I was surprised how badly my quads hurt when I got up this morning. I wasn't expecting to feel sore or tired since the Pen y Fan race is such a short race - steep but never the less short. So I made my way over to Llanfrynach in spite of my sore legs, ready to make my assault on the Fan y Big fell race - turns out it was more of a minor skirmish...
Conditions weren't as bad as yesterday although the tops were still in the light mist but it didn't rain much. There were some strong winds though and it didn't help that the main climb was pretty much head on into those winds. I ran steady and ground my way to the summit of Fan y Big. I didn't climb particularly well on account of little to no leg power. From there things got better though.
I picked up a few place on the ridge section before almost committing harikari as I slipped at the start of the descent. My leg flew backwards and I jolted forward, my head making a bee-line for a large rock. As in the movies, time did seem to slow a little and fortunately I somehow managed to stay on my feet - although I'm not quite sure how. That near death experience didn't deter my though and I carried on slipping and sliding my way down off the mountain. Gaining another few places.
I was pants once I hit the road, my quads were screaming out for me to stop, and with a not great time on the cards and lowly position in the field, I wasn't keen to push hard and do more damage so I plodded onto the finish - relinquishing some of the gains.
A combined tally of 23km and 1300m of ascent for the weekend has to count as decent training - even though I can hardly walk now and suspect I have a few days of this ahead...
Conditions weren't as bad as yesterday although the tops were still in the light mist but it didn't rain much. There were some strong winds though and it didn't help that the main climb was pretty much head on into those winds. I ran steady and ground my way to the summit of Fan y Big. I didn't climb particularly well on account of little to no leg power. From there things got better though.
I picked up a few place on the ridge section before almost committing harikari as I slipped at the start of the descent. My leg flew backwards and I jolted forward, my head making a bee-line for a large rock. As in the movies, time did seem to slow a little and fortunately I somehow managed to stay on my feet - although I'm not quite sure how. That near death experience didn't deter my though and I carried on slipping and sliding my way down off the mountain. Gaining another few places.
I was pants once I hit the road, my quads were screaming out for me to stop, and with a not great time on the cards and lowly position in the field, I wasn't keen to push hard and do more damage so I plodded onto the finish - relinquishing some of the gains.
A combined tally of 23km and 1300m of ascent for the weekend has to count as decent training - even though I can hardly walk now and suspect I have a few days of this ahead...
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