I haven’t had the best luck with six-day races in the last few years. In 2022 Covid messed up my training for Kauhajoki, but to my surprise I still managed a more than decent distance (393 miles). In 2023 I went into Six days in the Dome fit and uninjured, with lofty goals. However 3 and a bit days and 200ish miles in I had to stop due to a badly swollen lower right leg that wouldn’t bend at the ankle, plus a hacking cough that was stopping me sleeping and making me puke. In 2024 a flight cancellation stopped me getting to the start of the Viadal 6 day, but saved me from digging deeper into the chronic fatigue hole I’d not yet realised I was in.

I spent the Autumn and Winter walking and then cycling, as anything that made my heart rate go above 160 bpm wiped me out for days. By Spring 2025 multi-vitamins and HRT (plus being more careful about not overdoing things at work) had sorted out my energy issues. I entered the Viadal 6 day in August again, and got back to running. The first short run was slow, but otherwise no cause for concern, until the next day when my right lower leg was very sore. The pain faded over a couple of days, and I was able to go ahead with a short backpacking trip on the 2nd half of the Dales High Way that weekend.

Sunset and sunrise on the Dale High Way (separated by a chilly night in an ice encrusted tent)

The pattern of ‘fine when running, sore for a few days afterwards’ continued for the next few months, but overall things seemed to be going in the right direction. The short runs got a bit less slow, slower than they used to be, but at a level I could live with (and attribute to aging). I built up the weekend long walks and run-walk-jogs to the level I’ve been managing for the last few years. Somewhere along the way the niggle evolved into being a constant ache which eased off after a mile or so of moving.

In late May I did the Long Distance Walkers Association 100, as part of a long-term goal to finish 10 of their 100s before I turn 60. Given the goal was just to finish, I decided to copy my 2022 post-covid LDWA100 strategy: walk the first ~30 miles and then shuffle the flat-ish bits after that. My legs were initially achy, but they eased off by the end of the day. I finished comfortably in under 32 hours, which I was fairly happy with. I was behind some walkers, but ahead of some people who’d run from the start.

I recovered fairly quickly, and eased back into training. However things went badly wrong in late June, a few minutes into a short treadmill run. The initial aches eased off as usual, but after a minute of running normally my gait became awkward, and then my right leg suddenly ‘went’ and I came to an abrupt stop. My right leg wouldn’t weight bare while bent at all. I had to drag myself (literally) up the stairs to bed. In the midst of a sleepless night where I mentally cancelled all my running and hiking plans for the foreseeable future, I booked the next available appointment with a physio I’d been recommended for foot and leg issues.

The next day I could only walk with trekking poles, and had to take stairs ‘two feet per step’. Things initially improved quite rapidly. After a couple of days I ditched the poles and within a week I was doing day-to-day stuff fairly normally, but walking was somewhat slow and uncomfortable. The physio diagnosed me with a weak ankle (one of the joys of hypermobility…) placing strain on my tibialis anterior, and dispatched me with some exercises.

Over the next few weeks I got back to walking long-ish distances at a reasonable pace (about 20 seconds per mile slower than my usual sustainable long distance walk). The original injury didn’t ache too much, but I developed various other aches (most significantly my lower back), presumably from compensating for the injury. I tried jogging on a couple of occasions, but it felt awkward and my leg was sore the next day, so I gave up on getting back to running.

My plan is to go to Viadal, walk the first day and see how things go. The best case scenario is that my multi-day shuffle still works and I can rack up a not-too-embarassing distance while trying out some potential fixes to issues: baggy shorts to avoid chafing, new sources of calories for when I’m feeling sick on days 2-3, and a coil to stop heavy bleeding (more about this in ‘the period bit at the end’). Anything over 100 miles will be an ‘over 50 distance PB’, so that’s a very low initial target to aim for. Unfortunately my brain can only get my body to do my multiday shuffle after 24+ hours of runing or walking, so I don’t know how much it will be affected by the injury. In 2019 I managed to shuffle my way through the EMU 6 day without running more than 3 miles in one go beforehand, so it’s not impossible that it’ll be OK. However it’s very possible that the compensation niggles, in particular the lower back, will grind me to a halt. All I can do is play the cards I’m dealt (and pack lots of books in case my ‘race’ comes to an early end).

I’m not as miserable about my ‘400 miles in six day’ plans getting derailed yet again as I would usually be, as I’ve already got one eye on 2026 and a very different adventure. Various things (including a Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship) have aligned so that I can fulfill a long-term dream and enter a multi-day Arctic race (the 500k Lapland Arctic Ultra). I did the Rovaniemi 150 in 2020, but a multi-day race is a very different challenge, and something I’m really looking forward to.

The period bit at the end

With heavy, painful periods having become a significant issue in everyday life as well as during multiday races, I decided to get a coil fitted. When a menopause specialist initially suggested this I was reluctant as I’d had a painful, failed attempt at getting one fitted by my GP in my 20s (apparently my womb/cervix points in a funny direction). However I was sufficiently desperate to give it another go, and hopeful that getting it fitted by a specialist at a sexual health clinic would go better. It was still painful and not straight-foward (the nurse said she ‘could see your GP meant') but eventually it went in and stayed in. Since then my periods have been extremely light, and less painful, so fingers crossed the coil will also resolve the ‘heavy period arrives early during multiday race’ issue.