PENNINE!

Back to blogging after a long break (I actually forgot I had this blog).

Over the 2014 summer I've been injured after tearing the cartilage in my left hip and carrying on running on from Novermber through to the begIIinning of the summer. I got some good results in, a 10k pb in March (38:44) and did my first ultra - the Haworth Hobble in 5hr 30min-ish.

I made my return from injury a few month ago, a stone heavier and not as fit as I was. I started back on the hills with Glossopdale but struggled since the only people that seem to train regularly are the 'fast' runners.

After a few weeks of getting left behind and there seeming to be a lack of proper re-grouping while out, I got pissed off and decided to sack Glossopdale off for fell running and head over the hill to Hayfield and join up to Pennine Fell Runners.

I must say I'm massively impressed with Pennine and the way club fell runs are done. Multiple groups and everyone sticks together, no one is left behind. It's a long round trip for me for the weekly club run but well worth it.

I'm planning my first fell race for Pennine to be Famous Grouse, the race that originally injured me last year. I've also pre-entered Gravy Pud & The Trigger, running for Pennine.

I'm still a member of Glossopdale for the purposes of running on the road and cross country.

Just gotta keep training, get fitter and lose some more weight!

Long Mynd Valleys 2013

I usually try to get more than 20 miles training in per week but I thought I'd rest up before the Long Mynd Valleys (LMV) as I know it's a tough race since I did it last year. The hills are brutally steep and unforgiving. If ever you hear a marathon runner talk about 'hitting the wall', well I challenge them to hit the wall while literally hitting a great big grassy wall. As I read this week on the FRA internet forum, the LMV really sorts the men from the boys.
When I did this last year I got given advice from fellow Glossopdale Harriers to save some energy for the latter half of the race as it's where the race really begins. I did this and had a relatively good race in 2012 and got round in 2 hours 34 minutes. The conditions were snowy but most of it was pretty run-able and the downhills were great fun, just sitting down and sliding down on your arse.

Profile for the LMV fell race

This year there was no snow on the ground but it was pretty muddy in parts. I decided to ditch the save 'something for the end' approach to this race and decided to just go for it. I felt like I'd paced myself pretty well and was suprised when I'd caught up John (a much faster runner from Glossopdale) after about 3 miles. Turns out he wasn't feeling too well and was boardline hypothermic when he came into the finish. The weather was pretty harsh all the way round, mainly snowing on the tops and raining down in the valleys, the wind added, it made things harsher. I'd opted for just wearing one layer for the race and not bothering with wearing my coat unless I felt cold. I did get a bit nippy at points but just ran harder to warm up (I still had full waterproofs & emergency kit in my bumbag just in case). Throughout the race I was mainly gaining places until the last three hills where I stayed pretty level with other runners around me. Where I lost places on the uphills, I gained them back on the downhills. Just shows I need to work on getting myself uphill faster & lose a bit more weight to help me.

I came in with a time of 2:21 this year, an improvement of about 13 minutes. As with last year, I've been aching for the whole week afterwards, and 5 days later my legs are only just coming right... it's the downhill running that gets your legs. Looking forward to next year and hopefully more improvements.

About 4.5 miles into the race.

10 miles  in, about to start the last ascent.

Off The Fells - 10k & 5k

Glossopdale Harriers Handicap 10K
The club puts this race every month during the winter, runners are set off in accordance with their predicted or previous course time so that everyone should, in theory, come in to the finish at the same time. I've only done this once before, back in December 2011 in a time of 43:13. Runners with slower times set off before me and I had faster runners chasing me down... I'd say I'm about mid-field. Last winter when I did this I'd set off too fast so steadied myself in the first few kilometres. I began catching runners in front of me at about the 5km mark but I was labouring at this point. I think I was still tired from the big week of fell running in the snow and I had the tail end of a cold. Then began the sounds...
I've only made audible sounds when racing once before, on the Shelf Moor fell race, coming up James's Thorn, determined to beat Andy A & Dave H. If you imagine the sounds that someone who is possessed by the devil would make, then you're not far off. So, carrying on on the GDH 10k sounding like a wounded devil dog I got to the hard bit, the big hill up Park Road, Hadfield and kept going all the way to the top... I don't do walking on road races, that's reserved for redonkulous hills on the moors and fells. From the top it's all downhill to the finish, the best bit as you can let gravity do it's work. There is a little flat stretch halfway down, which is when I got demoralised when I was finally caught by the chasing hounds (Mike, Neil and Steve). I came in at the leisure centre with a time of 42:15. That's about a minute off last winters time and only 7 seconds off my flat 10k PB.... according to some, the GDH 10k is 2 mins slower than a flat course, so next flat 10k could be sub 40 minutes. I'll have to give the handicap course another go when I'm fully rested and haven't got a cold!


South Manchester ParkRun
I'd been looking forward to giving the ParkRun at Platt Fields Park another bash. My fitness had dropped a bit since I got my PB (19:16) back in September and have only just got some of it back. On the chilly morning I met Caity, a fellow Glossopdale Harrier and friend, and warmed up with a little jog round the park. After all the usual spiel from the organisers I got myself to the front of the pack for the start. Then as the organiser shouts "Go!" I watched all the excited runners leg it off in front of me while I kept a steady pace. Even after the first minute I was picking people off and leaving them behind.
My km splits were: 3:52, 3:58, 3:53, 4:01 and 3:41, giving me a time of 19:25. Not bad as there are no ridiculous puddles in two places on the course... and when I say puddles I'm talking several metres in diameter and at least 40cm deep. If conditions were good then I reckon I'd have matched my PB.
Just got to keep up the hard work, train smart and keep losing the weight.

Snow Week

Over the past couple of months I've waned a bit on the fells and seem to have done more road running, especially after talking to our club coach, Jeroen, who's suggestion was that I run with a purpose each time I go out, such as setting target paces and distances, doing intervals and tempo runs. I've been sticking to this ethos rather than just plodding out the miles. Starting from last weekend has been different though, with a lot of snowfall on the hills in the Peak District I've found myself draw back to the fells.

Firstly I ran on Saturday with the Glossopdale ladies (+John), setting off from Old Glossop over Glossop Low to Torside Reser, Crowden, up to Lads Leap and back though Tintwistle and Padfield. About 12 miles in total with 2500ft ascent. I took Bessie with me for the run, she seemed to love jumping about in the snow and eat it too! Overall a nicely paced run and great company.

 (L-R) Caity, Becky, John, Sue & Elsa the dog

Bessie enjoying the snow

The following day I headed out again with more Harriers, again from old Glossop, taking the same route up Glossop Low but then we hit the Pennine Way we headed east and over to Bleaklow Head. The weather was much worse this day, the blizzard driving from the east into out faces. Once we headed back west and down Yellowslacks, stopping briefly while we all checked out a little shelter under a rocky outcrop (further west of Dog Rock), then we all belted down Lightside. A shorter run on that Sunday, toting up to about 8 miles, with 1500ft ascent. Bessie stayed at home on that run, I didn't want to over-run her.

Glossopdale Harriers at Glossop Low

Poor  conditions heading over to Bleaklow

After resting on Monday I headed out again with Neil and took Bessie. There had been more snowfall so the going was much tougher. Our route was from Glossop, up Wormstones, Mill Hill, Kinder steps, over to Kinder Downfall. It took us an hour and a half to get up to Kinder steps and feeling a bit knackered after trudging through fresh snow and I'd wanted to turn head back at this point but I was easily convinced by Neil  to head on to Kinder Downfall, which wasn't much of a downfall! The view was great and it was nice to have a sit down on a boulder at the top and take it all in with Bessie at my side. Heading back the way we came to Mill Hill I was suffering a bit, possibly due to tiredness from previous runs and bonking ('hitting the wall' - not rumpy pumpy!). Our plan was to head along the Pennine Way then find the path down to Moorfield but it soon became apparent that sticking to the path was harder work than heading through the snowy heather. The top of the hill was ok, but as we got down in the groughs it was just as hard on the PW. I was glad when we got on the track that lead us back to the roads. A slow 12 miles with 2000ft ascent, in 4.5 hours!

Neil heading up Wormstones

Bessie with Kinder Scout in the background

After the run with Neil on Tuesday I began to feel run down so rested though to Saturday, the day of the Kinder Trial (orienteering) fell race....

Caity, Neil and myself had decided to run together on the Trial. Runners were set off at intervals of a minute or so, between 10am and 11am. Our time was 10:14. You got given the map with the control points to visit printed on it and you had to visit all of them, but in any order you want.

Our route went K6, K4, K9, K1, K2, K3, K10, K5, K7. So an anti-clockwise route. The opposite way round to which most people had gone... this meant we were running in fresh snow a lot of the time which made the going tough, until after K2.
I felt pretty rough for this run, even before we'd left Kinder Road my legs were aching and I was lacking any power for the hills. The views were good though and I had great company all the way round. We had an extra harrier to run in with as we met Lins at the top of Snake Path and we were all egged on by Neil who raced us into the finish together.

Caity & Neil on Sandy Heys

Lins, Caity, Neil & myself

Results here: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/temples-bin/hc.pl?a=list&d=hc&f=kinder-trial-2013

Great fun, as are all the Hayfield races ( http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~temples/hc/ ). I'd highly recommend taking part in them if you don't already...

Stockport 10

My strategy was going to be just to run this race, not race it, however I tend to get sucked into things and before I knew it I was running at 6:30 min/miles, faster than my target pace of 7 min/miles for the whole race. I planned to keep Charlie in my sights and if I could do so I'd be having a good race. Charlie is a much faster runner than me on the roads. A shock to the system was how well Neil got off at the start of the race, who ploughed ahead both me and Charlie and I didn't see until the later stages of the race. I'm usually a bit faster than Neil at Park Run so I thought I'll catch him later.
I settled into the race and found myself very gradually drawing Charlie in and by mile 5, just at the start of the first ascent I drew level. With a long way to go I was worried that Charlie, being the better road runner, would catch me. I carried on, anticipating Charlie appearing, when at about mile 6, I spotted Neil! Part of me was thinking I needn't worry, that he'd set off to fast and I would catch him. I thought wrong! I did gain ground on him and was about 15 second behind him at the final hill at 8.5 miles, back up to Woodbank Stadium, thinking again I'd catch him, but he held a good pace and couldn't catch him, no matter how hard I tried. I finished the 10 miles in 1:08:30 and Neil finished 13 seconds ahead of me.
I would like to say I'd have caught him if 'd have tried harder, but I put everything in. In fact, I probably wouldn't have gotten the time I did if I'd have not have been trying to chase Neil, so I owe my time partly to him! Massive well done to Neil and everyone else at Glossopdale Harrier in the Stockport 10.
It was a great race, well organised, got a nice technical top and a brilliant goody bag!
(The good bag contailed: A ruler, a £5 sweatshop voucher, an Oxo cube, a lollypop, a kitkat and a radiator key!)

Results here: http://www.chiptiming.co.uk/pdf/Stockport10.pdf
I was 117th out of 748.

I'm wondering if aiming for a sub60 10 mile for next year is out of my reach. I really need to drop a stone and train hard!

Dave Hogg: There's No 'I' In Team

Today I ran leg two of the UKA British Fell & Hill Relays statrting from Church Stretton, Shropshire and running round the Long Mynd Valleys. My running partner was changed last minute and the guy who I was meant to be running with was put on leg one (a solo leg) and the guy who I was meant do leg one was partnered with me.
Leg one set off as a mass start at 10 o'clock and our runner put our team (Glossopdale Harriers - B) in good stead by coming in 30th. There was a bit of confusion swapping over with him, but me and my partner set off up the steep hill out of the event field. Flustered, I think we both set off too fast but my partner pulled away from me going up.
Recently, with my slight improvement I've beaten my relay partner a few times in races, but I think he's gained a lot of fitness back and I was unable to keep with him. He just pulled further and further away from me and would be waiting for me at checkpoints that we had to 'dib' in (like an electronic checkpoint). Once we got onto the descents I caught him and the overtook him (downhills are my strong point), I thought though, I'll stick by him and do as you should when you are running as a pair. He fell over on the way down and winded himself and I waited with him. Then once down in the bottom of the valley we headed back up the other side to 'Callow', which is a really really really steep. See ya later, he was off again. At this point I thought "fuck it, I give up", I felt totally demoralised as being left behind by him. He waited for me at the top by the checkpoint. Once I dibbed, he was off again, my knee was starting to play up (injured after Good Shepherd last week) and as I dropped down the descent it became really painful so was unable to keep any speed up. I just grimaced and hobbled down. Another whacking great hill to climb (Ashlet) and I was still really demoralised and my knee was hurting more. The only joy I had in this race was seeing John H and Matt D (the leg 1 runner) at near the top and ran the last bit of the ascent and along the top with me. This was a massive boost seeing them and did wonders for my mood, I wished they could have stayed with me all the way to the finish.

One long descent down from Ashlet then little kicker of a hill before the finish there was one last checkpoint... but no partner. He'd pissed off to the finish already. As I dropped down to the finish line (hand over point) he was there waiting. Apparently he'd been waiting about 5 minutes. Needless to say I felt like a right dickhead coming in, in front of the crowd, on my own, with my 'partner' casually stood there waiting for me. I don't think I'll take part in any relays in future, I've never had a good experience with them. 

Glossopdale B team came in 75th out of  160+

Map of leg 2: http://merciarelays.org.uk/Long%20Mynd%2025000%20FRA%20Leg%202%20purple.pdf

My garmin log: http://connect.garmin.com/player/233454498 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/233454498

My knee is totally screwed now, just totally seized up and mega mega painful (until I took an nice floaty-light dose of codeine).

Good Shepherd, bad knee

Last weekend I took part in the Good Shepherd fell race, which starts from Mytholmroyd, Calderdale. I like getting out of Manchester to places I don't usually run in. The hills round Glossop can become a bit too familiar after a while. I know Mytholmroyd reasonably well as it's where I briefly went to high school before moving away.
The train station was right next to the church that was hosting the registration so I had no trouble finding it. The start was a 10 minute walk up the road to a lane which headed off towards the hills. There was no rush to get up there as the lady I was walking up there with had the start hooter.
Parrrp. And the race was off. People rushing off in front as would be expected in a race. I decided to play it cool and hold back a bit and catch people as they tire. The race route heads up to Stoodley Pike, down to a reservoir, back up the hills, down again, up Stoodley Pike a second time and then skirting along the top of the valley before dropping back down into Mytholmroyd for the finish.

As I headed up Stoodley Pike for the first time I caught a few people and then heading down to the reservoir I passed a fella who was really really taking his time running down the hill. By the time I got down to the bottom he was way back. I'd say one of my strong points in fell running is that I'm a good descender. Just let go and let gravity do it's work. But on the ascent after the reser the guy caught me! I wasn't really pushing myself with this race as I usually would (as I've got the FRA relays this coming weekend and I want to save myself for them), but the guy was flying up the hill. I can only assume that he was a super super fit fell runner and he was running the race, not racing the race.

After this my position in the race didn't alter much but the runners were spreading thin, only 65ish runners over what was supposed to be a 14.9mile race. I took my time getting up Stoodley Pike a second time, but joked about near the top, breaking into a run especially for a photographer, I didn't want my photo showing me slacking! ha

Still with miles to go I headed down towards Cragg Vale and I was relieved to know the rest of the course was flagged (but very sparsely I might add). I nearly went wrong after the road crossing but was shouted by some runners I'd caught up. That's the good thing about fell running, everyone looks after each other.

I followed those guys for a bit, but they were pulling  further and further away. So for the rest of the race I didn't see anyone at all, which makes navigating the course more difficult, even if it's flagged as there might not be a flag for a quarter of a mile. Sometimes it's not so obvious as to which way to go in unfamiliar woodlands. The only place I ended up going wrong was right, right at the end. I missed the turn for the finish line and ended up running into Mytholmroyd train station and back out again! I think I only lost about 30 seconds but didn't lose my ranking.

Stoodley Pike (the first time):

On the way up to Stoodley Pike for a second time:

I think I came in about 26th out of about 65. I've not seen the official results yet. Though I'm not too bothered, I just really enjoyed this one. I'll definitely give it another go next year and not hold back.