Well, it's been a hell of a few weeks. First the Cardington Cracker, left nothing out on the course there, totally spent. A week later, the Turkey Trot. Nipped 3 minutes off my pb there, again, didn't finish with much in the tank. This'll become relevant later.
Saturday 14th. Headed up to The Endurance Coach for a VO2 max session on the treadmill. I was just expecting the usual "run on the treadmill until you can run no more", but it has changed slightly. Unfortunately. So there's the usual warm-up. Next up is a standing jump. My wife tells me this measures leg power. Next up, the standard run until failure. Or, in my case, run until my elbows go tingly - usually a sign that I'm going to fall over and my arms won't support me.
Generously, there is a small break. Then, the incline gets cranked to max (15%), speed goes up to 10k pace, and they time how long it takes you to fail. Again.
Felt extremely light headed after this session, so I went into the Endurance Store for a coffee and a chat with Richard Bardon until I felt normal enough to drive home. Stats remained mostly the same, I lasted a minute longer or so though. 16 week plan to smash the Highland Fling to follow, starts on the 6th of January. Can't wait.
Saturday 21st December: the Tour de Helvellyn. As I have mentioned before, there were a lot of fast runners entered into this, so I was looking forward to seeing how I stood with them, although Marcus Scotney was a DNS and Andy Mouncey was taking easy.
The weather I can only describe as "interesting". 70+mph winds, some rain, some surface flooding. And it was a headwind the whole way out.
So, I was feeling good as I set out at 8:15am. That good feeling lasted for about 6 miles when I realised that a) I had somehow stopped my Garmin just as I had started it, and b) I couldn't get any real speed up. I came to terms with that briefly, until Andrew Higgins caught up with me. We had a chat, and I kept with him until nearly Sticks Pass where he disappeared into the distance. At some point Ed Catmur trotted past me, and Anthony Bethell passed me just before Grizedale Tarn.
I just kept trotting along, feeling great but unable to race. On the climb out of Howtown I noticed a funny white thing poking out the side of my shoe. Great, shoes dying. At the top of the climb, I must have caught it on something, as the whole Dynamic Fascia Band thing twisted sideways, so I had to stop and remove it. At this point Tracy Dean caught up with me, and then I had to shift along a bit to keep up with her, as she knew the way back and I didn't!
I finished in 7:24, in 21st place. Disappointed with both the time and the result, but still very happy with how well my legs fared, and that I can happily suck back TORQ gels for 7.5 hours with no stomach issues. Looking back over the previous 3 weekends, I can see why I was flat for the run.
Thanks TORQ for fuelling my run, sorry it was a bit pants!
Today (Friday 27th December) The Notts AC Xmas Relays. Teams of 4, 2.4 mile course. I hate short runs. Got round in 14:24, legs felt a bit flat, unsurprisingly. Our "A" team came 2nd, then team I was in 18th. My eldest daughter, however, was truly awesome, doing the 2km fun run in 21:22, and running the entire way! Not bad for a 3 year old...
Friday 27 December 2013
Friday 13 December 2013
A fell race, and a road half marathon.
I should do this more often really.
On the 1st of December, myself and club-mate Kieran travelled down to Cardington, Shropshire, to run in the Cardington Cracker, a 9 mile, 2600ft fell race. For once, it wasn't either 2 feet deep in snow, or covered in sheet ice. My best time previously was 1:31, and somewhere around 30th, and I had heard that it was the final counting race for Mercia's championship, so I wasn't hopeful. Also, couldn't let Kieran beat me!
Managed, for once, to get a good start and not get baulked up the first incline, with Kieran just in front. A short sharp climb, a small descent then it's straight up the side of the Lawley. Damn near vertical, so lucky it's not that big! Somehow kept close to Kieran (he's pretty epic up the side of a hill), then it's a lovely descent, where I nipped past him. A slog over couple of fields, then up the side of Caer Caradoc. Not as steep as Lawley, but goes on a bit longer. Kieran in front again, but not getting away (Amazing how, out of the 200 people there, the only one I was really focused on beating was my club-mate...). Down the ridge, then down the side (bloody steep), vaulted a fence (thankfully nailed it as there were witnesses), to the stream, across then a looooooong runnable climb. Or at least, should have been runnable. This is where I lost any hope of getting in the top 10. Downed a TORQ gel, but still had to walk most of it (although did pass someone who was "running" up it).
Down a road/bridleway thing then up Hope Bowdler hill, towards Willstone Hill. It's undulating along the top, and hard work. Spotted Simon White from TORQ on the top. Vaulted another stile on a descent to keep close to Kieran, then passed him on the steep downhill from Willstones. Tried to push it up the other side, but my quads weren't willing. Pushed it all the way along the top, then down the final fields to the finish.
Managed to get in front with 2 fields to go (superior stile technique), and managed to hold it over the line. 12th place, in 1:24:43. Kieran in 13th place, 1:24:45. Extremely happy with the time, and my performance up most of the hills. Definitely wouldn't have achieved the time or place if I wasn't racing with Kieran, top10 next year!
The 8th of December was my yearly road half marathon, the Keyworth Turkey Trot. I quite like it, it's scenic, not flat, and The Derby Runner do a stall there that I make my yearly road shoe purchase (this time, Mizuno Ronin 5, £30, stoked). Had no idea what was going to happen in this race, as my last real road race was back in February, where I achieved a 5 mile pb. I made no targets, no goals, just to run. I stuck with that until I saw a pack of 3 Long Eaton runners in front, a couple of which had been lording it over me for Notts AAA Summer League whilst I was feeling "off". Sensible thoughts out, race on.
By the time mile 3, and the "hill of doom" had passed, we were down to a group of 3 - Mark Boot, from Long Eaton, and the eventual V45 1st place (10th or 11th overall). We stuck together until mile 10, where Mark fell off the back of me,and I fell off the back of the other bloke (also, at this point recorded my fastest ever 10 mile time of just over 1 hour!). Overtook 2 more runners between there and the finish, crossing the line in 1:19:54, cracking the 80 minute barrier and coming in 13th out of 850 or so. Also, only 5 minutes behind 1st place.
Almost makes me want to do a flat one, just to see how fast I could go.
Mondays sports massage, however put me off - the most painful ever. Even after 40 miles, my legs feel loads better than after 13 on the road.
Things up and coming. I have a VO2 max test tomorrow (Saturday 14th), with a 16 week training plan to follow to get me sorted for the Highland Fling. A week on Saturday, (21st) I have the Tour de Helvellyn. That's going to hurt, as I'm up against nearly the who's who of British Ultra-running. Ed Catmur, Marcus Scotney, Steve Birkinshaw, Forest Bethell, Andy Mouncey. It's going to be hell just to get into the top 10!
On the 1st of December, myself and club-mate Kieran travelled down to Cardington, Shropshire, to run in the Cardington Cracker, a 9 mile, 2600ft fell race. For once, it wasn't either 2 feet deep in snow, or covered in sheet ice. My best time previously was 1:31, and somewhere around 30th, and I had heard that it was the final counting race for Mercia's championship, so I wasn't hopeful. Also, couldn't let Kieran beat me!
Managed, for once, to get a good start and not get baulked up the first incline, with Kieran just in front. A short sharp climb, a small descent then it's straight up the side of the Lawley. Damn near vertical, so lucky it's not that big! Somehow kept close to Kieran (he's pretty epic up the side of a hill), then it's a lovely descent, where I nipped past him. A slog over couple of fields, then up the side of Caer Caradoc. Not as steep as Lawley, but goes on a bit longer. Kieran in front again, but not getting away (Amazing how, out of the 200 people there, the only one I was really focused on beating was my club-mate...). Down the ridge, then down the side (bloody steep), vaulted a fence (thankfully nailed it as there were witnesses), to the stream, across then a looooooong runnable climb. Or at least, should have been runnable. This is where I lost any hope of getting in the top 10. Downed a TORQ gel, but still had to walk most of it (although did pass someone who was "running" up it).
Down a road/bridleway thing then up Hope Bowdler hill, towards Willstone Hill. It's undulating along the top, and hard work. Spotted Simon White from TORQ on the top. Vaulted another stile on a descent to keep close to Kieran, then passed him on the steep downhill from Willstones. Tried to push it up the other side, but my quads weren't willing. Pushed it all the way along the top, then down the final fields to the finish.
Managed to get in front with 2 fields to go (superior stile technique), and managed to hold it over the line. 12th place, in 1:24:43. Kieran in 13th place, 1:24:45. Extremely happy with the time, and my performance up most of the hills. Definitely wouldn't have achieved the time or place if I wasn't racing with Kieran, top10 next year!
The 8th of December was my yearly road half marathon, the Keyworth Turkey Trot. I quite like it, it's scenic, not flat, and The Derby Runner do a stall there that I make my yearly road shoe purchase (this time, Mizuno Ronin 5, £30, stoked). Had no idea what was going to happen in this race, as my last real road race was back in February, where I achieved a 5 mile pb. I made no targets, no goals, just to run. I stuck with that until I saw a pack of 3 Long Eaton runners in front, a couple of which had been lording it over me for Notts AAA Summer League whilst I was feeling "off". Sensible thoughts out, race on.
By the time mile 3, and the "hill of doom" had passed, we were down to a group of 3 - Mark Boot, from Long Eaton, and the eventual V45 1st place (10th or 11th overall). We stuck together until mile 10, where Mark fell off the back of me,and I fell off the back of the other bloke (also, at this point recorded my fastest ever 10 mile time of just over 1 hour!). Overtook 2 more runners between there and the finish, crossing the line in 1:19:54, cracking the 80 minute barrier and coming in 13th out of 850 or so. Also, only 5 minutes behind 1st place.
Almost makes me want to do a flat one, just to see how fast I could go.
Mondays sports massage, however put me off - the most painful ever. Even after 40 miles, my legs feel loads better than after 13 on the road.
Things up and coming. I have a VO2 max test tomorrow (Saturday 14th), with a 16 week training plan to follow to get me sorted for the Highland Fling. A week on Saturday, (21st) I have the Tour de Helvellyn. That's going to hurt, as I'm up against nearly the who's who of British Ultra-running. Ed Catmur, Marcus Scotney, Steve Birkinshaw, Forest Bethell, Andy Mouncey. It's going to be hell just to get into the top 10!
Sunday 24 November 2013
2 race reports for the price of one!
It's been a while since I last had time to do this, and I've raced a couple of times in that time. So here's the reports, of both of them.
The Montane Rivington Ultra Trail 26.
Hell of a mouthful that name, also slightly misleading. It's more like 27.5 - not an issue, except for when you're completely knackered and looking forward to mile 26, and you know you're nowhere near the finish line...
Headed up for this one a couple of weeks after the Fell Relays. Feeling loads better, but still not 100%, and 3/4 weeks disrupted training behind me it was always going to be hard. had a great drive up, 1.5 hours from home and arrived in plenty of time to get thoroughly chilled. Kept looking out for people I might know, but only found the usual suspects from Epic Events/The Endurance Store. After an entertaining warm-up, we were off. I figured the only way to do this was keep somewhere near the pointy end, and hang on until the others started dropping off.
Immediately into a long steady climb, followed by a long steady descent, I was in 3rd/4th running along with another bloke. Apologies for not talking, but I was well out of breath. After the long steady descent, another long steady climb, and then a shorter descent (smile for the photographer) and another quick pull up to the top of the moor. Once up, there was a long drag along a road Managed to drop the other guy and claim 3rd) to the other side of the moor, then down a great descent down towards Belmont. It was here that I gained the lead, the front 2 getting more lost than me (Marshal: Down the road, 1st left over cattle grid. Me: yep, run straight past until I see the front 2 coming towards me. Oops.) which I kept for at least a mile. Kept with them, for a bit, until the long slog into a massive headwind along Witton Weavers Way. Near the end of this, (was still in 2nd) the guy who had been drafting behind me trotted past, along with the eventual winner, moving far too quickly.
Up onto Darwen Moor, went through a bad patch here, lost ground massively to the front 3 and was getting slightly paranoid about Richard Bardon, who I knew couldn't be too far behind. Fiddled around the moor, then down into the 2nd CP, all flat(ish) running from here, and I started to perk up a bit. I perked up even more when I saw 3rd place just in front, looking like he was flagging. From there, just kept going and going, some really nice running, some really muddy footpaths, and a really strange bloke with no shoes on. Weird.
Cranked through 26.2 in 3:36 (Hanging for the finish) and finished in 3:46 in 3rd place. Tougher than I expected, with every weather condition (except for snow). Well organised, will be at the Grizedale in Feb (although I hear a rumour it has...loops...ew.)
Hope Moors and Tors.
Back to a fell race, possibly the 2nd or 3rd this year. Too much focus on the Lakeland 100 meant I only got in the Old County Tops, and Helvellyn and the Dodds fell races this year - nothing like usual. I was quietly confident going into this, not recognising any of the names on the list. Then I saw Forest Bethell. Damn, was going to have to run hard for this. I also didn't recognise Kristian Jones or Konrad Rawlik. Silly me - Kris is a stupidly fast fell-runner (3 or 4 seconds slower than Simon Bailey at the relays) and Konrad is a top level ultra runner.
So, only knowing Forest, and him with protestations of ill health, poor training, etc etc I thought I should probably start hard, try and drop them and then hopefully pull off a win. Heh.
The fast start worked well, was in the lead for the first 2 miles or so, until Kris cruised by, up Cave Dale. Then Forest trotted past (an awesome climber), along with Konrad. From there it was between me, Konrad and Forest, Kris taking off into the distance. Pushed hard to the first CP, grabbed some water then off, swapping position regularly, up round the back of Mam Tor, then a lovely long descent to Hollins Cross. I managed to get the jump on Konrad and Forest by hurdling a fence, which gained me all of about 10 metres, which meant I could relax a bit on the down and save my quads.
Konrad caught me up by Edale, and got to the compulsory compass/whistle check first, and gained about 20 metres on me from there. On the long drag up Grindsbrook, both he and Forest left me behind , both being so much stronger on the climb. Along the edge of the Kinder Plateau was very boring, what with only being able to see about 10m in every direction. Managed to keep on the path (mostly - there were some pretty interesting accounts of people being literally everywhere on the plateau) and then down to Hope Cross. I spotted Konrad and Forest heading up the other side of Jaggers Clough, which gave me a boost, and set out to catch them.
At the Edale YHA CP I was told the guy in 3rd (Konrad) was flagging, and I caught him on the road down to the Backtor farm driveway. he had taken a bi of a tumble early, and was hurting a bit. Caught sight of Forest heading up towards Hollins Cross, but gave up catching him as a bad job, as he was actually running the climb - something I was never going to be able to do. I forgot about him, and focused on getting in under 3 hours. It's a long drag up to Hollins Cross, and then another long drag to Lose Hill, but i got there, still in 3rd, then the great descent off down into Hope. Not quite so keen on the roadrun afterwards, but I managed to get through it, onto the next field, then take the wrong turn! Fiddled my way through a housing estate, back on the path then into the finish. Slightly over at 3:02, but managed to knock 4 minutes off last year, even if I was one place worse!
Great run by Kris (2:48) and Forest (2:55). Next year....
As ever, thanks to TORQ for fuelling my races - definitely kept me going near the end of both races!
The Montane Rivington Ultra Trail 26.
Hell of a mouthful that name, also slightly misleading. It's more like 27.5 - not an issue, except for when you're completely knackered and looking forward to mile 26, and you know you're nowhere near the finish line...
Headed up for this one a couple of weeks after the Fell Relays. Feeling loads better, but still not 100%, and 3/4 weeks disrupted training behind me it was always going to be hard. had a great drive up, 1.5 hours from home and arrived in plenty of time to get thoroughly chilled. Kept looking out for people I might know, but only found the usual suspects from Epic Events/The Endurance Store. After an entertaining warm-up, we were off. I figured the only way to do this was keep somewhere near the pointy end, and hang on until the others started dropping off.
Immediately into a long steady climb, followed by a long steady descent, I was in 3rd/4th running along with another bloke. Apologies for not talking, but I was well out of breath. After the long steady descent, another long steady climb, and then a shorter descent (smile for the photographer) and another quick pull up to the top of the moor. Once up, there was a long drag along a road Managed to drop the other guy and claim 3rd) to the other side of the moor, then down a great descent down towards Belmont. It was here that I gained the lead, the front 2 getting more lost than me (Marshal: Down the road, 1st left over cattle grid. Me: yep, run straight past until I see the front 2 coming towards me. Oops.) which I kept for at least a mile. Kept with them, for a bit, until the long slog into a massive headwind along Witton Weavers Way. Near the end of this, (was still in 2nd) the guy who had been drafting behind me trotted past, along with the eventual winner, moving far too quickly.
Up onto Darwen Moor, went through a bad patch here, lost ground massively to the front 3 and was getting slightly paranoid about Richard Bardon, who I knew couldn't be too far behind. Fiddled around the moor, then down into the 2nd CP, all flat(ish) running from here, and I started to perk up a bit. I perked up even more when I saw 3rd place just in front, looking like he was flagging. From there, just kept going and going, some really nice running, some really muddy footpaths, and a really strange bloke with no shoes on. Weird.
Cranked through 26.2 in 3:36 (Hanging for the finish) and finished in 3:46 in 3rd place. Tougher than I expected, with every weather condition (except for snow). Well organised, will be at the Grizedale in Feb (although I hear a rumour it has...loops...ew.)
Hope Moors and Tors.
Back to a fell race, possibly the 2nd or 3rd this year. Too much focus on the Lakeland 100 meant I only got in the Old County Tops, and Helvellyn and the Dodds fell races this year - nothing like usual. I was quietly confident going into this, not recognising any of the names on the list. Then I saw Forest Bethell. Damn, was going to have to run hard for this. I also didn't recognise Kristian Jones or Konrad Rawlik. Silly me - Kris is a stupidly fast fell-runner (3 or 4 seconds slower than Simon Bailey at the relays) and Konrad is a top level ultra runner.
So, only knowing Forest, and him with protestations of ill health, poor training, etc etc I thought I should probably start hard, try and drop them and then hopefully pull off a win. Heh.
The fast start worked well, was in the lead for the first 2 miles or so, until Kris cruised by, up Cave Dale. Then Forest trotted past (an awesome climber), along with Konrad. From there it was between me, Konrad and Forest, Kris taking off into the distance. Pushed hard to the first CP, grabbed some water then off, swapping position regularly, up round the back of Mam Tor, then a lovely long descent to Hollins Cross. I managed to get the jump on Konrad and Forest by hurdling a fence, which gained me all of about 10 metres, which meant I could relax a bit on the down and save my quads.
Konrad caught me up by Edale, and got to the compulsory compass/whistle check first, and gained about 20 metres on me from there. On the long drag up Grindsbrook, both he and Forest left me behind , both being so much stronger on the climb. Along the edge of the Kinder Plateau was very boring, what with only being able to see about 10m in every direction. Managed to keep on the path (mostly - there were some pretty interesting accounts of people being literally everywhere on the plateau) and then down to Hope Cross. I spotted Konrad and Forest heading up the other side of Jaggers Clough, which gave me a boost, and set out to catch them.
At the Edale YHA CP I was told the guy in 3rd (Konrad) was flagging, and I caught him on the road down to the Backtor farm driveway. he had taken a bi of a tumble early, and was hurting a bit. Caught sight of Forest heading up towards Hollins Cross, but gave up catching him as a bad job, as he was actually running the climb - something I was never going to be able to do. I forgot about him, and focused on getting in under 3 hours. It's a long drag up to Hollins Cross, and then another long drag to Lose Hill, but i got there, still in 3rd, then the great descent off down into Hope. Not quite so keen on the roadrun afterwards, but I managed to get through it, onto the next field, then take the wrong turn! Fiddled my way through a housing estate, back on the path then into the finish. Slightly over at 3:02, but managed to knock 4 minutes off last year, even if I was one place worse!
Great run by Kris (2:48) and Forest (2:55). Next year....
As ever, thanks to TORQ for fuelling my races - definitely kept me going near the end of both races!
Monday 21 October 2013
Man-Flu, and the FRA Relays
In the way that these things always happen, the weekend before the relays I started coming down with man-flu. So for once, I was sensible. I rested. Went for an easy run with the club on Wednesday night, nothing else until the Sunday. Apart from parent's evening on Thursday night. Finished up at school at 7:30pm, feeling a bit tired but ok. Friday lunchtime, crashed. Complete body shutdown. Made it through to the end of the day, home, then early night.
At this stage, feeling the way I was, it was going to be no relays for me. Especially no 2nd leg (the longest, paired leg) with Pete Hodkinson, an U23 GB orienteer.
Saturday. Slept like a sleepy thing. Woke feeling a bit rough, but semi-human. I was going. First leg, solo, but still going. Spent a lovely day at the fair with the family, kids in bed then hit the road at 7pm. Made it to Llanberis for 10:30 (with some quality nav from Tom), then to the Chamois Mountain hut for 11pm. Got a little lost, had to be directed in by phone and Pete's google earth. Cup of tea, chat, bed for midnight. Sleep quite some time later, after hacking up half a lung.
Up at 7:30am or so, breakfast, coffee, then getting ready. Left a little early, which was lucky as there was a decent queue into the car park. Took some more flu-pills. Coughed some more. Saw Chris Baynham-Hughes briefly, then off up to the event centre. It was busy. Found our tent, got myself sorted, then tried to get myself excited for 5 miles of what should have been awesome running, but instead something more akin to hell. Complete downpour whilst we were herded into the starter pen, which thankfully stopped just after the race briefing. Then, off down to the start.
You know it's going to be a bad run when you're struggling on the way DOWN at a steady jog to the start area. Anyway, thinking happy thoughts. Bang. Off. As with nearly every race start in history, I'm stood too far back. After a bit of dodging, into some free space and I can open up. Hah! Having said that, as soon as it starts getting steep, I do start to claim places back - a testament to the level of fitness I had achieved in preparation to keep up with speedy Pete. The ground levels out slightly, but cant get enough air into my lungs to make my legs run, so power-hiking, run the flats, power-hike the hilly bits. After forever, reach the top.
Downhill. My favourite part. It was a fast descent, quality running but still couldn't quite get enough air in the engine to push down the hill, having to coast instead. After a very steep grassy section, I hit the road, and worked hard to maintain pace and place. Reached the final incline up the road, got a rush of blood and pushed hard. Too hard. Faded miserably up the top and let a few back past, and staggered in to the finish, 58th overall in 43:something.
The next 45 minutes were a blur of coughing, hacking, coughing, hacking some more, the best bacon cob I have ever had, along with the best post-race soup, more coughing, with a bit more hacking to mix it up. Then, the 3 hour drive back home.
Went to the Doc's today, am on penicillin and complete rest. Interestingly, the Doc took my heart-rate. "56? You said it was high. this is normal.", me: "No, 38-40 is normal."
Lucky my next race is only 26 miles, and it's 2 weeks away.
Also, Pete, the guy I was supposed to run with, ended up doing 4th leg. He also got 3rd fastest time. He was also only 45 seconds slower than Simon Bailey. Pretty pleased I wasn't with him!
Some explanations: The Fell Relays are the fell running event of the year. Held mid-October every year, it pits club against club, each show-casing the best of their talent. There are 6 runners per team, and 4 legs to run. The first leg is traditionally the shortest leg, is run solo, and is fully marked. The second is the longest, run in pairs and also marked. Third is the Navigation leg. It is run in pairs, and is unmarked and not as long as leg 2. Unless you get lost. The last is also a solo leg, and of a distance between leg 1 and leg 2. The winning team is the one with the lowest overall time.
Our "A" team was 36th, our best ever, and our "B" was 70th. Also our best ever. Top 20 next year. Might also get the flu-jab.
Sleep now.
At this stage, feeling the way I was, it was going to be no relays for me. Especially no 2nd leg (the longest, paired leg) with Pete Hodkinson, an U23 GB orienteer.
Saturday. Slept like a sleepy thing. Woke feeling a bit rough, but semi-human. I was going. First leg, solo, but still going. Spent a lovely day at the fair with the family, kids in bed then hit the road at 7pm. Made it to Llanberis for 10:30 (with some quality nav from Tom), then to the Chamois Mountain hut for 11pm. Got a little lost, had to be directed in by phone and Pete's google earth. Cup of tea, chat, bed for midnight. Sleep quite some time later, after hacking up half a lung.
Up at 7:30am or so, breakfast, coffee, then getting ready. Left a little early, which was lucky as there was a decent queue into the car park. Took some more flu-pills. Coughed some more. Saw Chris Baynham-Hughes briefly, then off up to the event centre. It was busy. Found our tent, got myself sorted, then tried to get myself excited for 5 miles of what should have been awesome running, but instead something more akin to hell. Complete downpour whilst we were herded into the starter pen, which thankfully stopped just after the race briefing. Then, off down to the start.
You know it's going to be a bad run when you're struggling on the way DOWN at a steady jog to the start area. Anyway, thinking happy thoughts. Bang. Off. As with nearly every race start in history, I'm stood too far back. After a bit of dodging, into some free space and I can open up. Hah! Having said that, as soon as it starts getting steep, I do start to claim places back - a testament to the level of fitness I had achieved in preparation to keep up with speedy Pete. The ground levels out slightly, but cant get enough air into my lungs to make my legs run, so power-hiking, run the flats, power-hike the hilly bits. After forever, reach the top.
Downhill. My favourite part. It was a fast descent, quality running but still couldn't quite get enough air in the engine to push down the hill, having to coast instead. After a very steep grassy section, I hit the road, and worked hard to maintain pace and place. Reached the final incline up the road, got a rush of blood and pushed hard. Too hard. Faded miserably up the top and let a few back past, and staggered in to the finish, 58th overall in 43:something.
The next 45 minutes were a blur of coughing, hacking, coughing, hacking some more, the best bacon cob I have ever had, along with the best post-race soup, more coughing, with a bit more hacking to mix it up. Then, the 3 hour drive back home.
Went to the Doc's today, am on penicillin and complete rest. Interestingly, the Doc took my heart-rate. "56? You said it was high. this is normal.", me: "No, 38-40 is normal."
Lucky my next race is only 26 miles, and it's 2 weeks away.
Also, Pete, the guy I was supposed to run with, ended up doing 4th leg. He also got 3rd fastest time. He was also only 45 seconds slower than Simon Bailey. Pretty pleased I wasn't with him!
Some explanations: The Fell Relays are the fell running event of the year. Held mid-October every year, it pits club against club, each show-casing the best of their talent. There are 6 runners per team, and 4 legs to run. The first leg is traditionally the shortest leg, is run solo, and is fully marked. The second is the longest, run in pairs and also marked. Third is the Navigation leg. It is run in pairs, and is unmarked and not as long as leg 2. Unless you get lost. The last is also a solo leg, and of a distance between leg 1 and leg 2. The winning team is the one with the lowest overall time.
Our "A" team was 36th, our best ever, and our "B" was 70th. Also our best ever. Top 20 next year. Might also get the flu-jab.
Sleep now.
Tuesday 24 September 2013
Race Report - The High Peak 40
Well, the phrase "silk purse from a sows ear" fits this one nicely. Whilst getting everything ready for the HP40, I discovered that I had left my pack, with all of my kit in it, at the previous weekends race, the Nine Edges. Oops.
So Friday night was pretty much panicking, calling people to borrow maps, and packing a bumbag full of spare kit. Instead of 1 map for the whole lot, I had 2 maps, and had to use both sides of the 2 maps. This could get confusing. Also, not being a great believer of not testing something new on raceday, I had a new t-shirt (long sleeve Rab Aeon tee) and nutrition (TORQ gels).Fun times ahead.
Up early doors Saturday to get up to Buxton for registration (sorry Mel), then spent from 7:30 to 7:48 (race starts at 8, 10 minutes walk away...) in a bit of a panic marking up the maps (all 4 sides) as I had overheard someone say something about it not being marked well. Oh dear.
Made it to the start line ok, quick hi to fellow TORQ team member Tracy Dean, brief briefing (ha) and then we were off. There was the usual mad sprint, but I resisted, having figured that I was going to stick to a 7 min/mile on the flat strategy as it worked so well last weekend. Over a couple of lanes, then up slight incline and then stairs (walked - can't run 'em) then onto the old railway path. Managed a brief headcount in front of me, figured I was about 14th. By the time checkpoint 1 was reached, I was 13th, and had just downed my first gel. Interesting flavour, forest fruits, but had a massive caffeine kick. Great stuff. Off down the hill to follow the reservoirs, then up the Goyt River. Still keeping it steady at around 7/7:15 a mile, managed to reel in another couple of people, then up to the main road and checkpoint 2.
Through CP2 in seconds - a well oiled machine that checkpoint. Up a hill then down, then up Eccles Pike. I had made a decision not to fight the hills, to my effort steady but try and run them as much as possible. All the way up the hill, picked up another place, then down into the next CP. Just taking on water at the CP's, as I was taking gels not far before them and didn't need anything extra.
Around the back of Chapel-en-le-Frith, then under a railway bridge, quick turn left then right, then a long slog up to South Head. Managed to pick up another place, and set my eyes on a bloke in orange up ahead. I had my eyes on his back for quite some time. From South Head to Rushup Edge was a nice run, passing Charlie Sharpe on my way up Mam Tor. Finally caught up to the guy in orange (I think it was Phil Hayes) on my way into Castleton, but that was shortlived as he put a push on and got a bit of a gap on me. Closed up on him and Kevin Hoult, who was in 3rd (didn't know it at the time) by the top, but then Kevin had a good run down, and Phil was a little faster also across Bradwell Moor. In through the next CP, then down into Tideswell. Caught back up to Phil at the next CP, then passed him as we ran through the mud and he cramped up.
Down Monsall Dale, Phil was a steady 30 or so metres back, so once we were off the disused railway and down onto the river trail, I tried to gap him, and got a little ground on him over the undulations. Next up was Deep Dale. Not the most picturesque place in the world, but it was slightly uphill, and runnable. I pushed up here, as I knew Phil was slower up the hills than me, and I wanted to drop him. Happily, Kevin in 3rd was also having issues with his calves and running up hill, so by the time we reached the top I had caught him. Quick hello, blasted through the CP and I was off in 3rd. Briefly. Kevin caught up fairly quickly, so the next few miles I was pushing, trying to pretend I wasn't pushing. Managed to get a few metres by the end of the road section (it was the dreaded Flagg Lane section we were on, 3 miles of undulating road which, after 32 miles usually gives people a hard time. Barely noticed it.), but then there is Deep Dale 2 - a short, steep down and up just before the last CP.
Kevin at this stage was descending better than me, so he was a little too close for my liking. Nipped through the last CP fast as, then off through the field. I had about 50m on Kevin. Concerned. Had a bit of an argument with a gate (they tend to confuse me in the later stages) and was concerned even more. Saw the next few fields. They were slightly uphill. Now or never. Pushed hard. Dropped him. Steady run in (looking over shoulder) to take 3rd place, in 5:51. Duncan Harris won, in 5:26 (fast) and Stuart Walker in 2nd, 5:33 (Still fast). Tracy Dean took out the ladys race in 6:21.
Cup of tea while I recovered, quick photoshoot, then off for a nice warm shower. Actually, no. It was cold. I hate cold showers, with a passion. I squealed like a little girl. Dunno what Stu thinks of me now. "Yeah, not a bad runner, bit of a pansy though".
Had my first cheese and onion pie. Amazing.
Things that went well:
So Friday night was pretty much panicking, calling people to borrow maps, and packing a bumbag full of spare kit. Instead of 1 map for the whole lot, I had 2 maps, and had to use both sides of the 2 maps. This could get confusing. Also, not being a great believer of not testing something new on raceday, I had a new t-shirt (long sleeve Rab Aeon tee) and nutrition (TORQ gels).Fun times ahead.
Up early doors Saturday to get up to Buxton for registration (sorry Mel), then spent from 7:30 to 7:48 (race starts at 8, 10 minutes walk away...) in a bit of a panic marking up the maps (all 4 sides) as I had overheard someone say something about it not being marked well. Oh dear.
Made it to the start line ok, quick hi to fellow TORQ team member Tracy Dean, brief briefing (ha) and then we were off. There was the usual mad sprint, but I resisted, having figured that I was going to stick to a 7 min/mile on the flat strategy as it worked so well last weekend. Over a couple of lanes, then up slight incline and then stairs (walked - can't run 'em) then onto the old railway path. Managed a brief headcount in front of me, figured I was about 14th. By the time checkpoint 1 was reached, I was 13th, and had just downed my first gel. Interesting flavour, forest fruits, but had a massive caffeine kick. Great stuff. Off down the hill to follow the reservoirs, then up the Goyt River. Still keeping it steady at around 7/7:15 a mile, managed to reel in another couple of people, then up to the main road and checkpoint 2.
Through CP2 in seconds - a well oiled machine that checkpoint. Up a hill then down, then up Eccles Pike. I had made a decision not to fight the hills, to my effort steady but try and run them as much as possible. All the way up the hill, picked up another place, then down into the next CP. Just taking on water at the CP's, as I was taking gels not far before them and didn't need anything extra.
Around the back of Chapel-en-le-Frith, then under a railway bridge, quick turn left then right, then a long slog up to South Head. Managed to pick up another place, and set my eyes on a bloke in orange up ahead. I had my eyes on his back for quite some time. From South Head to Rushup Edge was a nice run, passing Charlie Sharpe on my way up Mam Tor. Finally caught up to the guy in orange (I think it was Phil Hayes) on my way into Castleton, but that was shortlived as he put a push on and got a bit of a gap on me. Closed up on him and Kevin Hoult, who was in 3rd (didn't know it at the time) by the top, but then Kevin had a good run down, and Phil was a little faster also across Bradwell Moor. In through the next CP, then down into Tideswell. Caught back up to Phil at the next CP, then passed him as we ran through the mud and he cramped up.
Down Monsall Dale, Phil was a steady 30 or so metres back, so once we were off the disused railway and down onto the river trail, I tried to gap him, and got a little ground on him over the undulations. Next up was Deep Dale. Not the most picturesque place in the world, but it was slightly uphill, and runnable. I pushed up here, as I knew Phil was slower up the hills than me, and I wanted to drop him. Happily, Kevin in 3rd was also having issues with his calves and running up hill, so by the time we reached the top I had caught him. Quick hello, blasted through the CP and I was off in 3rd. Briefly. Kevin caught up fairly quickly, so the next few miles I was pushing, trying to pretend I wasn't pushing. Managed to get a few metres by the end of the road section (it was the dreaded Flagg Lane section we were on, 3 miles of undulating road which, after 32 miles usually gives people a hard time. Barely noticed it.), but then there is Deep Dale 2 - a short, steep down and up just before the last CP.
Kevin at this stage was descending better than me, so he was a little too close for my liking. Nipped through the last CP fast as, then off through the field. I had about 50m on Kevin. Concerned. Had a bit of an argument with a gate (they tend to confuse me in the later stages) and was concerned even more. Saw the next few fields. They were slightly uphill. Now or never. Pushed hard. Dropped him. Steady run in (looking over shoulder) to take 3rd place, in 5:51. Duncan Harris won, in 5:26 (fast) and Stuart Walker in 2nd, 5:33 (Still fast). Tracy Dean took out the ladys race in 6:21.
Cup of tea while I recovered, quick photoshoot, then off for a nice warm shower. Actually, no. It was cold. I hate cold showers, with a passion. I squealed like a little girl. Dunno what Stu thinks of me now. "Yeah, not a bad runner, bit of a pansy though".
Had my first cheese and onion pie. Amazing.
Things that went well:
- TORQ gels. No flat spots, nice taste, no aftertaste.
- Fuelling - 1 gel, 30 minutes. Works for me.
- General pacing - didn't slow down much over the race. 2:47 for the first 20, 3:04 for the second.
- Cheese and onion pies.
Things I could do better
- Start faster. If I want to do better, I need to be closer to the front.
- Don't lose kit and force a panic. Dur.
- Slightly more vaseline.
Strava link:
Thanks to TORQ for fuelling my race!
Sunday 15 September 2013
Highs, and lows.
Well, hell of a couple of weeks. Massive low a couple of weeks back, when I got the news that my father was admitted to Greymouth hospital (it's pretty small). Managed a brief chat with him, but he was in a bit much pain to be chatty - all of his joints hurt. He was then flown over to Christchurch hospital (much bigger), put in ICU, hooked up to a ventilator and a shedload of pain relief and antibiotics. Turns out he had a Strep A infection, which had gotten into his blood (septicemia). He is still in a critical state, but slowly improving, but being literally the other side of the world has been hard.
Hot on the heels of this, was quite possibly the most exciting thing that has happened to me, in terms of running - an email asking me to join the Torq Performance Trail Team. The very first post on this blog was about my efforts in trying to get into another Torq Trail Team, which was unsuccessful, but am absolutely over the moon to be a part of the team, especially considering the talent that I will be joining.
So the past couple of weeks has definitely been a rollercoaster. Despite all of this, or maybe because of it, training has still gone on, and also the Nine Edges Endurance race, which I have started every year since 2009. It's 20 miles long, and a cracking course starting at Ladybower Reservoir, and finishing at the Robin Hood pub, just out of Baslow.
So I'm not sure exactly what I did on Wednesday night whilst I was sleeping, but I went to bed feeling great, with no niggles, then woke up Thursday morning with a sore ankle. How do you injure yourself in your sleep? So I took Thursday and Friday off running, ankle was better but still a bit sore, but it didn't feel like muscle or ligament damage, so I thought I'd trot around anyway.
!0:00am Saturday morning, off we went (after 10 minutes standing around getting chewed on by midges. I itch on every bit that was exposed.) with the usual amount of people charging off across the field, only to slow down massively on the first incline. It's a fairly good grunt from Ladybower up to the top of the hill, and I made my way up to 3rd place by the time we reached the top, then in to 2nd pretty soon after that. 1st place was not too far away (I thought), so I pushed on. The descent down into Moscar came fairly quickly, could still see 1st so I thought I'd time the gap - 3.5 minutes, after 5 and a bit miles. Ouch. I carried on, figuring he's come back further into the race. Besides, 3rd-6th weren't far behind me.
On this race, somehow, I always manage to get to stiles, gates, marshals at exactly the wrong time. It must have cost me a good 3 minutes or so waiting for them I digress. I carried on from Checkpoint 2, just after Moscar, doing my own thing, aiming to finish the race with under 8min/mile average, was running all of the hills and just generally feeling good. Surely I must be pulling 1st in...
So I got to Burbage Bridge, about 11 miles in. A mate from the club was there, and gave me the good news the bloke was now 7 minutes in front. I gave up worrying about catching him then, and just carried on doing my own thing.
Nothing particularly eventful happened between then and the finish, pace remained consistent the whole way and I finished the race feeling good - which has given me a massive confidence boost for next Saturday's High Peak 40, where I'm going to try and keep the same pace.
Strava link here, ended up 2nd. Free beer at the endwas amazing, think it was Sunbeam.
Hot on the heels of this, was quite possibly the most exciting thing that has happened to me, in terms of running - an email asking me to join the Torq Performance Trail Team. The very first post on this blog was about my efforts in trying to get into another Torq Trail Team, which was unsuccessful, but am absolutely over the moon to be a part of the team, especially considering the talent that I will be joining.
So the past couple of weeks has definitely been a rollercoaster. Despite all of this, or maybe because of it, training has still gone on, and also the Nine Edges Endurance race, which I have started every year since 2009. It's 20 miles long, and a cracking course starting at Ladybower Reservoir, and finishing at the Robin Hood pub, just out of Baslow.
So I'm not sure exactly what I did on Wednesday night whilst I was sleeping, but I went to bed feeling great, with no niggles, then woke up Thursday morning with a sore ankle. How do you injure yourself in your sleep? So I took Thursday and Friday off running, ankle was better but still a bit sore, but it didn't feel like muscle or ligament damage, so I thought I'd trot around anyway.
!0:00am Saturday morning, off we went (after 10 minutes standing around getting chewed on by midges. I itch on every bit that was exposed.) with the usual amount of people charging off across the field, only to slow down massively on the first incline. It's a fairly good grunt from Ladybower up to the top of the hill, and I made my way up to 3rd place by the time we reached the top, then in to 2nd pretty soon after that. 1st place was not too far away (I thought), so I pushed on. The descent down into Moscar came fairly quickly, could still see 1st so I thought I'd time the gap - 3.5 minutes, after 5 and a bit miles. Ouch. I carried on, figuring he's come back further into the race. Besides, 3rd-6th weren't far behind me.
On this race, somehow, I always manage to get to stiles, gates, marshals at exactly the wrong time. It must have cost me a good 3 minutes or so waiting for them I digress. I carried on from Checkpoint 2, just after Moscar, doing my own thing, aiming to finish the race with under 8min/mile average, was running all of the hills and just generally feeling good. Surely I must be pulling 1st in...
So I got to Burbage Bridge, about 11 miles in. A mate from the club was there, and gave me the good news the bloke was now 7 minutes in front. I gave up worrying about catching him then, and just carried on doing my own thing.
Nothing particularly eventful happened between then and the finish, pace remained consistent the whole way and I finished the race feeling good - which has given me a massive confidence boost for next Saturday's High Peak 40, where I'm going to try and keep the same pace.
Strava link here, ended up 2nd. Free beer at the endwas amazing, think it was Sunbeam.
Sunday 1 September 2013
Win! And other things!
It's been a while, so there's a few things going into this one. 2 races, and a bit about a holiday. Exciting stuff, but will start from the start...
Wednesday 14th August. Race 5 of our Summer League. Felt a bit rough going into this, and it showed. Averaged 6:04 a mile on a flattish course, struggled to get under 6 for most of it, and just felt flat. 36th place in 35:53. Moving on...
Went over to Lake Annecy in the French Alps for a Family Holiday, and met up with friends Mark and Debs Kerry. Had an absolutely fantastic time, did loads of things with family and kids without having to focus on working for my Maths Degree. Happy days. Discovered my eldest daughter has no fear whatsoever when it comes to climbing, or speed. Loved the luge. Didn't get to go to Chamonix, or the Raidlight HQ, but did get a morning pass out to go up a mountain, and handily, La Tournette was close by.
So, I departed from Verthier, at the Southern end of Lake Annecy, early Monday morning (about an hour later than planned as it was still dark!) on foot, starting altitude of ~440m. As I had left most of my kit behind, not really expecting to be doing anything like this I was wearing my 22l day pack, and only had 3 muesli bars and a banana for fuel (I did have a very nice baguette I made, but left it in the fridge at the campsite). Started to run up the hill, but that didn't last very long as it was a) early and b)steep. Still kept up a good pace, and started running when it flattened out again.Made it up to the Col de la Forclaz in 50 minutes, 700m climbed with another 1200m to go.
Next it was along past where the hordes of paragliders launch from, along through some forest to the Chateau de l'Aulp (or something similar). Along here was also a viewpoint. Said viewpoint was a rocky outcropping with a bit of a (massive) drop. About here I realised that my head for heights wasn't as good as it used to be, and had to have a bit of a sit down. The spinning gradually abated, I took some snaps, and retreated (carefully, 3 points of contact at all times) back to the path. Some good running from here took me to the Chateau. 1:35 done, still feeling good, 1st bar eaten.
Gets steep from here. Really steep. Hands on knees, going up steady, passing loads of people all with poles. I was the only person I saw the whole time without. Made it up to the Refuge de la Tournette,and ran past a French couple, the bloke on the phone exclaimed something along the lines of seeing Kilian Jornet. That made me run up the next bit until they couldn't see me. Thankfully, that wasn't far. Next up, after that brief, morale boosting respite, was more steep climb. Steep, muddy climb as well, still running anything that looked flattish. Finally approached the rocky top section, edging carefully past the massive drop to the left (head getting better with heights though) and finally getting to climb up bits with chains. Randomly, there was also a small lily patch at about 2000m. Crazy.
The top. Reached it in just over 3 hours, was really happy with that, head just about back to ok with heights and drops, took loads of photos and waited a bit to see if the clouds on the Mont Blanc side would clear. They did, a little, i took more photos but didn't spot it. Ate my banana, then started on the descent. It was fun. Nice little scree bit, down a nice ridge, full of goats, then down through some forest to a nice stream. Filled up my bottle, and myself, then spotted Mark and Debs coming up the other side. Had a quick chat, then carried on. About 200m later, had to stop as there was a large deer/goat thing in the middle of the path. It was incredibly unconcerned, so I took few photos and walked towards it. It waited until I was about 1m away, then ambled just off the path. I carried on. Down through more forest, and into Montmin. Then slightly up and along a road back to Col de la Forclaz, and a terrific descent back down to Verthier. Stopped the clock at just over 5 hours, with about 8100 ft of climb. Fantastic, and I was back to the campsite on time also.
Strava link is here.
Today's race. The Dark and White trail race, round 2 at Rowter Farm, Castleton. Travelled up with Brett, which was entertaining in itself, fairly early doors, with Nick Lander and Andy Watson coming up later to do the 12km option. Got there well within time, got ourselves sorted, and tried to warm up. It was cold, with a bit of a wind blowing. Jogged to the start point (you can start the 20k any time between 8:15 and 9:30) and set off at about 8:25, with a few people ahead. I do prefer to have people ahead, targets to chase and all that. Started off heading towards Mam Tor, but turning up to Rushup Edge. ran all the way up to the road, then up to the edge, where I noticed that not only was the wind really, really cold, it was also a dirty headwind, and blowing quite hard. Never mind, keep going, take it steady. Reached the turn North to Chapel gate, then off the side, down the footpath to Dale Head. Started to get into it, passing a few people. Reached the first checkpoint, water and grabbed a gel for later, then on, heading towards the path up to Hollins Cross. Took my gel just before the climb, and just kept plugging at it, passing Martin Stacey of DDMT, made myself run all the way to the top. Was feeling quite good by now, heading towards Lose Hill, and thankfully missing the summit. Down the side, following the old Moors and Tors route, into Hope, 2nd checkpoint, grabbed another gel for later, and along the start of the Moors and Tors route. Into Castleton, but for once, I wasn't climbing up Cavedale, which I think would have been the easier option. Instead, we were directed around the back of Castleton, going up past the entrance to Peak Cavern, then straight up the side of the hill. I had to walk. It was steep. after about 50m, it flattened out and I managed to start running again, but it kept going, and going...and then going back into the teeth of that headwind. Only, it wasn't the same headwind, it had reinforcements. It was a hell of a struggle to keep running, but I wasn't walking again. The last 2 miles took what felt like forever (in reality they weren't too bad, but took a load of effort), and dibbed in at the finish in 1:46:34, which turned out to be good enough for 1st place. An entire 9 minutes clear of 2nd.
Strava link here.
Some photos from Annecy:
Wednesday 14th August. Race 5 of our Summer League. Felt a bit rough going into this, and it showed. Averaged 6:04 a mile on a flattish course, struggled to get under 6 for most of it, and just felt flat. 36th place in 35:53. Moving on...
Went over to Lake Annecy in the French Alps for a Family Holiday, and met up with friends Mark and Debs Kerry. Had an absolutely fantastic time, did loads of things with family and kids without having to focus on working for my Maths Degree. Happy days. Discovered my eldest daughter has no fear whatsoever when it comes to climbing, or speed. Loved the luge. Didn't get to go to Chamonix, or the Raidlight HQ, but did get a morning pass out to go up a mountain, and handily, La Tournette was close by.
So, I departed from Verthier, at the Southern end of Lake Annecy, early Monday morning (about an hour later than planned as it was still dark!) on foot, starting altitude of ~440m. As I had left most of my kit behind, not really expecting to be doing anything like this I was wearing my 22l day pack, and only had 3 muesli bars and a banana for fuel (I did have a very nice baguette I made, but left it in the fridge at the campsite). Started to run up the hill, but that didn't last very long as it was a) early and b)steep. Still kept up a good pace, and started running when it flattened out again.Made it up to the Col de la Forclaz in 50 minutes, 700m climbed with another 1200m to go.
Next it was along past where the hordes of paragliders launch from, along through some forest to the Chateau de l'Aulp (or something similar). Along here was also a viewpoint. Said viewpoint was a rocky outcropping with a bit of a (massive) drop. About here I realised that my head for heights wasn't as good as it used to be, and had to have a bit of a sit down. The spinning gradually abated, I took some snaps, and retreated (carefully, 3 points of contact at all times) back to the path. Some good running from here took me to the Chateau. 1:35 done, still feeling good, 1st bar eaten.
Gets steep from here. Really steep. Hands on knees, going up steady, passing loads of people all with poles. I was the only person I saw the whole time without. Made it up to the Refuge de la Tournette,and ran past a French couple, the bloke on the phone exclaimed something along the lines of seeing Kilian Jornet. That made me run up the next bit until they couldn't see me. Thankfully, that wasn't far. Next up, after that brief, morale boosting respite, was more steep climb. Steep, muddy climb as well, still running anything that looked flattish. Finally approached the rocky top section, edging carefully past the massive drop to the left (head getting better with heights though) and finally getting to climb up bits with chains. Randomly, there was also a small lily patch at about 2000m. Crazy.
The top. Reached it in just over 3 hours, was really happy with that, head just about back to ok with heights and drops, took loads of photos and waited a bit to see if the clouds on the Mont Blanc side would clear. They did, a little, i took more photos but didn't spot it. Ate my banana, then started on the descent. It was fun. Nice little scree bit, down a nice ridge, full of goats, then down through some forest to a nice stream. Filled up my bottle, and myself, then spotted Mark and Debs coming up the other side. Had a quick chat, then carried on. About 200m later, had to stop as there was a large deer/goat thing in the middle of the path. It was incredibly unconcerned, so I took few photos and walked towards it. It waited until I was about 1m away, then ambled just off the path. I carried on. Down through more forest, and into Montmin. Then slightly up and along a road back to Col de la Forclaz, and a terrific descent back down to Verthier. Stopped the clock at just over 5 hours, with about 8100 ft of climb. Fantastic, and I was back to the campsite on time also.
Strava link is here.
Today's race. The Dark and White trail race, round 2 at Rowter Farm, Castleton. Travelled up with Brett, which was entertaining in itself, fairly early doors, with Nick Lander and Andy Watson coming up later to do the 12km option. Got there well within time, got ourselves sorted, and tried to warm up. It was cold, with a bit of a wind blowing. Jogged to the start point (you can start the 20k any time between 8:15 and 9:30) and set off at about 8:25, with a few people ahead. I do prefer to have people ahead, targets to chase and all that. Started off heading towards Mam Tor, but turning up to Rushup Edge. ran all the way up to the road, then up to the edge, where I noticed that not only was the wind really, really cold, it was also a dirty headwind, and blowing quite hard. Never mind, keep going, take it steady. Reached the turn North to Chapel gate, then off the side, down the footpath to Dale Head. Started to get into it, passing a few people. Reached the first checkpoint, water and grabbed a gel for later, then on, heading towards the path up to Hollins Cross. Took my gel just before the climb, and just kept plugging at it, passing Martin Stacey of DDMT, made myself run all the way to the top. Was feeling quite good by now, heading towards Lose Hill, and thankfully missing the summit. Down the side, following the old Moors and Tors route, into Hope, 2nd checkpoint, grabbed another gel for later, and along the start of the Moors and Tors route. Into Castleton, but for once, I wasn't climbing up Cavedale, which I think would have been the easier option. Instead, we were directed around the back of Castleton, going up past the entrance to Peak Cavern, then straight up the side of the hill. I had to walk. It was steep. after about 50m, it flattened out and I managed to start running again, but it kept going, and going...and then going back into the teeth of that headwind. Only, it wasn't the same headwind, it had reinforcements. It was a hell of a struggle to keep running, but I wasn't walking again. The last 2 miles took what felt like forever (in reality they weren't too bad, but took a load of effort), and dibbed in at the finish in 1:46:34, which turned out to be good enough for 1st place. An entire 9 minutes clear of 2nd.
Strava link here.
Some photos from Annecy:
Monday 12 August 2013
Race Report: Dark and White Mini Mountain Marathon - Race 3 Totley
Race 3 in the series, and, through some fairly good luck (people that beat me either did the first or the second - not both) I was in first place (in the senior category). So I had it all to lose. No pressure then... 3 of us from Erewash Valley headed up to the race, Brett Belshaw and Nick Lander barely recovered from the hot-tub party the night before. Made our way up to the Totley Cricket club, got registered, sorted, changed and ready to embark.
The premise of these events if fairly simple. The Dark and White crew head out the day before, and drop, in this case, 24 electronic dib points out in various places. You have 3 hours from when you start (between 8:15 and 10:00am somewhere) to get as many of these bad boys as you can. You get a map with them marked on as soon as you start, and have to follow the marked paths and bridleways, so in theory, the navigation is quite easy...in theory.
So, I set off, just before Brett and Nick (who were doing it as a team), up a big hill first, so spent a bit of time walking planning out some vague route, then started running. Checkpoint 2 done first, easy find, then 11, then off to 12. Well, that was the plan, except I took the wrong path, ended up off the map, and cost myself about 5 minutes of faffing. So, to checkpoint 12. Next, was 13. Unlucky for some. Including me. Took wrong path, ended up off the map. Again. Never managed to do this before (been doing these since 2009, I discovered whilst organising my maps) and now twice. This was looking good. Reoriented, headed towards 13. Ran past 13. Realised I had run past 13. Ran back to 13. About 8 minutes lost on this. All of this had taken me 40 minutes to get 4. I should have been on at least 6 by now, as it was all easy running. Fuming.
From there on, I didn't miss any checkpoints, however my route choices were still suspect, always when there was an option, I'd end up taking the longer one. Frustrating. Except for the last checkpoint I got - was getting low on time, so decided not to go for an extra control, got in with 8 minutes spare. I really could have nabbed that extra one.
Jogged it in nice and easy (usually desperately sprinting in so I don't lose points from being over time), having missed a total of 3 checkpoints, kicking myself as I should have cleared the course. I was running well, just let down by some dodgy nav.
Ended the day 12th overall, which is my worst result in a very long time, but was still 2nd senior (all the fast lads must have done Long Tour of Bradwell the day before), and the guy who was first hadn't done any of the others in the series, so by my (crude, and unverified) reckoning, I may have just come first senior. Possibly. Fingers crossed.
Here's the Strava link: http://www.strava.com/activities/74129380
The premise of these events if fairly simple. The Dark and White crew head out the day before, and drop, in this case, 24 electronic dib points out in various places. You have 3 hours from when you start (between 8:15 and 10:00am somewhere) to get as many of these bad boys as you can. You get a map with them marked on as soon as you start, and have to follow the marked paths and bridleways, so in theory, the navigation is quite easy...in theory.
So, I set off, just before Brett and Nick (who were doing it as a team), up a big hill first, so spent a bit of time walking planning out some vague route, then started running. Checkpoint 2 done first, easy find, then 11, then off to 12. Well, that was the plan, except I took the wrong path, ended up off the map, and cost myself about 5 minutes of faffing. So, to checkpoint 12. Next, was 13. Unlucky for some. Including me. Took wrong path, ended up off the map. Again. Never managed to do this before (been doing these since 2009, I discovered whilst organising my maps) and now twice. This was looking good. Reoriented, headed towards 13. Ran past 13. Realised I had run past 13. Ran back to 13. About 8 minutes lost on this. All of this had taken me 40 minutes to get 4. I should have been on at least 6 by now, as it was all easy running. Fuming.
From there on, I didn't miss any checkpoints, however my route choices were still suspect, always when there was an option, I'd end up taking the longer one. Frustrating. Except for the last checkpoint I got - was getting low on time, so decided not to go for an extra control, got in with 8 minutes spare. I really could have nabbed that extra one.
Jogged it in nice and easy (usually desperately sprinting in so I don't lose points from being over time), having missed a total of 3 checkpoints, kicking myself as I should have cleared the course. I was running well, just let down by some dodgy nav.
Ended the day 12th overall, which is my worst result in a very long time, but was still 2nd senior (all the fast lads must have done Long Tour of Bradwell the day before), and the guy who was first hadn't done any of the others in the series, so by my (crude, and unverified) reckoning, I may have just come first senior. Possibly. Fingers crossed.
Here's the Strava link: http://www.strava.com/activities/74129380
Sunday 4 August 2013
Dark and White Trail Race - Report
I hadn't originally planned on doing this, as I was planning on being wrecked from the Lakeland 100 for at least 10 days. Well, that didn't go to plan, so my recovery was a load quicker. Legs started feeling good again by Tuesday, but strangely my back wasn't. Not sure exactly what I did, but all of the muscles in the top of my back were as tight as, and causing me massive problems whilst running. So much so that my first run, I could only raise a jog when anyone could see me. And walked when they couldn't. So todays race was starting to look doubtful.
5 days solid of slightly increasing runs, and massaging Antiflam cream into my back finally got me to a place where I could run again. The final test was Saturday afternoon's 5 mile run. If I could hammer that, I felt confident I could do the 12 mile run today. My run went well, slight pain on the flats, but manageable, less pain on the ups, but on the downs I had to throttle back, as it hurt too much. So I entered.
Sunday morning shoe dilemma - what to wear. Plumped for the Hoka One One Rapa-Nui. Feeling the love for this shoe at the moment. 60 miles out of the box at the L100, perfect. Would they handle a faster pace, though, as my previous (Combo XT's) couldn't. Well...
Arrived at the Longshaw Estate, registered, then got ready to start. Now, this trail race is slightly different, in that for the 12 mile route, you can start any time between 8:15 and 9:30, which brings in it's own set of challenges. If you are running alone, it's easy to lose focus and button off slightly. You don't have leaders to follow, to keep you pushing. You don't know how you have done relative to everyone else when you finish.
Anyway, had a chat to a few people, got my excuses in early just in case my back really went awol, then switched on the Garmin, to get ready to go. Plan was simple - maintain a pace as fast as I could without my back hurting, and don't get passed. Simple.
Strava link here
Off. From Longshaw, the route went to Burbage Bridge, following the path under Burbage rocks, made quite good time along here, then across the road to go up to Stanage Edge, and on to the rough stuff. Absolutely love running over the rough stuff, and kept on cranking along here, passing people, until the turn off at the Long Causeway,down to Hathersage. Lovely descent, Hokas soaking up enough of the shock to keep me moving at a decent pace downhill, although nowhere near as fast as I am capable of. Into Hathesage, and I catch up with a bloke in Merrell Road Gloves. Hard not to think of them as the "Other Side", whilst wearing Hokas! We kept pace with each other to the checkpoint/water station at the Derwent River. He dibbedand ran, I downed 2 cups of water and an orange High Five gel. Onwards.
The second half of the race follows the river to Nether Padley, then up to the top of Haywood, before dropping back to the top of Nether Padley, back up to Longshaw Estate then into the finish.
I set off in pursuit of Mr Merrell, catching as soon as we came to a section of track with tree roots - I glided over them, not breaking stride, whilst he had to mince carefully through. Back recovered from the downhill pounding, so I started pushing along a bit faster. Lovely trail along the river, then all too soon it was time to turn uphill - I maintained my effort, but slowed a little, Mr Merrell, pushing me on faster. I ran most of the way to the top of Haywood, but needed a bit of power-hiking near the top. A nice fast downhill to the top of Nether Padley township, the up again, forcing my legs to keep running as we climbed. This is definitely an area I need to work on - I can see a horrendous amount of squats for me in my future!
Into Longshaw Estate, only 2.5km to go. On to the main path,then foot down to the finish. Except there was a sneaky uphill to Little John's Well. Back to a jog-shuffle to get to the top of that! Then down the final stretch and the finish, hammering, dibbed, done.
Managed to complete the race in 1:32:57, which was about 15 minutes faster than I thought I would! Decided to hang around to 11am, by which time anyone who was going to beat me would be in..and both of them were! Lee Rawson managed to get me by 45 seconds or so,and another guy got me by 4 minutes (if my back was ok...) so I managed 3rd overall, but, as they were both vets, snuck 1st Senior Male. Happy days. (Results still not officially confirmed, but pretty sure I'm right).
Dark and White Mini Mountain Marathon series, race 3 next weekend. Currently in 1st place in that, with good route choice, hopefully I can keep it there!
5 days solid of slightly increasing runs, and massaging Antiflam cream into my back finally got me to a place where I could run again. The final test was Saturday afternoon's 5 mile run. If I could hammer that, I felt confident I could do the 12 mile run today. My run went well, slight pain on the flats, but manageable, less pain on the ups, but on the downs I had to throttle back, as it hurt too much. So I entered.
Sunday morning shoe dilemma - what to wear. Plumped for the Hoka One One Rapa-Nui. Feeling the love for this shoe at the moment. 60 miles out of the box at the L100, perfect. Would they handle a faster pace, though, as my previous (Combo XT's) couldn't. Well...
Arrived at the Longshaw Estate, registered, then got ready to start. Now, this trail race is slightly different, in that for the 12 mile route, you can start any time between 8:15 and 9:30, which brings in it's own set of challenges. If you are running alone, it's easy to lose focus and button off slightly. You don't have leaders to follow, to keep you pushing. You don't know how you have done relative to everyone else when you finish.
Anyway, had a chat to a few people, got my excuses in early just in case my back really went awol, then switched on the Garmin, to get ready to go. Plan was simple - maintain a pace as fast as I could without my back hurting, and don't get passed. Simple.
Strava link here
Off. From Longshaw, the route went to Burbage Bridge, following the path under Burbage rocks, made quite good time along here, then across the road to go up to Stanage Edge, and on to the rough stuff. Absolutely love running over the rough stuff, and kept on cranking along here, passing people, until the turn off at the Long Causeway,down to Hathersage. Lovely descent, Hokas soaking up enough of the shock to keep me moving at a decent pace downhill, although nowhere near as fast as I am capable of. Into Hathesage, and I catch up with a bloke in Merrell Road Gloves. Hard not to think of them as the "Other Side", whilst wearing Hokas! We kept pace with each other to the checkpoint/water station at the Derwent River. He dibbedand ran, I downed 2 cups of water and an orange High Five gel. Onwards.
The second half of the race follows the river to Nether Padley, then up to the top of Haywood, before dropping back to the top of Nether Padley, back up to Longshaw Estate then into the finish.
I set off in pursuit of Mr Merrell, catching as soon as we came to a section of track with tree roots - I glided over them, not breaking stride, whilst he had to mince carefully through. Back recovered from the downhill pounding, so I started pushing along a bit faster. Lovely trail along the river, then all too soon it was time to turn uphill - I maintained my effort, but slowed a little, Mr Merrell, pushing me on faster. I ran most of the way to the top of Haywood, but needed a bit of power-hiking near the top. A nice fast downhill to the top of Nether Padley township, the up again, forcing my legs to keep running as we climbed. This is definitely an area I need to work on - I can see a horrendous amount of squats for me in my future!
Into Longshaw Estate, only 2.5km to go. On to the main path,then foot down to the finish. Except there was a sneaky uphill to Little John's Well. Back to a jog-shuffle to get to the top of that! Then down the final stretch and the finish, hammering, dibbed, done.
Managed to complete the race in 1:32:57, which was about 15 minutes faster than I thought I would! Decided to hang around to 11am, by which time anyone who was going to beat me would be in..and both of them were! Lee Rawson managed to get me by 45 seconds or so,and another guy got me by 4 minutes (if my back was ok...) so I managed 3rd overall, but, as they were both vets, snuck 1st Senior Male. Happy days. (Results still not officially confirmed, but pretty sure I'm right).
Dark and White Mini Mountain Marathon series, race 3 next weekend. Currently in 1st place in that, with good route choice, hopefully I can keep it there!
Tuesday 30 July 2013
The Lakeland 100
So, the Lakeland 100, and my attempt at it.
A bit of background first. The Lakeland 50 (LL50) is how I first came to ultra-running. I saw it advertised in January 2010, in a Trail Running mag. I thought, that looks interesting. £60. Nope. So used to fell running, and its usual entry fee of £5, I wasn't so keen. On to the next page, competition time. Entry to the LL50/100, all the kit, shoes and accommodation. Called the wife, got her to enter it for me, then promptly forgot about it. Until I won it. Bonus. Also, the longest I had run up to that point was the Elan Valley OMM, and quite a bit of that wasn't really running. So I also got to experience my first Old County Tops.
Went up for the recce, the classic 2 day Dalemain-Ambleside-Coniston. Can't recommend it enough, have never had to use map or roadbook on the 50 since. Spent most of the 2 days running with Dan Doherty (who, I didn't know, is an accomplished ultra-runner), and catching up with Jon Morgan, whenever he waited for us. We completed the 2 days running in just under 7 hours, so suffice to say I was feeling pretty hyped. Until I went to the track, got injured and only ran one more time before the race. A 10k. Posted my worst time in a long time, a little under 40 minutes. My ankle hurt, and I didn't get along with my shoes (back then the only choice for long distance was the roclite 315).
I ran. I was in pain from about mile 4. By Kentmere I wanted to quit. By Langdale I felt like I was running with shards of broken glass in my joints. I eventually came 13th, in 10:15ish. I knew I could do better. I went back.
2011. Entry paid for,didn't blink at the price, as I knew by then it was great value for money. Training went well, Old County Tops time improved. I was ready. June 6th, Castleton fell race. Pushed it hard. 10th place, coming down the hill and gaining. Hesitated over a stile, caught my toe. Fell about 6 feet, landed on my arm, my ribs, my knee. My knee hurt. People passed me, I got it going. I ran, hard. About 5:30/mile all the way to the finish. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move my arm. Passed some people. Finished 16th, with broken ribs, fractured elbow and bloody sore knee.
I was back running a little within 2 weeks, my arm felt weird, breathing was painful, runs were slow. Still, the Saunders would sort me out..and it did. Extremely hot, ran ok, not much pain from ribs or elbow, but my partner was suffering badly from the heat and had to pull out for his sake on day 2.
LL50 Race day. My Saunder partner was also running this, and it turned out to be a scorcher. The 500ml bottle I bought turned out to be 300ml, I started cramping at Gatesgarth, body started rejecting food at Langdale. I think the only reason I came 13th again this year, was that we started 1/2 an hour later, and nobody in front of me knew the way down to Coniston. I'm assuming this from the amount of headtorch lights I could see all over the valley.
2012. Injury free, all year. LL50 start line, feeling good, hammered it from the start. 3rd place, 8:35,1 minute behind 2nd (Grant MacDonald, should have one, passed me about 6 times as he kept getting lost) and 5 behind 1st. Job done. Time for a year out, back for the LL100 in 2014...or so I thought.
Turns out I had a free entry into the 2013 event. So I went for the 100. I also went for a couple of sessions at The Endurance Coach. I can't recommend these guys highly enough. I followed (mostly) their plan, my speed increased, pb's fell, I felt awesome. I became so attached to my training, I didn't race much. At all, nearly. But I was alright with that.
Almost forgot to mention, in this time I have also 1) Completed the equivalent of a full time Maths Degree through the Open University. 2) Had 2 beautiful daughters. Esmee on the 14th of February 2010, Josie on the 23rd of April, 2012. 3) Had a full time job. Sacrifices were made, Mel, my wife spent every second weekend (my long run weekends) solo babysitting. When I think about it, I have missed so much. Which has a bearing on my later decisions.
I have also been converted to Hoka-ism by Richard Bardon. I was originally going to run the 100 in my well worn-in, but big-toe shredding Combo XT's. Mel said I should take them in and show them. So I did, and Mark, the Hoka rep was there. He sorted me out with a pair of shiny new Rapa-nui's (the Racing Model!) and a new pair of Injinji socks. I wore them, straight out of the box. They are awesome. There will be a review to follow.
Back to the story. 2 months out, started hammering the peak district, long runs, big climbs. 3 weeks out, taper. Going well. 10 days out...norovirus. Only diarrhoea though. Slightly concerned, as I had a race that night. Started well, crashed out at 3 miles and slowed. Still managed a sub-30 hilly 5 mile, but was drained. So drained that I didn't do my annual 10k.
Monday came, body was back to normal. Very tired, though. Ran on Tuesday, speed session. In theory. Wednesdays 8 mile club run felt good. I was ready again. Extremely confident in my body, in my training. The perfect mental state.
Race Day: It all started so well, started running with Chris Baynham-Hughes (also with diarrhoea), and felt good, although I was feeling a little slow on the climb near the top. Blasted the downhill, came into checkpoint 1 ahead of schedule, 1:08. In and out, and on. Again, a little slow on the climb, but not too bad, into CP2 with Chris, and 2 others. Had some flapjack, and everything started to go wrong. So slow up the hills, not much go on the flat. Surely can't hit a rough patch 15 miles in? It'll pass...
CP3, the group of 3 near out of sight. Coke, ham sandwhich, Black Sail Pass. Chris and Co put loads of time on me here. Also, Chris Perry and his dad Kevin Perry caught me up, and I had a good chat to Chris, before bombing down to Black Sail YHA. That was so much fun, just light enough to see, absolutely killed it. Past the YHA, crawled up the next hill. Another cracking descent. Saw lights 1/2 way down, caught them when they were 3/4 down. I do love a good downhill. Into Buttermere together, and then on the path to Sail Pass. This is where it really went wrong. Energy = gone. Chris B-H had stopped for a toilet, Chris and Kevin Perry passed me, and someone else. I'll get them on the down I thought. Or not. My descending legs had left me. Not trashed quads, just..no energy to run downhill. Oh dear.
Chris B-H caught me on the down, and so did Lee Knight (eventual 6th place). Into Brathewaite, where Chris Perry was stretching out his calf. Him and his dad carried on, I loaded up with: Rice pudding, sweets, coke, cake, jelly, more sweets. Left with Chris B-H and carried on. Made quite good time to the bottom of Latrigg, mostly because of the lack of climb. Chris left me here (he didn't realise until he was at the top!), as I was once more pathetic uphill. From there to Blencathra was really hard work, and started dropping loads of time. Made it, eventually, in 13th or 14th. Chris Perry was there, retired. I was toying with the idea, but it was silly o'clock in the morning, and my hotel was locked. Not much point really. Then Grant MacDonald came in, so I left in pursuit. Managed to keep with him until...the climb to the Old Coach Road. Him and another bloke that had caught up trotted off up there, whilst I struggled. They were long gone when I was at the top.
I walked the entire length of the Old Coach Road. Whilst on it, I decided I was definitely pulling out, and I would be getting to Dockray CP at about 5:30, the pace I was going I would get to Dalemain at 9:00. My wife was getting sms updates, so I didn't want to worry her unduly and have them getting far longer apart than I had predicted. Dockray it was. And I was feeling really good. A bit of light chaffing on my back, legs were fine, spirits good, just not enough energy to raise a run. Not even downhill.
Dockray, the place of the Great Misunderstanding (also the billion midges). So I got there, and made my intentions pretty clear. No more, was stopping. They said, "you do realise we can't take you back from here". I translated that to "someone will be along soon to pick you up". So I made myself comfortable, had some food, got eaten by midges (still got lumps). Then realised, by the conversations they were having, that I was walking back to Dalemain. Oops. So off I set, down a big, long road. Downhill. Met Ross Litherland coming back up the hill, almost at the top in fact. He was pulling out too, his quads were trashed and he couldn't get down hills. So I broke the bad news to him - he was going to have to go down the hill he was on again, as there was no transport back from Dockray.
At least I had company for the 3 and 3/4 walk to Dalemain, feeling extremely phony whenever anyone cheered. Got a big hug from Angela Bardon, got fed, watered, then sat in the sun until retrieved.
I'm ok with the DNF. Despite the hard work, effort, sacrifice, it was due to something beyond my control. I also made it further than Terry Conway.
I did have one tearful moment, when my daughter called me and said "it's ok Daddy, you can walk, you can come back now." Then "Can you walk home?" She won herself a medal from the Lakeland 1, ran all the way. So proud.
So where to from here? Back in the 100 to show it who's boss? No. Beaten. No. What I'm going to do is the LL50 again, in 2014. In 2015 too. Then when the girls are a bit older, then back to the 100, to do what I should have.
A bit of background first. The Lakeland 50 (LL50) is how I first came to ultra-running. I saw it advertised in January 2010, in a Trail Running mag. I thought, that looks interesting. £60. Nope. So used to fell running, and its usual entry fee of £5, I wasn't so keen. On to the next page, competition time. Entry to the LL50/100, all the kit, shoes and accommodation. Called the wife, got her to enter it for me, then promptly forgot about it. Until I won it. Bonus. Also, the longest I had run up to that point was the Elan Valley OMM, and quite a bit of that wasn't really running. So I also got to experience my first Old County Tops.
Went up for the recce, the classic 2 day Dalemain-Ambleside-Coniston. Can't recommend it enough, have never had to use map or roadbook on the 50 since. Spent most of the 2 days running with Dan Doherty (who, I didn't know, is an accomplished ultra-runner), and catching up with Jon Morgan, whenever he waited for us. We completed the 2 days running in just under 7 hours, so suffice to say I was feeling pretty hyped. Until I went to the track, got injured and only ran one more time before the race. A 10k. Posted my worst time in a long time, a little under 40 minutes. My ankle hurt, and I didn't get along with my shoes (back then the only choice for long distance was the roclite 315).
I ran. I was in pain from about mile 4. By Kentmere I wanted to quit. By Langdale I felt like I was running with shards of broken glass in my joints. I eventually came 13th, in 10:15ish. I knew I could do better. I went back.
2011. Entry paid for,didn't blink at the price, as I knew by then it was great value for money. Training went well, Old County Tops time improved. I was ready. June 6th, Castleton fell race. Pushed it hard. 10th place, coming down the hill and gaining. Hesitated over a stile, caught my toe. Fell about 6 feet, landed on my arm, my ribs, my knee. My knee hurt. People passed me, I got it going. I ran, hard. About 5:30/mile all the way to the finish. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move my arm. Passed some people. Finished 16th, with broken ribs, fractured elbow and bloody sore knee.
I was back running a little within 2 weeks, my arm felt weird, breathing was painful, runs were slow. Still, the Saunders would sort me out..and it did. Extremely hot, ran ok, not much pain from ribs or elbow, but my partner was suffering badly from the heat and had to pull out for his sake on day 2.
LL50 Race day. My Saunder partner was also running this, and it turned out to be a scorcher. The 500ml bottle I bought turned out to be 300ml, I started cramping at Gatesgarth, body started rejecting food at Langdale. I think the only reason I came 13th again this year, was that we started 1/2 an hour later, and nobody in front of me knew the way down to Coniston. I'm assuming this from the amount of headtorch lights I could see all over the valley.
2012. Injury free, all year. LL50 start line, feeling good, hammered it from the start. 3rd place, 8:35,1 minute behind 2nd (Grant MacDonald, should have one, passed me about 6 times as he kept getting lost) and 5 behind 1st. Job done. Time for a year out, back for the LL100 in 2014...or so I thought.
Turns out I had a free entry into the 2013 event. So I went for the 100. I also went for a couple of sessions at The Endurance Coach. I can't recommend these guys highly enough. I followed (mostly) their plan, my speed increased, pb's fell, I felt awesome. I became so attached to my training, I didn't race much. At all, nearly. But I was alright with that.
Almost forgot to mention, in this time I have also 1) Completed the equivalent of a full time Maths Degree through the Open University. 2) Had 2 beautiful daughters. Esmee on the 14th of February 2010, Josie on the 23rd of April, 2012. 3) Had a full time job. Sacrifices were made, Mel, my wife spent every second weekend (my long run weekends) solo babysitting. When I think about it, I have missed so much. Which has a bearing on my later decisions.
I have also been converted to Hoka-ism by Richard Bardon. I was originally going to run the 100 in my well worn-in, but big-toe shredding Combo XT's. Mel said I should take them in and show them. So I did, and Mark, the Hoka rep was there. He sorted me out with a pair of shiny new Rapa-nui's (the Racing Model!) and a new pair of Injinji socks. I wore them, straight out of the box. They are awesome. There will be a review to follow.
Back to the story. 2 months out, started hammering the peak district, long runs, big climbs. 3 weeks out, taper. Going well. 10 days out...norovirus. Only diarrhoea though. Slightly concerned, as I had a race that night. Started well, crashed out at 3 miles and slowed. Still managed a sub-30 hilly 5 mile, but was drained. So drained that I didn't do my annual 10k.
Monday came, body was back to normal. Very tired, though. Ran on Tuesday, speed session. In theory. Wednesdays 8 mile club run felt good. I was ready again. Extremely confident in my body, in my training. The perfect mental state.
Race Day: It all started so well, started running with Chris Baynham-Hughes (also with diarrhoea), and felt good, although I was feeling a little slow on the climb near the top. Blasted the downhill, came into checkpoint 1 ahead of schedule, 1:08. In and out, and on. Again, a little slow on the climb, but not too bad, into CP2 with Chris, and 2 others. Had some flapjack, and everything started to go wrong. So slow up the hills, not much go on the flat. Surely can't hit a rough patch 15 miles in? It'll pass...
CP3, the group of 3 near out of sight. Coke, ham sandwhich, Black Sail Pass. Chris and Co put loads of time on me here. Also, Chris Perry and his dad Kevin Perry caught me up, and I had a good chat to Chris, before bombing down to Black Sail YHA. That was so much fun, just light enough to see, absolutely killed it. Past the YHA, crawled up the next hill. Another cracking descent. Saw lights 1/2 way down, caught them when they were 3/4 down. I do love a good downhill. Into Buttermere together, and then on the path to Sail Pass. This is where it really went wrong. Energy = gone. Chris B-H had stopped for a toilet, Chris and Kevin Perry passed me, and someone else. I'll get them on the down I thought. Or not. My descending legs had left me. Not trashed quads, just..no energy to run downhill. Oh dear.
Chris B-H caught me on the down, and so did Lee Knight (eventual 6th place). Into Brathewaite, where Chris Perry was stretching out his calf. Him and his dad carried on, I loaded up with: Rice pudding, sweets, coke, cake, jelly, more sweets. Left with Chris B-H and carried on. Made quite good time to the bottom of Latrigg, mostly because of the lack of climb. Chris left me here (he didn't realise until he was at the top!), as I was once more pathetic uphill. From there to Blencathra was really hard work, and started dropping loads of time. Made it, eventually, in 13th or 14th. Chris Perry was there, retired. I was toying with the idea, but it was silly o'clock in the morning, and my hotel was locked. Not much point really. Then Grant MacDonald came in, so I left in pursuit. Managed to keep with him until...the climb to the Old Coach Road. Him and another bloke that had caught up trotted off up there, whilst I struggled. They were long gone when I was at the top.
I walked the entire length of the Old Coach Road. Whilst on it, I decided I was definitely pulling out, and I would be getting to Dockray CP at about 5:30, the pace I was going I would get to Dalemain at 9:00. My wife was getting sms updates, so I didn't want to worry her unduly and have them getting far longer apart than I had predicted. Dockray it was. And I was feeling really good. A bit of light chaffing on my back, legs were fine, spirits good, just not enough energy to raise a run. Not even downhill.
Dockray, the place of the Great Misunderstanding (also the billion midges). So I got there, and made my intentions pretty clear. No more, was stopping. They said, "you do realise we can't take you back from here". I translated that to "someone will be along soon to pick you up". So I made myself comfortable, had some food, got eaten by midges (still got lumps). Then realised, by the conversations they were having, that I was walking back to Dalemain. Oops. So off I set, down a big, long road. Downhill. Met Ross Litherland coming back up the hill, almost at the top in fact. He was pulling out too, his quads were trashed and he couldn't get down hills. So I broke the bad news to him - he was going to have to go down the hill he was on again, as there was no transport back from Dockray.
At least I had company for the 3 and 3/4 walk to Dalemain, feeling extremely phony whenever anyone cheered. Got a big hug from Angela Bardon, got fed, watered, then sat in the sun until retrieved.
I'm ok with the DNF. Despite the hard work, effort, sacrifice, it was due to something beyond my control. I also made it further than Terry Conway.
I did have one tearful moment, when my daughter called me and said "it's ok Daddy, you can walk, you can come back now." Then "Can you walk home?" She won herself a medal from the Lakeland 1, ran all the way. So proud.
So where to from here? Back in the 100 to show it who's boss? No. Beaten. No. What I'm going to do is the LL50 again, in 2014. In 2015 too. Then when the girls are a bit older, then back to the 100, to do what I should have.
Monday 8 July 2013
Just over 2 weeks to go...
Been a warm one this weekend. A sensible person would have stayed in the shade with a beer. On Saturday, I had an hours run to do, and what better time than 3pm, the hottest part of the day. Went for a nip out over the fields. Felt great, so I went a bit further and set off a bit faster than planned. Heat hit me after 45 minutes or so, became quite hard work. Made it round, but legs felt a bit leaden, which they shouldn't do after 8.5 miles/1 hour. Still, all valuable training, especially if race day is a bit warm.
Sunday. Up very early as we (Kieran Davis and I) were planning on running from Hope in the Peak District at 7:30am. We started running at 8am or so, and already it was a bit hot. Saw some extremely tired/ruined looking people while we were heading up to the roman road between Kinder and Win Hill. Followed the Roman Road to Upper Ashop, where we left the road and followed the fence line to Blackden Brook. Still moving ok, and getting lots of fluids down - 500ml from Hope to the Brook.
We turned up Blackden Brook, and had a really nice run (until it got steep, then walk) up to the Kinder Plateau. Still feeling great, really enjoyed the climb. Along to the Seal Stones (about 300m), then down to the sheep fold at the bottom of Fair Brook.
Restocked the bottle (1l drunk so far) and headed up Fair Brook. Felt like the temperature jumped up about 10 degrees, really getting hot and sheltered from the wind. About half way up here, my head fell off. Went dizzy, lost a bit of coordination, legs felt dead. Walked a bit, sucked an extra gel (was trying to keep to 1 per hour) and walked the rest of the way up to the plateau, even the flat bits.
At this point, we had a bit of a discussion as to which way to go (around the plateau,or back) and we decided the better option was back. We had been out for 2 hours already, and were nowhere near as far along as I thought we would be. Also, if we headed back we would be running into a nice cooling breeze. Amazing how your body picks up when it perceives you are heading home! Cracking trot back along the plateau to the 5 Minute Crossing, over there to the more popular side of Kinder. Could see Grindsbrook, and the conga-line of people heading up it. Snuck left, then Ringing Roger and The Nab, to Edale. Saw absolutely loads of people, in comparison to the 5 we saws on the other side.
Filled water bottle again (1.5L drunk), and headed across to start climbing to Hollins Cross. Sheltered over this side, and even hotter. Was a slow walk to the top, couldn't even raise a jog up the hill. Stopped to "admire the view" a couple of times on the way up, was just so hard to keep going. Finally made it to the top, took a photo of a group of D of E's for them. We were going to nip up Back Tor, then on to Lose Hill, but it was just so hot, we contoured round the side, until we hit the pine forest. Walked through that, trying to get my core temperature back to normal.
We then trotted down the side of Lose Hill, back to Hope in the car. 17.5 miles, 3.5 hours and 3624 feet of climb. Also, drank 2 litres of water.
Really enjoyed the run, but was so hard in the heat. Having said that, I am a lot more confident in doing well in the Lakeland 100, regardless of the weather.
Also,a special mention to my X-Bionic underpants. Quite possibly the only part of my body that was not overheating, these pants are amazing and will be my weapon of pants-choice on the day. Awesome stuff X-Bionic, am really tempted to try out some of your other clothing items now!
Sunday. Up very early as we (Kieran Davis and I) were planning on running from Hope in the Peak District at 7:30am. We started running at 8am or so, and already it was a bit hot. Saw some extremely tired/ruined looking people while we were heading up to the roman road between Kinder and Win Hill. Followed the Roman Road to Upper Ashop, where we left the road and followed the fence line to Blackden Brook. Still moving ok, and getting lots of fluids down - 500ml from Hope to the Brook.
We turned up Blackden Brook, and had a really nice run (until it got steep, then walk) up to the Kinder Plateau. Still feeling great, really enjoyed the climb. Along to the Seal Stones (about 300m), then down to the sheep fold at the bottom of Fair Brook.
Restocked the bottle (1l drunk so far) and headed up Fair Brook. Felt like the temperature jumped up about 10 degrees, really getting hot and sheltered from the wind. About half way up here, my head fell off. Went dizzy, lost a bit of coordination, legs felt dead. Walked a bit, sucked an extra gel (was trying to keep to 1 per hour) and walked the rest of the way up to the plateau, even the flat bits.
At this point, we had a bit of a discussion as to which way to go (around the plateau,or back) and we decided the better option was back. We had been out for 2 hours already, and were nowhere near as far along as I thought we would be. Also, if we headed back we would be running into a nice cooling breeze. Amazing how your body picks up when it perceives you are heading home! Cracking trot back along the plateau to the 5 Minute Crossing, over there to the more popular side of Kinder. Could see Grindsbrook, and the conga-line of people heading up it. Snuck left, then Ringing Roger and The Nab, to Edale. Saw absolutely loads of people, in comparison to the 5 we saws on the other side.
Filled water bottle again (1.5L drunk), and headed across to start climbing to Hollins Cross. Sheltered over this side, and even hotter. Was a slow walk to the top, couldn't even raise a jog up the hill. Stopped to "admire the view" a couple of times on the way up, was just so hard to keep going. Finally made it to the top, took a photo of a group of D of E's for them. We were going to nip up Back Tor, then on to Lose Hill, but it was just so hot, we contoured round the side, until we hit the pine forest. Walked through that, trying to get my core temperature back to normal.
We then trotted down the side of Lose Hill, back to Hope in the car. 17.5 miles, 3.5 hours and 3624 feet of climb. Also, drank 2 litres of water.
Really enjoyed the run, but was so hard in the heat. Having said that, I am a lot more confident in doing well in the Lakeland 100, regardless of the weather.
Also,a special mention to my X-Bionic underpants. Quite possibly the only part of my body that was not overheating, these pants are amazing and will be my weapon of pants-choice on the day. Awesome stuff X-Bionic, am really tempted to try out some of your other clothing items now!
Tuesday 2 July 2013
The last few weeks...
Well, been a while. Grab a beer,this could be a long'un.
This one starts way back on June 8th. Plan said 7 hours, so I had a route worked out, involving a loop around a cycle path, up and down a canal, around a local park and over some local fields. Was going quite well, until I got bored. Doesn't usually happen to me (man of very little imagination), and it also didn't help that my 3 year old daughter was playing up. So,when I called in at home to refill my water bottle and grab a couple more gels, after 4 hours of slow running, I lost motivation. Tried to carry on, body hurt, walked for a bit, tried running again, failed, went back home. Bit gutted,but enjoyed the rest of the day with the family.
June 9th. Was supposed to be a 6 hour run. I had previously planned a route involving loops around the above mentioned places. Scrapped that, went up to the Peak District with Neil Weightman (my usual partner for any paired event - OMM, Saunders, O.C.T...), and a route that he had made up. Awesome. Also, was going to be a good test out for some Saucony Xodus 2.0 sent to me to write a review on by the fantastic crew at At Your Pace (website here). That is to follow.
Anyways, it was quite warm. I was wearing a bum-bag (OMM 6l) so had a 500ml soft bottle in there full of water, and fortunately 6 High5 Isogels. As the run went on, it got warmer and warmer, and my bottle got emptier and emptier, but that was ok as there are a few streams that I figured I could drink out of. Or at least, I could have if they weren't dry or smelly. About 3 hours in, with only a mouthful of water left, I crashed a bit, had to drink an extra gel, more for fluids than anything. Probably didn't help I was running all the ups either. Perked up a bit, then perked up more when we hit Stanage Pole. Just a short run along the edge to Burbage, and a stream! Massive psychological boost, picked up the pace massively, rock-hopping and charging about like an idiot. Which it turns out I was, as that Burbage Stream was gross. Wasn't thirsty enough to drink out of that. So then came the low, and drinking a gel every 1/2 hour instead of hour to keep fluids up, as it was baking,and another few miles to the next potentially drinkable stream. The ones we ket passing did look increasingly tempting though.
Into Longshaw estate, and tree cover, so it was jog slowly through the shade, fast through the sunlight. Finally made it to the stream running through Hay Wood, which was drinkable. Possibly. Put down 1/2 a litre, filled the bottle with another 1/2 litre, and polished that off too by the time we hit the Robin Hood pub. Finished the run feeling like I could keep going, and had an awesome time. Amazing what a bit of company and a change of scenery can do for your attitude for your runs. After that one, plans for long runs changed, and became far more interesting.
That night, though...food poisoning hit. Thought briefly that it was the stream, but the wife had it also. Traced it back to some dodgy trifle the night before (not to be trifled with...). So had a couple of days of enforced rest until...
Wednesday, 12th June. Nottinghamshire AAA Summer League, and the race my club (Erewash Valley) runs. Also, out team is 3rd, very close to second, and depressingly I'm one of the faster runners, and we had all the marshals we needed. And, I lost out on the coin toss with my wife - loser had to run. Damn. Had an ok start, faded, died (or felt like I did), picked up what I thought was a stone in my shoe - turned out to be a carpet tack straight through, ouchies). Came 31st or something, well down on usual, at an average of 6.08/mile (better than it felt) with some decent climb in. Survived, felt like crap again on Thursday.
Friday 14th June. Hairy Helmet Relay at Darley Park. Still feeling a bit off, but mostly ok, and anyway, its only 2 miles. Will fit in perfectly as training for the Lakeland 100... I was on second leg, and set off with a bloke right behind me. Managed to hold him off (just, although he was clearly slightly faster as he gained on me) but managed to average 5:42 (Strava tells me I also have my fastest mile at 5:29. Happy days.). Easy weekend, 1 hour run Saturday, 2 hour run Sunday, feeling human again.
Tuesday 18th June. 400m reps. Feeling good. Thursday, 10k run in the Hokas, still feeling alright (found some mud though, no grip. Felt like a cartoon character, legs spinning, going nowhere).
Saturday. There's a loop we do sometimes, circular, starts at Shining Cliff Woods, goes up through Crich, Lea Bridge, to Cromford, up the Wirksworth Incline the back to the start. Just under 18 miles, and just under 3000ft of climb. I did the first loop with Kieran Davis, who eats hills for breakfast. Feeling good, not running fast just enjoying it. Completed the first loop in 2:47, which I think is 10 minutes faster than I have ever done it before - and that last time I was going for it,and completely toasted at the end. This time, quick stop, stuff face, then loop the other way. Took a bit longer (about 3.5), running down the incline was nice, but the climb back out of Cromfor toward Riber is epic. In total, 35.4 miles, 5863ft of climb, 6hrs 25 minutes.
Sunday. Kinder Dozen attempt. Probably not the best to do this on tired legs (23 miles, 10k ft of climb) but I was going to give it a crack. Weather was different to Saturday. Bit wet. Bit windy. Actually, a lot wet and extremely windy. Richard Hyde was with me today, getting in some hills for his attempt on the Borrowdale fell race. We climbed. We descended. We climbed some more. We got slightly disorientated. We descended. Climbed Jacobs Ladder into the teeth of a massive headwind. Ran down the other side, still into the headwind, was really hard work! Rescued some lost blokes. Saw the front runners of the Kinder Trog (in vests!), some going the right way, some not so much. The climb up to Sandy Hays trig, always the killer, put paid to Richard, he headed off there (to be fair, that was always his intention though.) Map out, found the trig, continued. Weather got better, but I ran out of puff at the Seal Stones (ascent 7 of 12), so made my way back over Kinder, to the Nab. Faffed around finding the up and down route for the Edale Skyline fell race. Caught a mouse type thing, took a photo of it. Fantastic (if wet and really, really windy). Totals for the day: 18.1 miles, 5893 ft of climb (exactly 30 ft difference from Saturday!) and 5 hours 8 minutes.
Last big run was at the weekend just been. Back up to the Peak District. Legs still feeling a bit tired, but in to give it a crack anyway. Parked in Hope, realised I had forgotten my map, garmin and compass so had to use my phone, headed straight up Lose Hill. Felling a bit lacklustre, but carried on. Hollins Cross, Edale, Jacobs Ladder. Weather worse than last Sunday, visibility down to naff-all. Thought sod this, I'll head over Brown Knoll and back home. Great. Running down the flagstones, hammering it, missed the turn off and didn't realise until I say the sign saying "South Head". Oops. Took an arbitrary left down the Pennine Way (the wrong way), and carried on down there. Saw a train, realised where I was. Left again, back up the side of Brown Knoll. Found the air intake for the Edale train tunnel. Carried on, found the main path, then ran back to the car (slowly). Total for the run: 20.2 miles, 3232 ft of climb, 3.5 hours and a grand total of 1 gel consumed.
Next day - very grumpy and irritable, and tired. Overtrained, rested until...
Tuesday, 2nd July. 10x 200m reps, 1x100m rep. Trying to get some speed back in the legs.
23 days to go. Ready.
This one starts way back on June 8th. Plan said 7 hours, so I had a route worked out, involving a loop around a cycle path, up and down a canal, around a local park and over some local fields. Was going quite well, until I got bored. Doesn't usually happen to me (man of very little imagination), and it also didn't help that my 3 year old daughter was playing up. So,when I called in at home to refill my water bottle and grab a couple more gels, after 4 hours of slow running, I lost motivation. Tried to carry on, body hurt, walked for a bit, tried running again, failed, went back home. Bit gutted,but enjoyed the rest of the day with the family.
June 9th. Was supposed to be a 6 hour run. I had previously planned a route involving loops around the above mentioned places. Scrapped that, went up to the Peak District with Neil Weightman (my usual partner for any paired event - OMM, Saunders, O.C.T...), and a route that he had made up. Awesome. Also, was going to be a good test out for some Saucony Xodus 2.0 sent to me to write a review on by the fantastic crew at At Your Pace (website here). That is to follow.
Anyways, it was quite warm. I was wearing a bum-bag (OMM 6l) so had a 500ml soft bottle in there full of water, and fortunately 6 High5 Isogels. As the run went on, it got warmer and warmer, and my bottle got emptier and emptier, but that was ok as there are a few streams that I figured I could drink out of. Or at least, I could have if they weren't dry or smelly. About 3 hours in, with only a mouthful of water left, I crashed a bit, had to drink an extra gel, more for fluids than anything. Probably didn't help I was running all the ups either. Perked up a bit, then perked up more when we hit Stanage Pole. Just a short run along the edge to Burbage, and a stream! Massive psychological boost, picked up the pace massively, rock-hopping and charging about like an idiot. Which it turns out I was, as that Burbage Stream was gross. Wasn't thirsty enough to drink out of that. So then came the low, and drinking a gel every 1/2 hour instead of hour to keep fluids up, as it was baking,and another few miles to the next potentially drinkable stream. The ones we ket passing did look increasingly tempting though.
Into Longshaw estate, and tree cover, so it was jog slowly through the shade, fast through the sunlight. Finally made it to the stream running through Hay Wood, which was drinkable. Possibly. Put down 1/2 a litre, filled the bottle with another 1/2 litre, and polished that off too by the time we hit the Robin Hood pub. Finished the run feeling like I could keep going, and had an awesome time. Amazing what a bit of company and a change of scenery can do for your attitude for your runs. After that one, plans for long runs changed, and became far more interesting.
That night, though...food poisoning hit. Thought briefly that it was the stream, but the wife had it also. Traced it back to some dodgy trifle the night before (not to be trifled with...). So had a couple of days of enforced rest until...
Wednesday, 12th June. Nottinghamshire AAA Summer League, and the race my club (Erewash Valley) runs. Also, out team is 3rd, very close to second, and depressingly I'm one of the faster runners, and we had all the marshals we needed. And, I lost out on the coin toss with my wife - loser had to run. Damn. Had an ok start, faded, died (or felt like I did), picked up what I thought was a stone in my shoe - turned out to be a carpet tack straight through, ouchies). Came 31st or something, well down on usual, at an average of 6.08/mile (better than it felt) with some decent climb in. Survived, felt like crap again on Thursday.
Friday 14th June. Hairy Helmet Relay at Darley Park. Still feeling a bit off, but mostly ok, and anyway, its only 2 miles. Will fit in perfectly as training for the Lakeland 100... I was on second leg, and set off with a bloke right behind me. Managed to hold him off (just, although he was clearly slightly faster as he gained on me) but managed to average 5:42 (Strava tells me I also have my fastest mile at 5:29. Happy days.). Easy weekend, 1 hour run Saturday, 2 hour run Sunday, feeling human again.
Tuesday 18th June. 400m reps. Feeling good. Thursday, 10k run in the Hokas, still feeling alright (found some mud though, no grip. Felt like a cartoon character, legs spinning, going nowhere).
Saturday. There's a loop we do sometimes, circular, starts at Shining Cliff Woods, goes up through Crich, Lea Bridge, to Cromford, up the Wirksworth Incline the back to the start. Just under 18 miles, and just under 3000ft of climb. I did the first loop with Kieran Davis, who eats hills for breakfast. Feeling good, not running fast just enjoying it. Completed the first loop in 2:47, which I think is 10 minutes faster than I have ever done it before - and that last time I was going for it,and completely toasted at the end. This time, quick stop, stuff face, then loop the other way. Took a bit longer (about 3.5), running down the incline was nice, but the climb back out of Cromfor toward Riber is epic. In total, 35.4 miles, 5863ft of climb, 6hrs 25 minutes.
Sunday. Kinder Dozen attempt. Probably not the best to do this on tired legs (23 miles, 10k ft of climb) but I was going to give it a crack. Weather was different to Saturday. Bit wet. Bit windy. Actually, a lot wet and extremely windy. Richard Hyde was with me today, getting in some hills for his attempt on the Borrowdale fell race. We climbed. We descended. We climbed some more. We got slightly disorientated. We descended. Climbed Jacobs Ladder into the teeth of a massive headwind. Ran down the other side, still into the headwind, was really hard work! Rescued some lost blokes. Saw the front runners of the Kinder Trog (in vests!), some going the right way, some not so much. The climb up to Sandy Hays trig, always the killer, put paid to Richard, he headed off there (to be fair, that was always his intention though.) Map out, found the trig, continued. Weather got better, but I ran out of puff at the Seal Stones (ascent 7 of 12), so made my way back over Kinder, to the Nab. Faffed around finding the up and down route for the Edale Skyline fell race. Caught a mouse type thing, took a photo of it. Fantastic (if wet and really, really windy). Totals for the day: 18.1 miles, 5893 ft of climb (exactly 30 ft difference from Saturday!) and 5 hours 8 minutes.
Last big run was at the weekend just been. Back up to the Peak District. Legs still feeling a bit tired, but in to give it a crack anyway. Parked in Hope, realised I had forgotten my map, garmin and compass so had to use my phone, headed straight up Lose Hill. Felling a bit lacklustre, but carried on. Hollins Cross, Edale, Jacobs Ladder. Weather worse than last Sunday, visibility down to naff-all. Thought sod this, I'll head over Brown Knoll and back home. Great. Running down the flagstones, hammering it, missed the turn off and didn't realise until I say the sign saying "South Head". Oops. Took an arbitrary left down the Pennine Way (the wrong way), and carried on down there. Saw a train, realised where I was. Left again, back up the side of Brown Knoll. Found the air intake for the Edale train tunnel. Carried on, found the main path, then ran back to the car (slowly). Total for the run: 20.2 miles, 3232 ft of climb, 3.5 hours and a grand total of 1 gel consumed.
Next day - very grumpy and irritable, and tired. Overtrained, rested until...
Tuesday, 2nd July. 10x 200m reps, 1x100m rep. Trying to get some speed back in the legs.
23 days to go. Ready.
Monday 3 June 2013
A Fell Race and a Recce
So, school holidays. The first weekend of which, we went back up to the Lake District. Had the best drive up there ever, and discovered the fantastic Tebay services. Great place. Anyways, the reason we had such a good run was that it was Sunday,and we left early. Why leave early? The Helvellyn and the Dodds fell race kicked off at 12, and we were banking on a 4 hour trip up. It took just over 3, so, we had a bit of time sitting in the sun and getting ready for the race. Looks a bit of a beast on paper, 15m and 4300ft of climb.
After getting everything sorted and myself ready and kit-checked and waiting in the starting pen, I noticed my legs felt a bit "off", feeling a bit flat. First up is a flattish run out to the road, along the road, through a gently inclining boggy section, then straight up the side (literally) of Clough Head. Went up there better than I usually climb, and felt alright up the top. Unfortunately, my legs didn't have anything much on the flats, and I was pretty pathetic on the downs, usually the strongest part of my race. It's surprisingly lumpy along the top from this end, I was expecting something like it is from the other end.
It's an out and back race, so heading towards Helvellyn, and popping up to the checkpoints on each of the Dodds, slowly shedding places on the flats and downs, and gaining a couple every now and again on the ups. Completely the opposite of how my race usually goes. Hit the top checkpoint, then the long plod back. No-one passed me on the way back to Clough Head, but I managed to reel a few in - including one bloke who was bright enough not to take any food with him, took pity on him and threw him a gel. Then, sadly, on the steep charge down the side of Clough Head, which I was looking forward to as I usually pick up loads of places, my legs failed me and I had to mince down them, with people closing on me from behind. Not normal at all. Then onto the boggy bit, down the road, past the bloke from Isle of Man, and into the finish in 28th place, in 2:52. Winner was Carl Bell in 2:09ish.
Food afterwards was the best spread I have come across in a fell race, and I've been to a few. Amazing. Mel had taken the girls into Keswick and discovered the park and the ice-cream shop, so they were happy, even if I was a bit depressed.
Monday. In complete contrast to Sunday, the weather on Monday was a bit grim. Absolutely tipping it down, and windy. Not too cold though. My plan was to run from Buttermere to Dalemain, to check out that part of the Lakeland 100 course. Mel was taking the girls to the wildlife park by Bassenthwaite. I drove us to Buttermere, over Honister Pass (last time I went over here was way back in 2008, my first long distance event, the A-class OMM. It was rained off, and we were faced with a long trudge over here back to base camp. Fortunately, a bus rolled up, and I had some money. We were bussed up and over, past past loads of miserable looking OMMers. Fantastic) with Mel cursing me most of the way over. Jumped out at Buttermere and was promptly soaked. Stood round for a few minutes waiting for my Garmin to find some satellites, got saturated, gave up and just started running, hoping it would connect.
Really nice run up to Sail Pass, mostly nicely runnable until the last grunt up to the pass. It was here I started really enjoying myself, having a bit of a laugh and feeling about a million times better than the previous day. Nearly blown over the pass the wind was that strong, then a nice run down to Barrow Door. My only bit of route confusion happened here, with which footpath to take off the main path. Turned out the both led to the same place anyway. Another nice run down into Braithwaite, into where the checkpoint is at the Church. 1:14, and felt easy - hopefully the same pace on race day! From there, it's along the A66 to keswick, a fiddle through the up and around the side of Latrigg, picking up the footpath to Skiddaw Ho. There is a compulsory checkpoint along here, where the path crosses to the other side of the valley. Found where it should be, than back down to the Blencathra Centre. 1:26 for that section, still feeling really good and taking it easy. Then it was down to the old disused railway, and along there until the old coach road, with the next checkpoint at the end of it.
Well, it would have been if I didn't start getting a little bored at that point. Just before I was to leave the old railway, I decided enough was enough, got the phone out and called Mel, saying I was coming back. A bit of an emergency happened over her end (toilet for the oldest), and ensuing no-signal meant we played phone tag until I hit Keswick, then we arrange to meet up back at the YHA. Just beat them back. Cracking day out, despite the weather, and a fantastic test out to see how the Hoka's would handle the terrain - they were great, no slips even on the wet grassy bits. I reckon traction has a lot more to do with technique and foot placement than what is actually on your feet (Mudclaws excluded).
Also, target time for the L100 looking good!
After getting everything sorted and myself ready and kit-checked and waiting in the starting pen, I noticed my legs felt a bit "off", feeling a bit flat. First up is a flattish run out to the road, along the road, through a gently inclining boggy section, then straight up the side (literally) of Clough Head. Went up there better than I usually climb, and felt alright up the top. Unfortunately, my legs didn't have anything much on the flats, and I was pretty pathetic on the downs, usually the strongest part of my race. It's surprisingly lumpy along the top from this end, I was expecting something like it is from the other end.
It's an out and back race, so heading towards Helvellyn, and popping up to the checkpoints on each of the Dodds, slowly shedding places on the flats and downs, and gaining a couple every now and again on the ups. Completely the opposite of how my race usually goes. Hit the top checkpoint, then the long plod back. No-one passed me on the way back to Clough Head, but I managed to reel a few in - including one bloke who was bright enough not to take any food with him, took pity on him and threw him a gel. Then, sadly, on the steep charge down the side of Clough Head, which I was looking forward to as I usually pick up loads of places, my legs failed me and I had to mince down them, with people closing on me from behind. Not normal at all. Then onto the boggy bit, down the road, past the bloke from Isle of Man, and into the finish in 28th place, in 2:52. Winner was Carl Bell in 2:09ish.
Food afterwards was the best spread I have come across in a fell race, and I've been to a few. Amazing. Mel had taken the girls into Keswick and discovered the park and the ice-cream shop, so they were happy, even if I was a bit depressed.
Monday. In complete contrast to Sunday, the weather on Monday was a bit grim. Absolutely tipping it down, and windy. Not too cold though. My plan was to run from Buttermere to Dalemain, to check out that part of the Lakeland 100 course. Mel was taking the girls to the wildlife park by Bassenthwaite. I drove us to Buttermere, over Honister Pass (last time I went over here was way back in 2008, my first long distance event, the A-class OMM. It was rained off, and we were faced with a long trudge over here back to base camp. Fortunately, a bus rolled up, and I had some money. We were bussed up and over, past past loads of miserable looking OMMers. Fantastic) with Mel cursing me most of the way over. Jumped out at Buttermere and was promptly soaked. Stood round for a few minutes waiting for my Garmin to find some satellites, got saturated, gave up and just started running, hoping it would connect.
Really nice run up to Sail Pass, mostly nicely runnable until the last grunt up to the pass. It was here I started really enjoying myself, having a bit of a laugh and feeling about a million times better than the previous day. Nearly blown over the pass the wind was that strong, then a nice run down to Barrow Door. My only bit of route confusion happened here, with which footpath to take off the main path. Turned out the both led to the same place anyway. Another nice run down into Braithwaite, into where the checkpoint is at the Church. 1:14, and felt easy - hopefully the same pace on race day! From there, it's along the A66 to keswick, a fiddle through the up and around the side of Latrigg, picking up the footpath to Skiddaw Ho. There is a compulsory checkpoint along here, where the path crosses to the other side of the valley. Found where it should be, than back down to the Blencathra Centre. 1:26 for that section, still feeling really good and taking it easy. Then it was down to the old disused railway, and along there until the old coach road, with the next checkpoint at the end of it.
Well, it would have been if I didn't start getting a little bored at that point. Just before I was to leave the old railway, I decided enough was enough, got the phone out and called Mel, saying I was coming back. A bit of an emergency happened over her end (toilet for the oldest), and ensuing no-signal meant we played phone tag until I hit Keswick, then we arrange to meet up back at the YHA. Just beat them back. Cracking day out, despite the weather, and a fantastic test out to see how the Hoka's would handle the terrain - they were great, no slips even on the wet grassy bits. I reckon traction has a lot more to do with technique and foot placement than what is actually on your feet (Mudclaws excluded).
Also, target time for the L100 looking good!
Friday 24 May 2013
The Old County Tops
It was my annual pilgrimage up to the Lakes last weekend for the Old County Tops fell race. The premise of this is to visit the highest peaks of 3 old counties - West Moreland, Lancashire and Cumberland. The race is 37 miles long (if you take the right route!) with approximately 10000 feet of climbing (also route dependant).
This year, I was partnered up with Kieran Davis, a fellow member from Erewash Valley Running Club, and quite excited about the prospect of cracking 9 hours, as he is a far better climber than me and would keep the pressure on. Forecast was typical Lakes weather - rain and wind - so my coat was on from the start. Had a brief chat to Ben Abdelnoor and Paul Tierney at the start who had partnered up (the race is done in pairs) and would be the eventual winners.
Kit check and registration all went very smoothly, then it was just hanging around for the very brief briefing, then the race started at 8.05am. The start is just across the road from the Old Dungeon Ghyll hotel, and follows a bridlepath towards Chapel Stile, before heading up over a hill into Grasmere. Madeitto the top of the hill in second place, just behind the eventual winners, feeling great. From there into Grasmere is an awesome runnable descent, which this year we took a bit easy, making it down in 3rd.
Nice steady trot through Grasmere to the A591, then along there to the turn-off to go up Helvellyn, the first of the Tops. The first part of the climb is mostly runnable, with 2 short sharp climbs just before Grisedale Tarn. After that comes a steep grunt up Dollywagon on the the tops, with an undulating run to Helvellyn itself. Made it there in 1:50, not sure of the position. From there it's a quad-busting descent (the very first year I did this, I was feeling awesome and charged off the top like a complete loony. Quads were ruined, numb, and I struggled massively for the rest of the race. Didn't help that it was about a thousand degrees.) down to Wythburn car park. Very steady down to the bottom and into the second checkpoint, quick cup of tea and some pretty epic fruitcake and we were off again, 12th place and only 17 minutes behind the leader.
From Wythburn to Angle Tarn is tough going. There is some climb, some bog, a bit more bog, and then some deep bog. This is one of the places where you can get bogged (sorry) down and lose a lot of time. We kept a steady pace up through here, but had to hold back a bit as Kieran was on the verge of cramp. Him getting stuck waist deep in a bog, though, was the best bit. Had to pull him out. Quality. Next up is Flour Ghyll. Bit of route choice here - either straight over High Raise, or around. We went around, and for the first time ever went a little bit low. Not disastrous in any way, bit slightly annoying. \then up to Angle Tarn. Halfway in distance, but not in time. About 4 hours in here.
From Angle Tarn, there is a climb up what feels like a million steps to Esk Hause, then along to Scafell Pike. This wouldn't be too bad, but it is extremely rocky, and slippy. Not much to report from here really, except on the final grunt up to Scafell Pike, loads of runners came back past us, taking the soft option off instead of the direct line. We went down the direct line, 4th time I have done it, and the 4th different route down. Really must recce it one day, but this one was definitely the best so far. Still bloody steep though.
After shaking all of the stones out of my shoes, off across Great Moss (boggy) to Mosedale. It's a cracking run down Mosedale to Cockley Beck, or it would be if I had remembered to eat! Bonked out and had to walk and shove in a gel, then catch back up to Kieran who hadn't even noticed I wasn't there. Cheers mate.
Cockley Beck checkpoint is the best checkpoint ever. Cup if tea, egg sandwich, cheese and pickle sandwich, some more epic fruitcake, a refill of my water bottle (only half empty) and a banana for later, and we were off. Up towards Grey Friar. Yay. It's a soul-destroying climb that just goes on. Forever. We got up there, somehow, then its a long slog to Coniston Old Man, pretty sure it gets further every year. Mostly runnable and undulating, covered in clag with a couple of sneaky options to go wrong. Our route choice was pretty spot on, but only because I have done every possible wrong route!
From Coniston, it's back the way we came, then keeping north and down Wet Side Edge to Three Shire Stones. Last checkpoint, then down the road towards Blea Moss. It was going down here we noticed that the pair behind us, one of them looked 70, and was catching. This made Kieran overcome his fear of cramp,and we got a bit of a move on down here, popped some extra gels through Blea Moss (boggy) and then hammered (at least, it felt like we did) past Blea Tarn, catching the pair in front (first mixed pair). We kept pushing the pace right until the end.
Ended up 13th (I have a thing for coming 13th) in 8:50ish (will confirm when results are out), so pretty stoked about that. If I can improve my uphill speed, and Kieran his downhill speed, I reckon next year we could do alright.
Has to be my favourite long fell race, extremely well organised with the most awesome marshals (out in some pretty horrendous weather) and checkpoint food ever. Cheers Achill-Ratti.
This year, I was partnered up with Kieran Davis, a fellow member from Erewash Valley Running Club, and quite excited about the prospect of cracking 9 hours, as he is a far better climber than me and would keep the pressure on. Forecast was typical Lakes weather - rain and wind - so my coat was on from the start. Had a brief chat to Ben Abdelnoor and Paul Tierney at the start who had partnered up (the race is done in pairs) and would be the eventual winners.
Kit check and registration all went very smoothly, then it was just hanging around for the very brief briefing, then the race started at 8.05am. The start is just across the road from the Old Dungeon Ghyll hotel, and follows a bridlepath towards Chapel Stile, before heading up over a hill into Grasmere. Madeitto the top of the hill in second place, just behind the eventual winners, feeling great. From there into Grasmere is an awesome runnable descent, which this year we took a bit easy, making it down in 3rd.
Nice steady trot through Grasmere to the A591, then along there to the turn-off to go up Helvellyn, the first of the Tops. The first part of the climb is mostly runnable, with 2 short sharp climbs just before Grisedale Tarn. After that comes a steep grunt up Dollywagon on the the tops, with an undulating run to Helvellyn itself. Made it there in 1:50, not sure of the position. From there it's a quad-busting descent (the very first year I did this, I was feeling awesome and charged off the top like a complete loony. Quads were ruined, numb, and I struggled massively for the rest of the race. Didn't help that it was about a thousand degrees.) down to Wythburn car park. Very steady down to the bottom and into the second checkpoint, quick cup of tea and some pretty epic fruitcake and we were off again, 12th place and only 17 minutes behind the leader.
From Wythburn to Angle Tarn is tough going. There is some climb, some bog, a bit more bog, and then some deep bog. This is one of the places where you can get bogged (sorry) down and lose a lot of time. We kept a steady pace up through here, but had to hold back a bit as Kieran was on the verge of cramp. Him getting stuck waist deep in a bog, though, was the best bit. Had to pull him out. Quality. Next up is Flour Ghyll. Bit of route choice here - either straight over High Raise, or around. We went around, and for the first time ever went a little bit low. Not disastrous in any way, bit slightly annoying. \then up to Angle Tarn. Halfway in distance, but not in time. About 4 hours in here.
From Angle Tarn, there is a climb up what feels like a million steps to Esk Hause, then along to Scafell Pike. This wouldn't be too bad, but it is extremely rocky, and slippy. Not much to report from here really, except on the final grunt up to Scafell Pike, loads of runners came back past us, taking the soft option off instead of the direct line. We went down the direct line, 4th time I have done it, and the 4th different route down. Really must recce it one day, but this one was definitely the best so far. Still bloody steep though.
After shaking all of the stones out of my shoes, off across Great Moss (boggy) to Mosedale. It's a cracking run down Mosedale to Cockley Beck, or it would be if I had remembered to eat! Bonked out and had to walk and shove in a gel, then catch back up to Kieran who hadn't even noticed I wasn't there. Cheers mate.
Cockley Beck checkpoint is the best checkpoint ever. Cup if tea, egg sandwich, cheese and pickle sandwich, some more epic fruitcake, a refill of my water bottle (only half empty) and a banana for later, and we were off. Up towards Grey Friar. Yay. It's a soul-destroying climb that just goes on. Forever. We got up there, somehow, then its a long slog to Coniston Old Man, pretty sure it gets further every year. Mostly runnable and undulating, covered in clag with a couple of sneaky options to go wrong. Our route choice was pretty spot on, but only because I have done every possible wrong route!
From Coniston, it's back the way we came, then keeping north and down Wet Side Edge to Three Shire Stones. Last checkpoint, then down the road towards Blea Moss. It was going down here we noticed that the pair behind us, one of them looked 70, and was catching. This made Kieran overcome his fear of cramp,and we got a bit of a move on down here, popped some extra gels through Blea Moss (boggy) and then hammered (at least, it felt like we did) past Blea Tarn, catching the pair in front (first mixed pair). We kept pushing the pace right until the end.
Ended up 13th (I have a thing for coming 13th) in 8:50ish (will confirm when results are out), so pretty stoked about that. If I can improve my uphill speed, and Kieran his downhill speed, I reckon next year we could do alright.
Has to be my favourite long fell race, extremely well organised with the most awesome marshals (out in some pretty horrendous weather) and checkpoint food ever. Cheers Achill-Ratti.
Monday 29 April 2013
Mini Mountain Marathon (+a little extra)
Been a busy week this one. Last Saturday (20th April), I was out for my normal short-weekend run (I alternate between short and long weekends) when I realised that I was running pain free - bit of a novelty, as I have always had some sort of painful niggle since the Tuesday after my first Lakeland 50 recce weekend way back in 2010.
Sunday was a really good day out in the Peak District with Kieran Davis, from my running club (Erewash Valley). I have a route, which is 13 miles long, with 3400ish feet of climb. We started running at 7:30am, didn't see anyone for the next hour and a half. It was fantastic. Even took some photos.
First 3 are from Lose Hill, next 5 from Mam Tor and the rest from Win Hill. The run is in preparation for the Old County Tops fell race, which I am doing with Kieran. Haven't told him yet, but I'm hoping for 8 hours-ish.
Monday was a rest day, Tuesday parents evening so no training. Wednesday night, club night and Pairs race time. The pairs race is both cunning and evil in its simplicity. Circular route, fastest paired with slowest, second fastest with second slowest, etc. All set off at the same time, fast in one direction, slow in the other. You meet your partner, handover the baton, and return the way you came, in theory arriving at the same time
as your partner. Somehow, I managed to get paired with the (by her own admission!) slowest, and our resident fast bloke with the no-so. Anyways, I decided to use Stuart Mills' approach of seeing this as a challenge, and not the usual "aaargh pairs race get me away from here!". Worked, I think. Managed a decent pace over the hilly bits, and after the turn around,hammered it home, picking off Gary right at the end (should really have let him know I was close...) Results. Has to be the first pairs race I have actually enjoyed since the first one I did (in 2008...). As soon as I figure out how to link Strava with this, I'll post my routes.
Saturday. Long run day. 5 hours. Took it easy, for 2 reasons. 1, I was racing the next day. 2, I wanted to see just where the inevitable "slow-down" hit whilst taking it easy, and how my mileage would compare to my previous 5 hour run. Well, my slow-down hit at 4 hours, compare to 3 and a half for my previous 5 hour run. However, I only managed 30.8 miles, as opposed to 37 for the faster start. I know which approach I'll be using from now on...
Sunday. Dark and White Racekit Mini Mountain Marathon. Was supposed to be race 3, but was race 2 as the original race 2 was postponed due to snow. We rocked up early, aiming to be the first out (I travelled up with Neil and Cee Weightman from the club) as we both had things on that afternoon. Turns out that up in Castleton, it was a bit colder than home. Also, a bit windier. I had shorts on, wasn't best pleased. To make matters worse, I had to put my waterproof coat on to keep warm,which smelt a bit grim after the previous days run. Started off very sedately, but after about half an hour, I was feeling unreasonably good, and had picked up the pace a lot, knocking through the controls quite nicely, climbing well, slightly slow on the downs though. Messed up fairly horrendously on the second to last checkpoint though. Was making my way back to the start/finish, climbing up Cave Dale to a control that was there. Didn't check the description, just assumed it would be on the fence. It wasn't. Had to go back and collect, which cost me enough time and effort that I was 8 and a bit minutes over, losing 13 points from my score. Sad times. Ended up 8th, which is my worst result there in ages, but happy in the knowledge that if I was fresher, I would have tagged all of the checkpoints (missed out 4). Results.
So, pretty happy with the week, Ladybower 50 recce Saturday. Should be fun!
Sunday was a really good day out in the Peak District with Kieran Davis, from my running club (Erewash Valley). I have a route, which is 13 miles long, with 3400ish feet of climb. We started running at 7:30am, didn't see anyone for the next hour and a half. It was fantastic. Even took some photos.
First 3 are from Lose Hill, next 5 from Mam Tor and the rest from Win Hill. The run is in preparation for the Old County Tops fell race, which I am doing with Kieran. Haven't told him yet, but I'm hoping for 8 hours-ish.
Monday was a rest day, Tuesday parents evening so no training. Wednesday night, club night and Pairs race time. The pairs race is both cunning and evil in its simplicity. Circular route, fastest paired with slowest, second fastest with second slowest, etc. All set off at the same time, fast in one direction, slow in the other. You meet your partner, handover the baton, and return the way you came, in theory arriving at the same time
as your partner. Somehow, I managed to get paired with the (by her own admission!) slowest, and our resident fast bloke with the no-so. Anyways, I decided to use Stuart Mills' approach of seeing this as a challenge, and not the usual "aaargh pairs race get me away from here!". Worked, I think. Managed a decent pace over the hilly bits, and after the turn around,hammered it home, picking off Gary right at the end (should really have let him know I was close...) Results. Has to be the first pairs race I have actually enjoyed since the first one I did (in 2008...). As soon as I figure out how to link Strava with this, I'll post my routes.
Saturday. Long run day. 5 hours. Took it easy, for 2 reasons. 1, I was racing the next day. 2, I wanted to see just where the inevitable "slow-down" hit whilst taking it easy, and how my mileage would compare to my previous 5 hour run. Well, my slow-down hit at 4 hours, compare to 3 and a half for my previous 5 hour run. However, I only managed 30.8 miles, as opposed to 37 for the faster start. I know which approach I'll be using from now on...
Sunday. Dark and White Racekit Mini Mountain Marathon. Was supposed to be race 3, but was race 2 as the original race 2 was postponed due to snow. We rocked up early, aiming to be the first out (I travelled up with Neil and Cee Weightman from the club) as we both had things on that afternoon. Turns out that up in Castleton, it was a bit colder than home. Also, a bit windier. I had shorts on, wasn't best pleased. To make matters worse, I had to put my waterproof coat on to keep warm,which smelt a bit grim after the previous days run. Started off very sedately, but after about half an hour, I was feeling unreasonably good, and had picked up the pace a lot, knocking through the controls quite nicely, climbing well, slightly slow on the downs though. Messed up fairly horrendously on the second to last checkpoint though. Was making my way back to the start/finish, climbing up Cave Dale to a control that was there. Didn't check the description, just assumed it would be on the fence. It wasn't. Had to go back and collect, which cost me enough time and effort that I was 8 and a bit minutes over, losing 13 points from my score. Sad times. Ended up 8th, which is my worst result there in ages, but happy in the knowledge that if I was fresher, I would have tagged all of the checkpoints (missed out 4). Results.
So, pretty happy with the week, Ladybower 50 recce Saturday. Should be fun!
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