Winter Spine Race 2026 - Preview

Over the last few months my fitness has waned.  Age (now 44) has been catching up with me and my theory is that the training I've done whilst training at semi-elite level for the marathon has done some permanent damage to my body.  It's to the extent now that I can only jog on the treadmill for up to an hour, even then its not pain free.  I have plantar fasciitis in my left foot that flares up after two or three consecutive sessions.  My lower back / buttock pain (similar to sciatica) is more or less permanent but with varying levels of pain.  I then have the usual aches and pains and muscle pulls every now and then.  For instance as recently as 7th December I was in A&E having an x-ray of my right ankle and was on crutches as I could not put any weight whatsoever on my foot.  The funny thing is I honestly can't even say what caused the issue, I just woke up with it being that way.  The diagnosis was ligament damage with an unknown recovery time.  Add into the mix a three year old who passes on various viruses and infections and the result is a degeneration of my fitness.  Just getting to the start line has been a challenge.

Back in February I entered the Winter Spine Race once more as it seemed a good idea at the time.  Despite my misgivings with the race organisation in 2024 (see my blog post here for further details) it is a course that has a certain allure.  This will be my last time whatever the result, my son turns 4 this year and will be school age in September and I have promised not to be away for a week (plus being next to useless whilst recovering in the weeks after).

Jacobs Ladder

This time round the Race Pack for 2026 contains the following clause "Media organisations or personnel, including creation of content for YouTube channels will require HQ approval."  I have therefore asked the Race Team for approval for my wife to upload progress reports (should she wish and be able to when having a 3 year old in tow!) which was kindly granted - see Lloyd's Adventure Runs & Races" on YouTube.  The only stipulation is that footage of private areas are not shared (e.g. checkpoints) which is fair enough and not something I've ever done in the past in any case.  We will of course be abiding by the 'one contact' rule that exists, meaning we can only have one physical contact between us during the race, but she is otherwise free to film from a distance.  Any footage that I shoot myself on my Go-Pro has an auto-upload feature into the cloud via my phone, which worked well at home in practice but remains to be seen how it works during the race.  It means that I do not need to hand any data over to her to ensure we remain compliant regarding the one contact rule.

Whilst I will always do my absolute best, if the course conditions were similar to previous years I would be struggling to be finish sub 120 hours.  My shape is just nowhere near where it needs to be.  I'm conscious though that this race isn't just about fitness and requires a wide range of other skills.  I'm hoping to make up for lack of fitness in other ways.  I consider a race completion, whatever the time taken to be a good result this year.

In any event the race will no doubt bring some thrills and spills as it usually does.  I've been lucky that in two of the three years I have done it is has been mostly frozen on the ground and although there has been some significant snow, I have also been pretty lucky in avoiding substantial rain.  I'm sure this luck has to run out at some point so am expecting it to be remembered as the muddy and wet one!  Oh, the joy!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spine Race - Some Stats (2012-2025) - Updated following 2025 race.

Image
This is an update to a post I originally published in 2023 and annually since. Over the years there have been a number of stats published about the Spine races, usually focusing on finish percentages etc.  I decided to take a look and see whether I could do something different with the data.  I've focused purely on the Winter Spine Race and none of the other races in the series. Some headline stats: 29 countries are represented in the finish results (increase of 1 as a result of 2025 event). There are 686 recorded finishes by 535 people Only 24 people have gone sub 100 hours (exc. 2015) - 8 of which occurred in 2025.  (There were actually 11 sub 100 hour finishers this year, but 3 had recorded a faster time in previous editions). I've attached the spreadsheet I put together.  To explain it in a bit more detail take Jasmin Paris (row 7): She was the 230th recorded finisher The 185th individual to have ever finished the Spine The 6th fastest recorded time (includes peo...
Read more

Marathon des Sables - Post Event Kit Review

Image
In my preamble I went through the kit I intended to take and the general intention to go for the lightest possible items.  This post reviews the kit, what worked well, what didn't and things I would have done differently with the benefit of hindsight. 642 - My number for the week. I think the first takeaway lesson is that the kit should all be treated as single use only.  If there is something you want to take, for instance a rucksack that you want to use in future events then I would choose something different for the MDS.  The conditions are so severe that as you will see below, much of what I took got a severe beating in only a few days. The final thing I would add was that it was a record breaking year for toughness - temperatures reaching up to 56c.  If the kit could (or couldn't!) survive those conditions then I think it acts as a good guide for future editions of the race. Clothing Raidlight Short Sleeve Shirt - Short sleeve was definitely the way to go for me...
Read more

Marathon des Sables - Preamble

Image
On the 30th September I am heading down to Gatwick for the flight the following day to Morocco to take part in the 35th edition of the Marathon des Sables.  It's one of the worlds iconic ultramarathons and is probably one of the few that non-runners might have heard of.  It is a tough race with daytime temperatures that can reach well into the 40's and total distance over the week will be approximately 250km, all in the desert, with the longest stage being around 85km.  Not only this but you have to be self sufficient i.e. carry everything you need with you such as food, clothing, sleeping bag etc. with the exception of water (even this is rationed) and a basic bivouac.  For this reason the Discovery Channel once labelled the Marathon des Sables as the 'toughest footrace on Earth'.  The rough outline of the race is as follows: Thurs 30 th September Travel down to Gatwick to overnight. Fri 1 st October Titan Airways charte...
Read more