Sunday 5 January 2020

Thinking Out Of The Box 2020

Reading facebook posts in the week leading up the Start can give an indication of how well the racers are informed about of the race .
Some of the questions indicate a frightening level of ignorance into the Reality Of The Spine.

Most first time runners come to the start with major pre conceptions about this race. They believe that the most important factor is to get as fit as  possible and buy all the Lightest Kit.
Looking at the views of my Blog Posts I can tell that you are all obsessed by Kit.
Having the kit will do you no good at all if you don't know how and when to use it . The best example of this is the GPS.  Some runners never look at their GPS for their whole race . Many more only look at the screen once they think they are lost . A GPS hand held unit will not plot a new best rout back to the trail once you are off track. It will not warn you if you take a wrong turn UNLESS YOU ARE ACTUALLY LOOKING AT THE SCREEN.  Car sat navs have probably degraded  your nav skills over the last few years.

The importance of getting enough high quality sleep is probably the most underrated aspect of the Spine .Just having and using ear plugs when you sleep will cut hours off your finish time . Not having ear plugs can be a major factor in many DNF's .  Lack of sleep at noisy CP dorms will severely degrade your thinking process and physical state.

This may have led to one runner exiting CP4  turning left and running almost 2K back towards Edale during the 2019 race ( there are also tales that he actually passed incoming runners coming the other way )  

Think outside the box 

You should make your own decisions . As the race unfolds you need to frequently re asses your options .The course factors change each year especially sleeping and feeding post . Changes to availability  of pubs and cafs change every year so cross check with CP staff about whats available on each leg .

If I was racing this year then a potential game changer could be the Hall at Keld .  Sleeping at Haws is hard due to noise and stress . The YHA could be packed and you may be trying to get to sleep in daylight .       Consider feeding up and changing at Haws YHA then pushing on and sleeping at the hall in Keld . I believe the hall is not exactly on the rout so the majority of runners probably won't drop in so it may be fairly quiet . If you do sleep in this hall to maintain your night sleeping cycle then you need a sign saying "silence please and please wake up by------------ " to place by your sleeping body .



 I have re issued several of my blog posts so the titles all appear this month . They are packed with information which should be of use for first timers . Some time /location  details have changed over the years so please cross check .


Good Luck to everyone    Ian

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