Training Log Archive: Craney

Andy got back from France and was so keen to go running that I got dragged along too. My bum had become quite acquainted with the sofa so it was hard getting up. But after that it was ok. Trespass, headstone, Rivelin.

We won and we'll be representing the UK in Rome in September!

Neil did loads of prep and thinking about this in advance which defo helped, especially as we were pretty much the only people running that weren't from London. Surprised by the lack of competition as it was a really good fun race with an awesome prize. Here's what we did:
- popped some balloons to find the name of a country (Saudi Arabia), name the capital (Riyadh) and count some guitars (29) to get the clue sheet
- spent 20mins on the phone to Marky Mark drawing circles on our street map
- run/tube to Docklands
- Neil does bungee trampolining (2x backwards roll, 2x forwards roll, 1x double backwards roll - impressive)
- we both do an easy 5min canoeing course
- DLR back to central London (Bank)
- Neil balances on a bike for 40secs
- we get parts of our legs waxed
- tip a tyre along a 20m track
- mystery game (find code to a lock, roll dice, open that box, eat what's inside - we were lucky cos it was sweets!)
- indoor golf (had to drive a ball over 150yds - I did it first go despite slicing it wildly)
- add up the cost of a shopping list in Snow and Rock
- tube down to Lambeth North
- paint lines on a school playground
- turbotrainer to blend a smoothie of garlic, vinegar, chillis... (I forget the rest, but it minged)
- run/tube to the finish
- run to sandbank on the Thames outside the Globe Theatre and dig around in the sand trying to find the Union Jack
- run back to the finish
Total time of about 3:25 I think and we ran for probably about 90mins (running pretty hard). Won by about 30mins. We had some luck though that the checkpoints we chose didn't take very long, and we could easily have failed the trampolining or the golf. Spent 10mins waiting for one tube though and another was stationary for a bit cos of flooding. Neil ran into a sign early on and got a lot of blood on his nice white t-shirt - good job he didn't have to talk to too many members of the public cos they probably wouldn't have been very keen on helping a bloody, sweaty, monkey-resembling guy.

Anyway, after all that we did a few TV interviews although I expect (hope) that no-one will ever see them. And we sat in a pub by the Thames getting drunk with everyone else that ran and all the organisers - nice touch that. It was so much fun that we stayed too long and ended up missing our train home so got another that terminated at Derby and got a taxi back to Sheffield. D'oh!

C • Nice one 4

Ewwww, minging out there today. Combination of heavy rain, wind and mist. Can't believe it's the end of July and I'm losing feeling in my hands through coldness out on the moors. Home, Trespass, Pole, High Neb, Conduit, Wyming Brook, Home. Legs felt quite fresh which was a pleasant surprise.

Jeez some good people turning out to these races. Lloyd and Andy Thake there tonight, so knew 3rd was the best I could do. And that's where I came. With them (sort of) til the uphill then well and truly dropped. Looking like it was gonna be a nice evening til just about warm-up o-clock then it chucked it down. Stopped raining for the race, but very very muddy. Weird route this one. Big descent to start, then flat, then uphill to finish. Could feel yesterdays race in my legs, but ran alright. 1min behind Lloyd, about 30secs behind Andy, well ahead of whoever was 4th. Some big cows with big horns out there and a few scare stories kicking about of them charging people in the last couple of years. So I wore a red running vest... Nothing happened.

C • Good effort 1

Basically straight up Win Hill and straight back. Plenty of the gang there tonight. Little Rob and Phil set the early pace and I tried to hang on. Us 3 broke away from the rest but they broke me a bit. Then Phil hurt his toe so I passed him and ended up 2nd - 22secs behind Little Rob. Pretty pleased with that. Especially as he only won the same as me - £20 of Outside vouchers. My time was slightly slower than 2005, but we'd taken a bit of a short cut that year. Nice, fairly sunny, fairly warm evening out in the Peaks.

With Phil, Mike and OJ. They went topless but I wasn't feeling quite as gay.

C • orienteering fashion 9

Morning jog, mainly on roads this time. Included a rather large hill. Felt alright.

2min hard, 1min recovery, 8reps. Pushed it hard and died off a bit. Legs felt heavy. Along the conduit and the road round the top Rivelin Dam so dead flat.

Out via Wyming Brook and back via the trespass. Cruising along nicely.

Usual jog out round Redmires Dams. Nice to see a brief break in the rain.

Steady run taking in Rivelin, Stanno, Rivelin Dam and Wyming Brook. Seems like the bracken grew a good foot during the rain yesterday. Nice evening today but. Still felt a bit crap.

C • But what? 2