The training plan and it's races
The Kymin Dash
When you run but know you shouldn’t really, whether you have that niggle in your calf, a tickly cough, or a four year old with some unidentified bug at home keeping you awake for the past 3 nights…well the Kymin dash was one of those runs. Held in Monmouth, along the Usk river, the Kymin dash is one of my favourites. The race can be split into 3 sections - one: The hard slog of the uphill dash to the Kymin (The summit being 850ft). Two: The roller coaster downhill along forestry paths. Three: The humdrum of the final flat along the river. I love it! Always a great turn out and well organised.
However, this year I woke on Sunday morning not feeling 100%, putting this down to lack of sleep I set of for Monmouth. On the previous times I’ve ran this race the weather has been fair, today was no exception. We all set of up the road to the start, it’s a tough start and the sun is getting to me but I plough on and find the second half better, finishing across the line in just under the hour. Having run the race slightly slower than previous year, I'm surprised to find I make the ladies team (Go Lliswerry ladies!:) ) We collect our tshirts, medals and cake! As some of us are mid training plan – marathons and Ultra’s- we decided to tie this race in with our LSR – this includes running the Kymin twice. Which is always funny as you get to spot the interesting things like The Kymin itself, the scenery, views and history second time around. However, this time up the hill my achilles were screaming “ NOT AGAIN CRAZY LADY!” so it was a run walk shuffle up the hill. I was also finding my breathing hard to settle and by the time we hit the 15 mile mark I knew it was more than a little tiredness.
We finished with a total of 18 miles for the day – big tick off my training plan but I was feeling hot – not just sweaty sunshine hot. I was feeling feverish. By the time I got home I knew my little darling had shared her germs with me. I was out for a week.
The Gilwern Grunt
But hey ho, the following week was bank holiday Monday and the Gilwern Grunt. Now this had been on my radar for a while and with it being a club championship it would be rude not to give it a go. Based in Blaenavon, it’s basically a fell run (albeit with a strip of road in the middle). The landscape is baron, almost alien like with old coal mines, ironworks and quarries. It is a technical run, care really needs to be taken unless you’re a mountain goat. All I can say is there is a lot of uphill climbs and downhill scrambles – mainly on your bottom, over almost any terrain. I’d like to think I made the most of this run and took in the scenery and views but to be honest I just wanted it over, head down watching my footing all the way. I definitely wasn’t feeling 100% still, I was starting to regret running it, so when the final “Volcano” came into sight I was happy to know it was almost over. A few fellow club mates took a few falls, some scrapes and bruises but all survived. I got to use my trusty first aid kit (the most basic you can find lol) with Racy Tracie who took a tumble on one of the many rocks and scraped her leg good and proper. I’m glad I ran it though but tempted to support next year and watch how the real mountain goats climb the scraggly hills. Definitely not a race for the faint hearted.
23 in 23 Coastal Run
This was to support some good friends in our club Celia and Steve, who at the time were running all 23 parkruns in Wales over the course of 23 weeks for local charity Velindra Cancer Centre and Macmillian Cancer Support, the story goes deeper and details – along with donations- can be found here 23 in 23. This week saw the 23in23 gang running Porthcawl parkrun, the few ultranutters at the club thought it’d be “fun” to join them and tagging on an additional 63 miles run home along Wales’ coastline. Looking for a lsr, I thought, why not join them for a training run, raising the profile of 23 in 23 at the same time. Ideally I needed a 20 -21 mile run that weekend but got carried away with the spirit of things and decided on the 23 miles (towards) home. We arrive at sunny Porthcawl Saturday with a large crowd gathering ready for the start, which is along the seafront. It’s a lovely little out and back with a cheeky little climb along the way. It’s a great finish with around 18 of the green army.
With a short rest and a quick kit check, 6 of us set off from Porthcawl along the coastal path. The sun is shining (a little too much and unexpectedly to be honest, we’d half expected rain for most of the way). I have to say it is one of the most spectacular routes I have run. The path really does take in stunning views, hugging the cliff tops and beaches of South Wales. There is plenty of wildlife, castle ruins and World War II bunkers to see not to mention little cafes and ice-cream stops to keep you refreshed. We have support from the 23 in 23 crew and it’s great to see them at intervals with cheers to keep us going.
We have a laugh, getting slightly muddled with the route and crossing a thigh deep river which is refreshing to say the least. The banter, jokes and wit keep on going, certainly for at least 23 miles and then for myself and fellow runner Raven we finish our leg at Aberthaw power station – not the prettiest finish but the station is certainly impressive in size and it’s water inlet which looks like a some ancient sea fort. The rest venture on, with 2 finishing in Barry, and the last 2 making it all the way back to Newport just before midnight. Excellent jobs boys!
It’s worth checking out Wales’s coastal path – for routes see here. There is also a handy downloadable app.
The Preseli Bach
This year was meant to be our return to Preseli to tackle the Ultra but alas it wasn’t to be having been cancelled this year, so looking at training plans we decided to try the Bach instead – why not go for the hat trick and return for the ultra in 2018! As previous years we all set off at intervals, the 24 milers 1st then the 10 milers later. We start in the lovely village of Maenclochog where the locals cheers you off. You’re soon heading into forestry along a wooden path, this leads out onto your first gentle climb to Rosebush, from here you hit the slate quarries of Rosebush and Bellstone, the landscape looking something like Mordor , hobbits included. Before long we’re on our second climb up towards Belch Pennant. The ground is soft, old marsh land and makes for great ankle breakers if you step out of line. We pick our way down hill and hang a right. We start to merge with the 24 milers and the shopping trolley crew.
It’s here we start our 1 ½ mile ascent to the highest point of the day. Passing the trig point at Foel Feddau we turn right onto the dizzy heights of Foel Cwmcerwyn – 1748m. After a year it’s surprising how you forget what a hard slog this route is so it’s a relief to find it’s all downhill from here. We skirt back along Pantmaenlog forest, through the forestry with the wooden path – this time I notice the scary beast masks and hear the special effect “noise machine” oooohh! We finish together but before heading back to the event hub we cheer on our ultranutter who was running the full Beast as part of his training plan. The hub is the village hall which is full of beasted runners. There’s quite a cake selection as well as fresh hot cawl with cheese and bread rolls mmm just what we need. Along with the food goodies we are all presented with welsh slate coasters – a fab reminder of the run!
Whitebrook Windup
This is a lovely run in the heart of Monmouth, nestled between The Narth and Redbrook. There is a half marathon, 10k and for the first time this year a cannicross run. I wasn’t originally scheduled to do this as I was away but a turn of events meant I was able to tag along, my plan had me on 7 miles for the day so I choose the 10k option (the half being two laps). Setting off in intervals we immediately start to a short climb up a muddy track before dropping down and running along the banks of the River Wye for roughly 2 miles, amusing the fisherman and kayakers as we rush past before taking a sharp left back on ourselves to make the climb up Pwllplthin Woods along forestry track, this takes you on up for nearly 3 miles until reaching the top and making a left to come fast back downhill into Whitebrook. The bluebells were still in bloom making this quite tricky and technical decent pretty at times – if you can take your eyes off the trail long enough to take in the woodland. It’s a small well organised race (Unless it just happens to be a LLiswerry club championship then it doubles in numbers) with a nifty cotton tshirt for your entry fee. Medals are given out to age category winners and there’s plenty of water to go around. Needing to round up my miles me and my buddy Nic took a gentle run up (yes up!) the road to round off my day with 7.5 miles in total. Definitely worth a revisit. The training plan is coming along nicely.
