Training Log Archive: philm64

Anyone who follows me on facebook will possibly have noted that i have again fallen unwell with an ME/CFS like relapse.

this occured when Liz came out, & is the 3rd time in 3 trips (2015, 16 & now - summer 2017, of course, was a write-off as i was having my stomach sliced open & intestines removed). i had felt very unwell from the long run on 13th august, could not recover (had eaten part of a possibly rotting melon?), & was doubled up with pains in Zurich when i picked up a disbelieving Liz from the airport (getting to the airport was desperate ).

we tried 2 day outings as i seemed to improve, but after the 2nd (to 3300m) I relapsed badly & have been ill ever since. The trip is over bar some possible easy cragging in germany on the (premature) way home & Liz & I will never, ever, ever meet in the Alps again (her words). Ruining 3 trips in a row for her with my poor health - especially when i PROMISED her that this time i would be mega fit, acclimatised and ready (I was, until......), has proved a show stopper. (and Liz had to go through YEARS of my ME/CFS 1998-2003 when we were partners. She has had more than enough).

I had a superb 6 weeks' mountain fun and will do the same next year. Dolomites 5 days then Swiss O week in early august. But high glaciated Alpine stuff is now, surely - game over. I am simply not robust enough for it. Disbelievers (many non-runners) note: there is no necessary connection whatsoever between running fitness/ speed, and good health /robustness. I can run a 39 minute 10km one week, anchor a JK relay with a superfast leg split the next, but be crippled for weeks by a 6-7 hour partial glacial hike to 3000m+. Even if I have walked 15.7 miles over 7 hours on a hot day in the Black Mountains in big boots the previous month in training. Fact.

Yet I was 100% fine within 2-3 days of running 3hrs 10 mins on the OMM alps map. And fine after easily climbing the Marmolada 3342m (highest peak in Dolomites) , part via ferrata, part glacier, solo, well over a month ago. Just too hard to predict.....

#sad
#ex-Alpinist

Currently somewhere in Austria (at a random campsite - Hollersbach - that is closed - i recommend staying at closed campsites , especially when they have free WiFi! :)

https://www.strava.com/activities/1780792409
previous day was fun: https://www.strava.com/activities/1778525710

C • Unlucky 2

Tomorrow I go to the Oetzal alps with Liz for the final 3 weeks of my trip.
Hope to get some good summits in, & hopefully some glacier/snow stuff, too, as i've done very little (crampons used just twice!!!!). main initial objective is Wildspitze, 3770m, highest in Tirol. That would be fab!

Inner knee from Gower will have to be addressed in early sept. Am still hopeful it will have resolved by then. who knows.

Oh, i weigh about 67 kg...... ha ha! and can go up & down 1500m in a day on the hill, no problem. Never been so hill fit.

I've been in the Gstaad area of Switzerland at my sister's place.
Mega bonk run halfway up a mountain.
inner knee (from Gower 2 months ago) STILL sore.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1769550023

C • mad 4