Marathon Training in Storm Ciara
The UK was recently hit by “The storm of the century”, Storm Ciara. Widespread flooding and damage was inflicted as 90mph winds and torrential rain lashed the country. It was certainly the worst storm I can remember seeing here in the UK, and the images on the news and social media seemed to confirm this. The destruction was significant and my heart went out to those who suffered serious damage to their houses.
I hadn’t really taken into account how severe Ciara was going to be. It was Sunday and as I had a marathon coming up in a few weeks, my long run was in the diary. I wasn’t really put off by the storm and had assumed that it would be a little bit windy and rainy. I was very, very wrong.
I prepared for my run by filling my water bladder and stuffing it into my running pack. I planned to run for around 3 - 4 hours and be back in time for a Sunday roast. “Perfect”, I thought to myself. As I left the house, the rain had just started and I tried to remember the classic quote “If it ain’t raining, it ain’t training”. I ran for a while before reaching the top of Cleeve Hill, just outside Cheltenham. It can get pretty windy up there as it’s a massive plateau 300 meters above sea level. Pretty windy was an understatement. It was insane! I had to battle hard to stay upright and the wind was relentless. I couldn’t hear myself think and it felt like my soul was being blasted out of my body. I’ve never experienced anything like it.
I managed to fight through this and descended off the top to a slightly more sheltered section of the trail route I had panned. After a while, things started to look bad… I’d been running for well over an hour and the storm was picking up. The wooded sections were becoming dangerous to run in and the loud crack of a falling branch a few meters away from me confirmed that it was a pretty stupid time to be outside and running.
I decided to cut my run short and loop back for an early roast. I was still a good 40 minutes from the end of the route and as the storm picked up, my location in the middle of the hilly countryside suddenly felt quite exposed. The falling branch had spooked me and I could feel that uncomfortable feeling of panic on the horizon. It was like a horrible presence, waiting to dig in and take advantage of the situation.
The crux of the run came as I had to return along the hilltops before descending into Cheltenham. The storm had picked up and the wind was unbelievable. It was so powerful and unrelenting that I could barely stand up. It was also hard to breathe. I could feel the panic building in my chest as I knew this would be really tough. I had to cover about 2 miles in these conditions before I could come off the exposed section of the run. My mind was racing and I could feel negativity creeping in. I wanted to lie down to escape the wind. It honestly felt like I might be blown away and I was scared. This run was a stupid idea, no doubt. I fought back against this internal voice and pressed on.
I finally made it off the hilltops and began the descent and the return to safety. I couldn’t think clearly and I felt battered by the storm. When I finally got back, I was so relieved. It felt like such a stupid situation to put myself in, but at least I got to practise a lot of the philosophy and ideas I had been studying. Stoicism was helpful here as I tried to reason with myself about what had happened. The important thing was how I reacted to the event. I managed to control my inner negative voice telling me to go and hide behind a wall. This was important because this type of negativity was not helping me. I needed to get on with it and complete the run. 14 and a bit miles later, I was shattered. Not just physically, but mentally. It was an insane challenge and will make me consider running in storms again. Having said that, the following weekend the UK was battered by another storm. This time it was Storm Dennis. And guess what, I went out in Dennis. Granted, it wasn’t as bad as Ciara but it was still a storm. Is this a new type of running? Forget Trail running and Sky running, what about storm running? Guaranteed to challenge you, this type of running isn’t for the faint hearted. Well, let’s see if it catches on. Probably not!
I learnt a lot from running in Chiara. I had to fight hard to not be overrun with panic and this was a great test for me. Looking for the lesson from this experience has been very valuable.
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass... It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”