24/06/2012 - The Sandstone Trail - The Last Big Training Walk

When we first designed our training schedule, we agreed we needed to do a final training walk longer than half the distance of Trailwalker and one which would test our Support Team fully. From an early stage we identified the Sandstone Trail as the perfect challenge as its 55km long, local and suitably hilly. We have trained extensively on parts of the trail recorded in earlier blogs notably the hilly sections around Peckforton, Kelsall and Frodsham but there are still parts of the trail we had yet to encounter.

This would be our first training walk with a Support Team too. As Lee's brother Neil lives in Kent and Simon was inconveniently having his eyes lasered (the things folk will do to get out of Trailwalker training) it was left to Mark's wife Kate and Martin's son Ted to support us all the way.

Given that England would be kicking off against Italy at 7:45pm and our anticipated 13hour duration, we agreed (yes, we did - it was unanimous) to bring the start time forward to 6am which, given that Whitchurch was an hour away from most of us meant a 4am wake up call - a time which should be banned on a Sunday (as Kate continued to remind Mark).

The weather in recent days had been atrocious with nearly 4 inches of rain dumped on parts of the North West and more had been deposited on Saturday night and was forecast to continue on Sunday morning then easing as the day progressed.

Setting off from Mark's house at 5am, Mark, Kate, Lee and Polly again questioned why it was we were doing this as Kate drove dodging the standing water in the country lanes and we wondered what might lie in store in the fields we would have to cross. Shortly after arriving, Martin and Ted pulled into the car park and as we began to kit up, Martin announced they had driven through torrential rain on the way and he'd forgotten his coat. Requisitioning Ted's coat, Lee then announced he'd forgotten his backpack which was apparently Polly's fault (cue discussion) though he had got his Camelbak which Polly hadn't (cue further discussion). This wasn't starting well. To add insult to injury, just as we'd got suited up, the heaven's opened. Joy.

Why are we doing this again?

After posing for a quick team photo at the sandstone arch marker in Jubilee Park marking the start/end of the trail, there was a moment of disorientation as we realised we weren't sure which way to go. Finding a path and identifying our first Sandstone Trail marker on a post, we set off through Whitchurch and soon picked up the canal which would take us out of the town with Mark and Martin walking ahead giving Lee and Polly space to continue their discussion about who had forgotten what (at least that's what we thought they were discussing).



The walk along the towpath was relatively easy going, a few flooded sections easily avoided and gradually descending out of Whitchurch until we eventually arrived at the sign which would take us off the towpath into the fields. Having never done this section of the trail before, we weren't sure what to expect though it wasn't long before our worst fears were realised as evidenced by standing water and mud. As usual this was made worse by cows and cattle in the fields. 

On entering one field we realised that it was full of bulls and they were taking a very unhealthy interest in us. Instead of moving off like cows, these guys were turning to face us and follow us. Noting the stile in the corner of the field, a steady pace was maintained as the bulls started to converge on us. Somehow Mark ended up at the back of his teammates (possibly because he was wearing red and carried a red backpack - nobody wanted to be near him) and on arriving at the stile turned to face the following herd with his walking poles raised aloft stating they were actually cattle prods (patent pending) much to the amusement of his now safe teammates and the confusion of the now stationary bulls.

We had arranged to meet Kate and Ted at a lay by near Hampton Green. When we were just a few km away, Kate's voice could be heard on the walkie-talkie requesting a progress update though it appears they couldn't hear us through our rain soaked walkie-talkie. As we approached Checkpoint 1 they cheered and we arrived to find chairs set up and the boot of the car open. A variety of drinks and foodstuffs were dished out to the team as water and snacks were replenished in backpacks.

Mark had once again managed to get his boots, socks and feet wet and in changing to a fully dry set, the zinc oxide tape, damp from the walk, fell off for the second week running. Not wanting to put the stop time in jeopardy, he decided not to re-tape a decision he might come to regret with 43km still to go. After our allotted 15minute refuelling we bid our Support Team goodbye and continued up the trail looking forward to the next stop which wasn't for another 12km in the middle of the Peckforton Hills.

As we walked along more fields doing our best to dodge large areas of standing water (which was becoming increasingly difficult), we crossed though Michael Owen's (remember that goal against Argentina?) little place for the breeding and training of race horses and started to climb off the plain and up towards Bickerton Hill - a welcome respite from the surface flooding but a sudden need to adapt to going uphill again after the long muddy slog on the flat.

There wasn't much time to enjoy the view at the top other than to remark that as forecasted, the weather seemed to be easing and the warmth was starting to sap energy levels given we were all still in waterproofs. We also noted on the far horizon the masts at the top of Kelsall and the hills above Helsby and Frodsham - they looked a long, long way away. As we descended into the village, Mark and Martin decided to make full use of a bench in the churchyard to remove all waterproofs and while recognising this would tempt fate, it would at least make the ascent to Raw Head a bit more comfortable and we were soon on our way up the road and the gradual incline.

The walkers arrive at Checkpoint 2

Arriving at Raw Head (the highest point on the trial) we were comforted knowing it was all downhill from here, apart from all the wiggly up and down bits in between and we pushed on towards Bulkeley Hill taking the opportunity to wind Polly up about "The Tramway" and the fact she was the only teammate not to have done it yet. Given we were passing the top of "The Tramway" that pleasure would have to wait for another day but on looking down it, Polly agreed that the photos don't do its severity justice.

Choosing to ignore the ropeswing and the fallen trees, we continued into Burwardsley, home of the Pheasant Inn a previous start and stop point, but on this occasion we had chosen the car park for the nearby candle factory for our second checkpoint. This time the walkie-talkie was working and our requests for food and clothing were ready and waiting as we were greeted by Ted and Kate and some odd looks from those heading into the candle factory as we sat in our folding chairs eating, drinking and changing damped clothing - 24km done, 31km to go.

Refuelling at Checkpoint 2

Our allotted time was soon over and once again we bid our Support Team goodbye and headed back up the hill to rejoin the Sandstone Trail and the descent which would take us past Peckforton Castle and Beeston Castle, over the Shropshire Union Canal and up the notorious boggy field which Mark and Martin had encountered previously. Once again this lived up to expectations as we zig-zagged round standing water and cattle churned mud. Having got this field over with, we became more optimistic though this was shortlived as we entered fields of wheat and barley where the clayey surface had become wet making traction difficult. To make matters worse, walking poles were inhibited as the crops grabbed at the poles making it necessary to carry them and hope we wouldn't slide in the mud.

Arriving at Checkpoint 3

Persevering with the conditions underfoot we trudged on and just within 2km of our Checkpoint 3 (a wide field gateway off a country lane), the walkie-talkie burst into life with Kate asking how far off we were and would we like a hot drink? Immediately three teas and a coffee were ordered and the the thought of a hot refreshing drink spurred us on and once again Ted and Kate were ready with the drinks just at the perfect hot drinkable temperature which was just what we needed at that point - 34km done, 21km to go. 

Perked up by our Support Team we set off in good spirits and soon passed the 37km/18km sandstone marker - one-third to go. As we gradually climbed up the fields we reached the point where on a previous walk, Mark and Martin had joined the Sandstone Trail from Utkinton after which we would all be in unfamiliar territory again. At this point a further curve ball was thrown at us. As we headed towards the gate it appeared a large herd of cows had preceded us and churned the ground up so badly the mud was too deep to get through without overtopping our boots - a bit annoying having only just changed to dry socks again.

Lee and Polly did at least remember the pasta salad

The terrain continued upwards which we took as a reassuring sign that we were at last leaving the boggy plains behind and as water runs downhill, thought we'd stand a better chance of keeping our feet dry(ish). Once at the top we recognised the point at the top of Kelsall where we have undertaken some of our night walks and knew that Delamere Forest and our final checkpoint weren't far now.

The welcoming sight of Delamere Forest must have hit the team with a degree of delirium. While Polly struggled on in silence with blistered feet and Mark with damp feet and a nagging pain in the hip area, Lee, having taken twice the prescription dose of hayfever tablets (after not reading the instructions) seemed in very high spirits and as Martin dug out his iPod and plugged in the external speaker, Lee started to Moonwalk to Michael Jackson. Martin then pulled out a bunch of 'Curly-Wurlys' as we climbed the hill and we found eating these isn't conducive to walking with poles.

Mark tucks into choccie ice cream at CP4

The mayhem continued through the forest as we received odd looks from people out for a Sunday stroll/dog walk/bike ride (delete as applicable) as Martin played DJ on the iPod but given we'd gone beyond 40km, we felt we had every right to misbehave. We managed to notify the Support Team of our impending arrival, though through the trees the signal was a bit broken and they were expecting us to come from the other direction but they were there, waiting with ice-cream from the Cheshire Ice Cream Farm - what a welcome surprise!

With 8km to go and still with Beacon Hill above Frodsham to get over the team were in good spirits and determined as ever to finish albeit with Polly suffering with her feet, Mark with a dodgy hip and what was now resembling 'trench foot' from the damp footwear, Lee away with the fairies and Martin gearing himself up to run up the steps to the top. 

This was now the 'Dead Zone' as so far, only Martin had gone beyond 48km on a  previous walk. As we approached the 50km mark on the odometer, Mark counted down the last 100m and there were handshakes all round - half of Trailwalker in 11hrs 15minutes and then we moved on knowing the job wasn't done yet.

Nearly there!

As we climbed, conversation dropped as we focused on this final ascent, one which we have done on several training walks before and knowing this would be the final climb before the descent into Frodsham. Approaching the '39 steps' (we're not sure how many there are as we've not actually counted them), Lee, Polly and Martin took off, leaving Mark to climb them at  a more sensible pace and we were soon at the War Memorial at the top of Beacon Hill and radioed the Support Team of our arrival at the top. Just another couple of kilometres downhill to the finish now.

Dropping down into the streets of Frodsham, we probably looked a right rag-tag bunch with muddy boots, gaiters and trousers and with it being quite a nice evening there plenty of people about and drinkers outside pubs preparing for the England game. The final point of the trail is a sandstone obelisk conveniently located outside the Bears Paw. Once again Kate and Ted were there to greet us and capture this finish and even better  - there waiting was a celebratory pint for each of us - great support.

This is the end - 55km - 12hrs 32minutes.

As we sat downing our pints, rubbing our sore and aching area sand stretching, we contemplated the fact that on Trailwalker, we will still have 45km to go which was basically turning round and going all the way back to Checkpoint 1. Food for thought.

We would like to thank Kate and Ted for being a great source of motivation throughout this walk and we couldn't have done it without you. The route is here.

Things learned from this long team walk:

1. Lee and Polly need an equipment list,
2. Mark needs better zinc-oxide tape,
3. Polly probably needs to use zinc-oxide tape,
4. Martin likes Ted's coat better than his own,
5. You can never have enough dry socks,
6. Its amazing just how much punishment your body can take,
7. Painkillers are useful when your body can't take much more punishment,
8. Walkie-talkies are very handy to communicate with the Support Team,
9. Checkpoints become a very welcome sight,
10. Nice surprises are quite motivating.

22/03/2012 - Proper Training, A Man Down and Lies, Damn Lies and Statisitics

Proper Training

This week marks the start of 'Proper' Training for the Red Harrows. A bit like the FA Cup for which earlier rounds don't really matter (given Liverpool are in the semi-finals after knocking out Man Utd some time ago) and while this would suggest that we've merely been playing at it for the weeks since January, this time has been used usefully to equip ourselves, test kit and get us to a point where we are comfortable walking 4-5 hours with out really stopping other than to briefly take photos and grab an energy bar.

Our training plan from here on in, is to walk for about 1.5 hours twice in the week on a Tuesday and Thursday evening and alternate this every other week with a 3 hour night walk on a Wednesday with our long walk at the weekend. The plan is to walk for 4-5 hours at the weekend on varying terrain (more on this later) for the first six weeks and gradually increase this to a couple of weeks before Trailwalker where we plan to walk the entire length of the Sandstone Trail non-stop (55km and 1200m of climb/descent) with our support team meeting us at checkpoints along the route as practice for the event.

On Tuesday night Mark and Lee kicked off the schedule and set off on a local flat walk of 8.5km completing this bang on the expected 1.5 hours. The route took us across level fields in the dark (getting spooked by a low flying military transport plane in the process) and onto the Trent & Mersey Canal before joining the Macclesfield Canal and then home. Most of this was completed in the dark though as we get lighter evenings this should be an enjoyable quick training walk. The stats for this one are here.

Tonight's walk was the hill training walk for which Mow Cop and its famed 'Killer Mile' is ideally suited. At 200m from bottom to top it is ideal for the worst elevation change Trailwalker can throw at us (see Stage 7). We were hoping to complete the estimated 7km in 1 hour 30 minutes but managed to shave off 10 minutes for what turned out to be 7.2km so we were pretty pleased with that albeit a bit breathless at the top. The stats are here.

The proposed training route for this weekend is a scenic walk around the hills of Beeston and Peckforton along a section of the Sandstone Trail which will give us 19km and about 480m of elevation change. The planned route is here. It will be Lee, Martin and Mark tackling this one, speaking of which......

A Man Down

Sadly we report that we have lost a team member. No, we didn't leave him behind somewhere and forget to go back for him, he didn't get abducted by aliens or fall off a cliff during a night walk and shuffle off to the great Trailwalker route in the sky. After long hard consideration, Julian has decided to stand down from the team as he felt he could not commit fully to the training programme that Trailwalker demands and felt this would not be fair on his teammates. We want to thank Julian for his contribution (and forthcoming donation!) to the team to date and no doubt his continued support.

So currently that leaves us with a gap in our foursome. We currently have a couple of options from people who are interested and we hope to announce soon who our new team member is so we can happily train as a full group once again but for the moment it's just the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (we'll leave you to work out who is who) in training.


Lee, Martin and Mark - not necessarily in that order.

 Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

Mark being a bit of self-confessed spreadsheet geek has been assessing the team's performance, the Trailwalker stages and our training routes. The initial purpose of this was to replicate as far as possible the likely terrain on Trailwalker given that geographically we aren't exactly well located for a quick jaunt down the South Downs Way.

The simple way of doing this is to look at Trailwalker, the distance of 100km and the climb of 2500m divide the one by the other and get 25m of elevation change per km or what we're calling 'elevation change rate'. Taking each stage separately gives us anything between 19m/km and 35m/km so quite some variance along the trail. This has led us to a form of classification for our training routes:

Green - any route less than 10m/km - single climbs no bigger than 50m
Yellow - any route between 10m/km and 20m/km - single climbs between 50m and 150m
Red - any route above 20m/km - single climbs above 150m (Trailwalker-esque)

Using this as a tool has given us some idea of ranking the difficulty of Trailwalker Stages:

Stage	Ascent	Descent	Distance	Ave m/km	Biggest
7	330	-130	9.4	35.11	200
10	136	-80	4	34.00	125
1	300	-210	9.6	31.25	93
6	210	-270	10	21.00	170
5	280	-220	12.5	22.40	140
3	190	-175	8.3	22.89	120
11	130	-90	5.8	22.41	105
8	190	-230	6.9	27.54	85
2	290	-390	10.4	27.88	75
4	180	-300	9.3	19.35	105
9	264	-325	13.8	19.13	50

It's easy to see why stages 5,6 and 7 claim most victims and force people out of Trailwalker. These three stages are beyond where most teams will have walked in training so you'll be fatigued, will more than likely get tackled during the night when your body wants to sleep and they rank highly in terms of difficulty. This where teams will need their teammates support the most.

To add to this, we've also been comparing our average speed with 'elevation change rate'. This is a measure of how well the team is improving through training. It stands to reason that on flat level terrain where the elevation change rate is near zero, you can really go for it in terms of speed but when you hit an incline this will be tempered somewhat.

So, comparing speed with elevation change rate, we get this relationship:

The points are added from our table as a scatter graph and Excel kindly drops in a linear 'line of best fit'. The intention is add each new training walk and hopefully the points will fall above the line to show we are infact improving. It is interesting to see that the points below the line are earlier training walks so the expectation is that the line will move gradually upwards as we improve and ultimately we'll remove the earlier walks to give us a more accurate prediction of how long the Trailwaker stages should take us given distance and elevation - at least that's the theory!

03/03/2012 - Training Walk#6 - A foray into The Peak District

It was nice to see Lee was awake, breakfasted and dressed when Mark picked him up at 8am (we said we'd keep ribbing him for being late once didn't we?). We drove the short distance from his house to the car park on the Staffordshire Way in Rushton Spencer (conveniently close to the Knot Inn, purveyors of fine ales but I digress...)

The weather forecast had suggested rain, brightening later and judging by the look of the sky it looked like we might be in for a right dumping. Mark donned his waterproof overtrousers as a precaution (more on this later...)   We thought we'd try the MapMyHike iPhone app but unfortunately there was absolutely zero mobile signal so no live tracking this time.

At the point of leaving the car park, the mist had come down quite quickly so we couldn't see the mast on Croker Hill (our second hill) in the distance. Golden Hill, was the first target so we set off at a decent pace enjoying the gradual incline.

A conduit apparently.

Descending down to the Dane Valley Way and the River Dane itself we spotted three buzzards ominously circling (surely they didn't think we'd be lunch?) before crossing a feature labelled as a 'conduit' on the map. 

Looking like a mini-canal we assumed it was something to do with conveying water from the reservoirs towards the Macclesfield Canal itself, though it didn't look too well maintained.

Are we there yet?

On crossing the River Dane, the upward trajectory began towards Golden Hill.This we found relatively straightforward and a decent climb though as the mist came, it became harder to work out just where the top was. At last the peak approached, but alas no, it was a just a precursor as we walked along the ridge. Another peak approached, "This must be it" Mark suggested but again no, as we approached the top a further hill loomed into view, but again no. At the fourth attempt we reached the real peak but given the mist, there was no view to speak of.

Sure, it's big but can you get Sky Sports?

We descended Golden Hill to head for Croker Hill the highest point on the training walk and still the mast remained invisible in the mist. Eventually as we approached from about 200yards the mast loomed large out of the mist. Having previously believed this to be a TV mast, the clear BT signs all the boundary suggested otherwise. Nobody home but a vast amount of cabling, dishes and backup generators. Thankfully no interference on the GPS either. Having reached our first target at 1hr 54mins a good 10 minutes ahead of schedule we broke out the energy bars and headed down the hill towards Bosley Reservoir just as the things started to brighten up. A herd of deer broke out of cover and ran right through the nearby field but too quick for me and the camera - maybe next time.

The distant Cloud beyond Bosley Dam

We reached Bosley at 2hrs 30mins which was bang on our timing. Bosley Reservoir is owned by British Waterways and was built to supply water to the Macclesfield Canal. As we walked the perimeter path there were plenty of fishermen lazily sat at the side of the lake enjoying the sunshine which was starting to appeal given that my waterproofs were now causing me to sweat and becoming uncomfortable so time to get rid. No easy task, propped against a low wall, removing gaiters then boots all covered in mud. A good 10 minutes lost before getting going towards the dam.

Do you think the natives are friendly?

A small wrong turn (the OS map hadn't been updated - thats my story and I'm sticking to it) had us crossing the outfall from the reservoir (and sure enough it discharged into a conduit) and climbing a barbed wire fence which had inconveniently been put in our way. We then found the correct kissing gate we should have come through (but the map WAS wrong!) though the natives were helpful.

The church at Bosley

Crossing the fields we came to the village of Bosley itself. A lovely little village but unfortunately no time to explore, we had to press on to the Nemesis that is The Cloud. 

The steep face of The Cloud

Now I had thought (wrongly) that we had been up The Cloud every which way but Lee knew a different way, a way which was manageable up the sheer face without ropes and crampons. Now at this point, about 15km in Mark was beginning to feel the effects of the previous ascent/descent. The legs had turned to lead resulting in several stops to catch his breath as we began the ascent. At one point Lee suggested perhaps leaving The Cloud out altogether on this occasion to spare Mark's oxygen deficiency but determination won through in the end albeit reaching the trig point 25minutes after our planned 4 hour target. 

 

Croker Hill - have we really come from there?

Another carb bar scoffed and we hit the descent making steady progress knowing there were no more ascents (this time) on the way back to the pub...I mean car. Gradually descending through fields and woodland we picked up the Staffordshire Way and the former railway that would take us back to the Knot Inn...I mean Rushton Spencer...where the car is parked...yes. 

Incoming! Hailstones at 3 o'clock

At this point we got hit with a sudden unexpected hail shower and thats right, Mark's waterproofs were now snugly in his backpack. After persisting down for about 5 minutes and duly soaking the side of our walking trousers, the Knot....I mean Rushton Spencer came into view and the chance to get out of our gear to enjoy a pint of their finest (mineral water).

The stats for this walk can be found here.

10 Things we learned on this walk:

1. Taping the vulnerable areas of your feet and toes with zinc oxide tape certainly seems to protect. No signs of blisters or chafing and no soreness underfoot.

2. Your feet can slide forward in your boots as you go downhill causing pain to the ends of your toes though this seems to be mitigated by 1. above.

3. We seem to be using about 500ml of water per hour at the moment.

4. We need to find waterproof bottoms which can easily be removed and put back on again without losing too much time.

5. Mark doesn't like hilly bits.

6. When Lee says, "This is a nice little incline...", you're in for pain, lots and lots of pain.

7. Mark hates really hilly bits

8. Lee is part mountain goat and part gazelle

9. Knowing there is a pint of ale at the end of the walk is a surprising incentive.

10. Hailstones really hurt when they are driven into the side of your face - but unlikely weather in July.