Training Log Archive: Frostbite

A bit of a walk, 5 miles from Swainby, up Scugdale and below Whorl Hill. Also a bit of tree surgery.

All I could be bothered with when I got home.

Wandering around Malham Moor looking at control sites.

Woodhouse Ridge and Sugarwell. Lots of effort. Had to sprint to duck under 50 mins.

Adel Crag. Steady pace but quite hard work.

Seven Arches. Not very fast but at least I kept it going to the end today.

Same as last week. Couldn't be arsed with running.

Hampsfell, M50L

Alright for 15 minutes or so, just a small error climbing a little too high on #4, +45 seconds. Then I just died on the first real climb (#7) and stuggled all the way to the finish. And I couldn't find #10, the last one in the woods. I came in off the path bend, wandered around for 2 or 3 minutes, then back to the path bend found it the second time. 4 minutes lost. It wouldn't have been too bad if I was running properly but I was just wandering around in a daze. I was fine but slow out on the moor where it was very easy, and a bit lucky with #17 in the tricky scrubby bit. I knew I was in the right place more or less but couldn't see a cairn, then as I started to move away to relocate I just caught sight of it behind a random mound of stones, which is not the same thing as a cairn.

Very slow, very poor. I blame Charlie.
17 minutes behind Ben Stansfield

C • All my fault 2

Easy round Meanwood and Hollies. Not too bad, better than yesterday.

7 Arches. Tried to go a bit faster but my legs weren't having it. Slowed down at 3 miles, same as last week. I guess I am struggling to recover from Thursday nights.

Not so much actual running tonight. Lots of shorter stuff and thinking about "posture". Not as good as the normal session.

warm up

sideways "crab" shuffle followed by 10m sprint, then a short break to hear all about posture, then some more, then another short break to hear about posture, then hopping instead of shuffling.

50m sprint relay

strength exercises - plank, squat holds, plank raises, there was probably another one I can't remember

warm down

No time to get out tonight so I just did some exercises of the sort we do on a Thursday night. Two circuits of plank, squats, press-ups, mountain climber, dips, 30 secs on 30 secs off.

Weetwood and Lawnswood. Stomach not right but it didn't slow me down too much.

Compass Sport Cup, Bampton Common. Fairly easy open fellside, mostly very runnable. First 6 legs were uphill and the rest back down again. I struggled a bit going up and was overtaken by Mike Johnson and Mike Billinghurst on the long leg to #5. (although I was actually ahead of MJ, he had lost a heap of time on #1). From there to the finish Mike J would run to vaguely near the next control, Mike B would arrive just behind him and find it for him, and I got there after they had sorted it out between them. This went on until #12 after which they started to hit controls more consistently and pulled away. Meanwhile I had been joined by Martin Skinner.

All good fun but more like a fell race really. I didn't have much navigation to do after #6. The only time lost was #8 where we were slightly too high and lost about 20 seconds.

3rd place behind David Spencer 52:32 and Mike B 54:04.

Aire came 2nd to WCOC, so not in the final.

Out through Meanwood and back through the Hollies, sticking to the main paths both ways to avoid getting too muddy. Very wet.

legs sore and didn't feel I could go any faster.

7 Arches. Ran quite hard for the first 3 miles then decided that was enough and slowed right down at the end.

Warm up
13 minutes "peloton". I found this hard because the slow bits weren't very slow, and dropped out for 20 seconds at 11.5 minutes then did the last minute steady.

plank, press-ups, squats, step hopping

sprint relay, with batons and on a circuit with many twists and turns, steps etc. Good fun.
Warm down.

Adel Church, solid pace. Struggling to keep the pace up for the first 2/3 of the run, then everything got easier. It did help that the last 1/3 was downhill and with the wind.

Tempo run with a lack of tempo. Just ran out of steam. Cold gusty wind didn't help.

Northern Champs, Wharncliffe. Not a bad run but not good either. I couldn't make out the smaller paths on the map with all the other stripes and spots on there which didn't help in places, and I felt very slow out on the moor.

#5 went up at first and then tried to come along the slope below the crags. it was very heavy going and I quickly lost track of how far I had come. Spotted the control on the double boulders but I wasn't very sure which boulders they were and was still very hesitant from there. 1 min (?) at least.

#10 got into the right bit of forest then tried and failed to make sense of the paths. Relocated on the boulder group 30m to the south west. 45 seconds

#11 my best split. Having failed to make any sense of the paths or boulders around #10 I just headed out to the road, then back in from the path junction from where the control was visible.

#16 couldn't find a good line up the slope, pushed right by brambles, 30 seconds

#17 I aimed to hit the quarry edge just to the left of the control ("aiming off") but went far too far left because I wasn't actually looking at my compass or anything. 30 seconds

#18 a new and interesting way to lose time, looking for the crossing point in the line joining #4 to #5. Not only did this take me way off line, it also made the approach to the control much harder. 1 minute.

9th M50, a massive 15 minutes behind Dave P. I would have been happy with 5 minutes quicker.

Wharncliffe!

Bah. Wharncliffe.

Ran out along the ridge trying to put some effort into the hills. Going alright, but my heart was giving me trouble and I had to stop for 30 seconds to let it settle. went as far as Delph Lane then just jogged back on the level path.

Hoping it is just a temporary blip, maybe caused by losing half a night's sleep on thursday/friday because of work.

Up the west side of the valley to 7 arches by which time it was pretty much dark, then out into Adel and down Weetwood Lane. Slow and tired, not feeling very good. Very slow in the deep dark wood.

Weetwood and Lawnswood. A bit off the pace and knackered afterwards.

Woodhouse Ridge and Sugarwell Hill. Very tired beforehand, but determined to beat the time I did two weeks ago. Struggling up the last couple of hills but OK. Very dry underfoot.

Scenic pottering. Pecket Well, Midgehole, Hardcastle Crags, Pack Horse, Slack, Midgehole, Pecket Well. Not really what I planned to do because I left my map at home, so I was piecing together bits I could remember from previous times up here. Not a bad run, could have stayed in the valley a bit further going out to avoid some tarmac.

A bit heavy in the legs but steady.