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.
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| (L-R) Caity, Becky, John, Sue & Elsa the dog |
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Bessie enjoying the snow
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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.
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| Glossopdale Harriers at Glossop Low |
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| 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!
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| Neil heading up Wormstones |
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| 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.
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| Caity & Neil on Sandy Heys |
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| Lins, Caity, Neil & myself |
Results here:
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/temples-bin/hc.pl?a=list&d=hc&f=kinder-trial-2013
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