Death-Defying Somersault on Langdale Horseshoe

Location: The Lake District, UK
Date: 9th October 2010

Distance: 14 miles
Elevation: 4000 feet

I was on a mission to get a good time for this. It was no time to worry about avoiding 'chronic cardio', taking photos, taking leaks or drinking water. F@ck all that.

After last year's humiliating attempt (the only time I have given up on a race) I was determined to make this one count. Plus, Lightning and I had unfinished business. Last month my 40-second margin at Ben Nevis had been trumped by his 4-minute lead at the Peris. It was my turn.

Time: 3 hours, 17 minutes. 39 minutes ahead of Lightning :-)

Here are the photos and the story of how I nearly ruined myself one one of the downhill sections:

Breakfast at 7am: 6 eggs with coconut milk, 2 bananas, cocoa


The feast I took for after the race: mackerel, herring & avocado for savoury; fruit, coconut cream and cocoa for dessert; nuts just to be greedy.


The Langdale Pikes come into view as we arrive, the start of the route.


Crinkle Crags on the right, Pike O'Blisco on the left, the final stages of the route.


Ready for action.


Race over, the huge pot of fruit, coconut cream and cocoa, about to be devoured.


Just before bed, some leftover chicken and leftover sauce with nuts.

The Somersault

There is a long section after the first main checkpoint behind the Pikes involving a long steady descent on boggy ground, ideal for running very fast. If you have lunatic tendencies, which I do, then you can overtake a lot of people here.

This time, my lunacy nearly did me some serious damage. As I careered past a fellow runner, one foot found an unexpected hole. Normally I would correct with the next stride. However, the other foot found another, deeper, unexpected hole. I lurched forwards towards my head. It was only the sheer speed I was travelling, a sudden dip in the terrain and the instinct to tuck my head which stopped me slamming into the ground head first.

A disturbing crunching sound came from my neck as I performed a full forward roll and for a split-second I wondered whether I would walk again; but as I rolled forward over my back I was catapulted back into the running position and continued hurtling past other runners. The guy behind me was stunned.

Validation of Low Frequency Training?

I was pleased with the time. 3-minutes slower than my best (3:14) several years ago. But several years ago I was training obsessively. This year I've mostly just done races and rested in between. So to achieve a comparable performance feels like a validation of that approach.

To be fair to Lightning, he had an off day. If he'd been on song, I reckon 3:40 was on the cards. Still not even close :-D

Refuelling - Just Eat Big

I decided to eat big all day and include lots of fruit. After the 6-hour Peris race last month I went on a bit of a non-Paleo rampage afterwards - yet my recovery in the days that followed was good. This had reminded me that it's pointless to starve your body of what it wants after an effort like that just because you think it's an opportunity to get a little leaner.

So this time I had the best of both worlds - loads of food, but all healthy.

Season Finale

This was the season finale for me. I am going to take a good few months out of long mountain runs to let me legs get really strong. Whilst my foot (which I was recently wrongly grizzling about possibly being fractured) was fine, there was a general sense that my knees need a little R & R, and they were getting a bit sore on the final descent.