Date: Friday 3rd February - Sunday 5th February 2023
Weather: Sunny
Base location: National Trust Cottages at Stackpole, Pembroke
Route type: Coastal trails
Conditions: dry and sandy
Describe camp in three words: Glorious coastal running
Hurrah, it’s that time of year again! Last year’s camp (my first one) was incredible so I was so excited for this year!
Day One - Friday 3rd February 2023
I picked up Hannah, parked at Kev’s and we walked over to the Hart leisure centre to be at the coach in time for a 7am departure. Ross was already in the dog house as he hadn’t set his alarm so when Darren had knocked on the door to collect him… he was still in bed, they still had to pick up Matt. Ross, Darren and Matt walked on to the coach at 6.58am, meanwhile Alexa had realised she’d left some running kit drying on the radiator which her husband kindly drove round…. she walked on to the bus at 7am. By some miracle we left on time!
There was an uncertainty as to whether there'd be lunch or not so when we stopped at services I bought an incredible cheese, mushroom and hash brown bagel…. I’d already had porridge for breakfast and didn’t think to buy a sandwich for later. Bit of a mistake!
We arrived at Stackpool Cottages around midday
Orientation Run
On arrival we headed out for an orientation run after everyone had done a bit of faffing. This area was certainly going to deliver on scenery! First up was an 8 arch bridge over a large lake complete with swan and heron, through a field, woodland track (where someone shouted “DUCK” and we all stopped thinking they said "stop"… there was a low tree branch. Along a sandy path and on to the most gorgeous sandy beach. The sun was shining and the colours were beautiful. We headed up some steps which surely had to be s Strava segment so Chris and I bounded up them (I got a number 7 trophy) and then we had some cliff top running. We came back via a long uphill lane which I tried to push up a little, I’ve got my Black Mountains Round challenge in the back of my mind and thought it might be an idea to push a bit on the hills where possible.
Strava: 5.31 miles 545 ft
Back at the cottages it was still too early to go into our rooms and it was clear no lunch was available, however there was yummy tea and cake. (This was because the property manager was very strictly sticking to the rules of no one allowed in until after 4pm. The chef was not allowed in either!)
To the Church - Coastal Trail Run
After a bit of downtime it was already time to head out on run 2. At the 8 arch bridge we headed down the side of it and followed the lake all around until we reached the sea. Coach Kev pointed out the sand dune that we will use for our hill rep tomorrow… eeek! That session is going to be a toughie! We headed up on to the cliff top and followed it to a headland view point. Retracing our steps, we went in the other direction and down some steps to the most beautiful, secret, tiny church, St Govan's Chapel. If only Andy were here we could get Chris and Helen to marry!
After much view admiring we had a bit of lane running where I ran with Helen and got to know her better. She is an exceptional runner and her 10km time is under 34 minutes. Helen is hoping for an England vest later on in the year. It was so interesting to hear about her recovery from injury during the pandemic and get an insight into her training. I’m always astounded by the weekly milage of 10km runners, it’s always so much more than me and I’m supposed to be an ultra runner! Helen runs around 60 miles a week.
We found ourselves amongst some cows eating turnips in a sandy field. Kev led as around in a merry circle until we found the style which led us out and back on to the route home. I ran with Osama and I was fading fast, our stomachs rumbling, both of us declaring how hungry we were. Why did I not listen to Coach Kev and buy a sandwich at the services earlier?
Strava: 8.19 miles 477 ft
Back at the cottages we were finally allowed into our rooms (which took my mind of the hunger) and I had a shower and unpacked. Next up was a strength and conditioning session by Hannah.
Strength and Conditioning Session
Hannah lead a 50 minute S&C session which involved an assortment of single leg work squats, glute bridges and lunges along with a variety of planks, ab work, an excellent stretching session at the end and a whole world of pain. The grunts and groans must have been a real pleasure for the sadist in Hannah to hear and she made me laugh so much when she said to Osama about his facial expression, "How can you make running so fast look so easy yet a simple stretch look so hard?!"
Now it was finally time for dinner. I stood in the queue hugging my plate and cutlery. Vegetable tagine for me, lasagne for the meat eaters, seasoned buttery new potatoes, garlic bread, two types of leafy salad and a pesto pasta salad followed by a choice of cheesecake or brownie (I had the brownie). Washed down with a G&T.
Next up was a quiz hosted by Grahame. I was on team ‘Hoof Hearted’ with Jon Cross, Derek Roberts and Paul Burger. We confidently had an answer for every question, they just weren’t always the right answers! We were deducted various points for my gobby mouth and apparently would have won rather than come last if it wasn't for this....
More chat and then time for bed. I had the most awful night’s sleep as my toilet makes a rather loud noise every 10 seconds that sounds like someone dragging furniture around. So much so that apparently Kev was going to start knocking on doors to ask whoever was doing it to stop! It was keeping Hannah awake too (apparently Hannah's roomie Alexis was sound asleep throughout)! I managed to prise the lid off and make a temporary fix to keep it quiet.
Day 2 - Saturday 4th February 2023
With the aid of a coat hanger and some ribbon, Ross came to the rescue and fixed my noisy toilet.
Fasted Saturday Morning Run
I’ve always wanted to have a swishy ponytail when I run but I lack the skills to be able to create one, luckily Hannah is a bit of a hair pro so she created a very high ponytail for me.
We set off at around 9am on our fasted fun. We headed alongside the lake and then up onto the cliff tops for a stunning run. My pony tail was in full swishy swishy mode and it felt super! I felt like a professional runner! I got Hannah to film her work in motion.
We ran out to a headland where a flock of black and white birds were diving off the cliff or perching on the rocks making a racket. They're not penguins someone said, I said no, they're not puffins either. Luckily someone pointed out they were guillemots.
We found ourselves on the beach where we had been on the orientation run. A great place for a team photo.
Matt decided he’d have a go on the steps to try and get the Strava crown. He flew up them! I wish I’d have joined in actually but I was already on the top of the sand dunes before I realised what he was up to.
Stomachs all rumbling, we made the final short stretch home and hungrily tucked into the delicious breakfast that had been prepared for us. Scrambled eggs and toast for me, along with some yoghurt and granola.
Strava: 4.84 miles 455 ft
We had a bit of downtime which was mostly spent drinking tea and swapping running stories - there were exclamations all round when we discovered that Helen wears warm up shoes before changing into her track shoes. Matt uploaded his run to Strava to find out at 26 seconds he was only 15th on the leaderboard.
Sand Dune session - aka Sand Dune Beasting
Time for the next run, of all of them this was the one I felt a bit apprehensive about. Hill session fine. But this was going to be a hill session on sand dunes, eek! We headed out around 11.30am and started with some flat efforts on the beach. We had to run to coach Nigel at a steady pace, then give it some welly all the way back to coach Kev. My first effort felt fantastic, ponytail swinging away, the soft wet sand was making me get up on to my toes, my arms were pumping, I felt like a real runner! I managed 4.5 efforts, walking a little on my recovery as I was really giving it my all.
Next part of the session was at a sand dune. A continuous circuit which involved going up, along, down, along, repeat. The up and the down was really deep sand but neither were particularly long, I actually found it harder doing he flat bottom bit as the sand was also deep. I managed to overtake a few which was a confidence boost.
Last part of the session was to pair up and head up a much longer sand dune. Ross kindly went with me and said he’d go at my pace. I don’t really know what happened on that dune but I overtook a few more people and felt strong, Ross a bit behind me! Hurrah, the Welsh mountains have paid off! It was time to finish, someone joked with Matt (a super, super fast runner) about going again and I looked at him and said, “I’ll race you?” he agreed and off we went! I’m sure I went the fastest so far and he even told me I had him worried for a moment (proud face) but I ran out of batteries just before the top and I think he’d already finished the circuit as I started my descent, all fun and games though! A gentle amble back home for tomato soup and sandwiches.
Strava: 5.55 miles 423 ft
Bonus Run - Segment Hunting with Matt and Chris
A funletics session had been scheduled in but there was nowhere suitable to do it. We had a good few hours of downtime so I suggested to Matt that perhaps we head out to get higher up on the leader board for the Strava segment on the the steps. He was 15th at 26 seconds and I was 7th on the ladies leader board with 30 seconds. We roped in Chris as well and just before we headed out, Chris’ toilet started flooding the bathroom but Kev managed to turn the water off.
Dom gave us some tips on how to get our heart rate up before we did the segment and off we went, at around 2.40pm.
Once at the beach it all looked very serious as we did a few sets of strides along the sand. We set the order faster to slowest: Matt, Chris then me. We left all our gear on the floor to lighten the load.
We started well away from the segment start point so we didn’t accidentally start it before we commenced running and off we went! I flew up, counting in my head, I was sure I was quicker! We bimbled back down to the bottom offering each other congratulations and headed back to the cottages. Chris had to head out on his bike straight away to pace his partner Helen on a training run and Matt and I went into the wifi room to see our results. The silver medal popped up straight away on my screen followed by an email to say that Matt had nabbed my local legend status! I was 1 second slower! I couldn’t belive it, I’d gone out all cock sure and confident and come back with nothing! What a giggle! However, Matt had done it in 24 seconds and was now 7th on the men’s leaderboard, I was delighted as really, that was why we’d been out, to get him a Strava trophy. There was much discussion throughout the day however about the validity of the guy who has the crown of 19 seconds.
Strava: 3.17 miles 295 ft
Headtorch Coastal Run
The final run of the day was to be a head torch run before dinner. Leaving at around 5.15pm we headed through the forest and down the big long hill we’d gone up the day before. It was dark when we reached the coastline, the moon shining brightly on the sea, it was spectacular.
We ended up coming down the steps that only a few hours earlier the boys and I had been racing up.
Strava: 4.88 miles 475 ft
There was enough time to shower and change and we all enjoyed a bit of a sit down, me with a G&T and some crisps. We then had a really relaxed dinner of veggie korma (butter chicken for the meaty peeps), garlic nann, popadoms, onion bhajis and chutneys. I led the way with the two plate serving, managing to balance them on my arm like a waitress as I piled them high with food. Matt quickly followed suit.
The talk this evening was by Grahame, who is in the process of becoming a mindset coach. Talk about preaching to the converted, I think he was getting irritated by my constant bouncing up and down and frantic nodding of the head as I agreed with everything he said!
Day 3 - Sunday 5th February 2023
I woke up before my alarm after a super sleep thanks to Ross’ adjustment to my toilet. I used the time to pack up my things and then enjoyed a fabulous breakfast which was pretty much the same as yesterday with the addition of 3 veggie sausages - yum!
Sunday Long Coastal Run
There were a few different run options going out today including sunrise run allowing time for a few pints at the pub before lunch, road and trail. Kev, Hannah, Simon, Darren and I headed out for a 3 hour cliff top out and back. I think I’ll let the many photos we took do the talking but we spent much of the run using various superlatives and admiring the incredible views.
We did help a guy carry a tree up a steep hill with steps, he was very grateful. He was a self-funded erosion preventer. He was planting trees to stop the cliffs from crumbling away and over the past few years has carried over 250 trees up that hill, quite a feat!
Strava: 13.26 miles 2,221 ft
Lunch was a full roast dinner (mushroom and thyme tart for me rather than the meaty peeps option of chicken) and apple crumble. We finished our packing and headed off on the coach at around 2.30pm.
What another fabulous training camp, great company, great running, great food and a good giggle!
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