – Vennford to Avon Dam This was probably the easiest section. It starts from the road on the Vennford, steady climb through Holne, Scorriton then pick up the Abbot’s Way at Cross Furze. Paul ran a short distance along the road with me and returned. The Abbot’s Way to the Avon Dam is a lovely meadowed route before joining the moor. The sun was up, the sky was blue, and the morning light made the vista stunning. Such a beautiful place to stand and look.

What are my coping mechanisms? Coping with the challenge can be a daunting experience, especially if you run at night. My first experience running at night was having nightmare type thoughts of being attacked by some mad axeman. Therefore, it is important you train at night as you do overcome these fears once you realise that there are no mad axemen hiding on the hollows on Dartmoor. Then there is the pain, you can dull that with painkillers. I never run more than 30km without taking pain killers. Some might say “that can’t be good”, and I might agree but by dulling the aches and pains really help overcome the mental challenge of trying to keep moving, if you had aches screaming at you it makes it very tiring mentally as the effort to put that out of your mind is tough, it’s just something less to think about. So, the painkiller just helps. If you are injured, then you just won’t be able to continue. If that happens there is no shame. No one will criticise you, but you criticise yourself. Well don’t! I sing, shout, talk and cry. Sometimes within minutes of each other. The experience can be incredible. The highs and lows are amazing, perhaps not at the time but afterwards. I set myself milestones, break down the distance into smaller and smaller parts. I might start with 10km milestones, they later become 5km, then 1km then even smaller. Give yourself achievable milestones as achieving those milestones really helps. Towards the end, it might be “climb that hill…”, “get to that tree…”, “take 10 steps…”. Anything helps you get closer and closer to the end. Each step you take gets you closer to the end. As the end nears then I start to visualise me crossing the finish, the exultation, the joy. I stop, perhaps fall over or lie on the floor, then I go completely numb. There is nothing, then like an express train the pain arrives in waves, the sores, the chaffing the muscles, everything starts to scream at you like you have never felt before. Then you sleep like a baby, wanting to sleep for days, but you don’t. You wake up and it hurts, but the pain will pass yet the experience will remain with you forever. I constantly tell myself I can finish, my single-minded approach in all my ultra-distance events is to get to the end, no time, no speed, just finish. My only DNF was my very first attempt at an ultra-distance in what was probably one of the most difficult Ultras in the UK, the Tsunami. I went back the next year and finished. That was the hardest Ultra-distance I ever ran, ever! Phase 4 – Avon Dam to Burrator As you make your way up the Avon valley, picking up a small section where the runs along the same route as the Abbot’s Way then continue west along to the Erme Head. A slight tricky route through some old mine works. The path appears to get lost so with good visibility I just took a line of sight route to Higher Hartor Tor and contoured around to Ditsworthy Warren. Good section to run heading down to the small copse where you pick up a road that leads to Sheepstor. I was feeling nauseous at this time. Looking forward to my rest at Burrator which soon arrived albeit behind my original run plan. I wasn’t able, nor was I particularly inclined to pick up my pace, to recover the time lost in the first phase. I was thoroughly enjoying myself and pleased with how I was feeling despite my nauseous. Management strategies Fuelling is complex. Some people like gels, some not, some sweet food, some savoury, some both. I have no silver bullet on this. It’s a case of trying what works at the time. I have eaten warm sausages like a hungry hound then 4hrs later been spitting the same food out. My body will crave different food at different times. As I said before, the human body is amazing, it knows exactly what it needs once it understands what you are doing with it, so don’t fight it. If you feel like sugar then have it, but you will find at times sugar is not what you want, so try savoury. At the beginning I sweat loads so it’s important I take in salt early on in the challenge, so I eat pepperoni sausage sticks. I have tried drinking various types of powered drinks, all taste like battery acid, so I drink squash, top-up with coke. I also have hot sweet tea if it is available. I find water just washes out all the good electrolytes in your body or dilutes what you are retaining so try and find the right drink to put them back. I try and eat regularly, put something in my mouth every 15-30mins. This is hard to do as firstly at the start you might not feel hungry, but once you do feel hungry you won’t want to eat. The effect of the blood flowing in your muscles that are working hard will transfer blood away from your stomach, so if food is in your stomach then you get nauseous because your body (which is amazing), says I can’t process this food so it tries to eject it. But you know you need the food to stay and be digested but there is no blood to get the muscles that digest working. I would slow down, even stop. I try to meditate, try to get blood into my stomach, try to re-engage the digestion. Eventually it happens, so in an event that you might be racing you tend to rush this process and perhaps fail, so I try to be patient, enjoy the surroundings and recover. Recover I do, then you can keep the process going. If you do vomit, you will get cramps, you try to drink and eat and it continues, so you have to deal with it, better still recognise the signs and prevent it. One event I drank a cup of coke with a sachet of salt, I recall it was rather disgusting, especially at the bottom of the cup, but I didn’t get cramps again. At the Tsunami on a busy beach car park surrounded by onlookers, I drank a cup of coke and it came out quicker than it went in, I promptly handed my cup over to the event staff who duly filled it back again and I left. Phase 5 – Burrator to Wheal Jewell After a good rest, change of clothes and lots of food and drink I was now accompanied by my partner Wendy Walters. She paced me all the way up the rail track to King’s Tor which really broke the back of this section as it is good to get a steady pace going as the incline is slight but steady. Weather at this time was sunny but the clouds were massing although rain was unlikely. We made our way over Great Mis Tor, picking up the Merrivale range marker posts until a well-marked trail taking us around the south slope of White Tor. We turned right at Stephen’s Grave heading down into the field systems towards Cudliptown. We crossed Hill Bridge weir and must have been distracted but we took the right-hand road instead of the left. This meant we arrived at Wheal Jewell from the East, whereas had we turned left at the weir we would have arrived from the west. At Wheal Jewell we were both met by 3 further running club members, Jo Page, Karen and Paul King, who fed us tea and cakes before the last and final leg which would return back to Meldon reservoir. What have I learnt? I have learnt to enjoy ultra-distance running. We all try to set goals which are outcome related, run a marathon in sub-4hrs or even sub 3hrs, run couch to 5km all are great objectives, but they are not sustainable. What will you do when you have done 5km or your marathon in under 4hrs? You can set other goals of course, but you end up chasing goals all the time. The passion, the enjoyment may get lost. My goals are continuous. To keep enjoying my running, if I don’t feel like running I don’t, if I want to sit down during an event and eat food or take photos then I do. My desire to win, my desire to go fast is still with me but it doesn’t drive my passion for running. Most of the time I run towards the rear of the field, no pressure, there are often wonderful people to talk to, but as the event continues people fall by the wayside and before you know it you are very competitive. Phase 5 – Wheal Jewell to Meldon The final leg is a straightforward section although by this time I was feeling sore and tired. The good news was I knew the finish was in the bag, the weather remained good, but my body temperature had dropped, and I wasn’t going to be moving very quickly so I put on my coat. This made a great deal of difference as I didn’t get cold and was able to focus wholly on finishing. It became clear I was going to finish in under 20hrs if I remained focued on achieving timed goals. Once across the Wilsworthy firing ranges to Nodden Gate it’s a straight steady climb along the rail bed before heading across Sourton Down to the finish. I finally came to the end in 19hrs 56mins.

My achievements I have once achieved first for my age (my only time) in Summit Wild Ultra 2019, I have come 6th in 100-mile race out of 29 another Race with No Name 2018 - Two Moors Ultra, I was last but 6th. That just shows how hard these events can be. My last 100km challenge was the North Coast 100 2019 which I came in last within the allotted time, I was within the cut- off by 40mins, but I was the oldest finisher by 5yrs, and it was that last statistic that made me immensely proud of myself. I know a lot of you are driven by winning, and there is nothing wrong in that, but for me its finishing. Completing is competing!