Training Log Archive: Mark3

Work social. Had a tiramisu martini; was good. Hic.

Nice loop incorporating the route of the race on Wednesday. Pleasant evening.

Usual pain present.

Was hoping this would be good as elected to go with it over Kinder Downfall (given the fell running yday).
It was good; and a good performance. 2nd, 3:30ish behind Leon.

No real mistakes, one control 17 where I missed a left turn due to being distracted by a dog or something, realised very soon but elected to keep going rather than turn around, but then hadn't visualised the new route and so got a bit confused. Very lucky not to lose more time. Then 22 was a bad route choice, 5s longer thinking about it would've saved 20s, maybe. But otherwise very consistent. Felt to be running ok, and the pain relief gel did its job again (although Voltarol not as good as ibuprofen).

Cold pretty much gone, finally.

C • Finally cold gone? 3

Up at 2:30am to leave at 3:30 to be at Pooley Bridge for 5:50am in time for Rob's Joss Naylor attempt to start at 6.
On the women's 50 schedule, which is inbetween the men's 50 and the men's 55 (which he was aiming at).

My one job was nav! And messed up going from Arthur's Pike to Loadpot; missed a junction and noticed after about 400m and 3contours too low, which then had to regain again. Annoying since got this fine in the thick clag of the recce! This put us about 8 mins behind schedule which we then maintained throughout the leg until gaining 5 mins back on the final descent to kirkstone, by cutting down Ravens Edge rather than staying on the path. So ended 3 mins down.

Cloudy at the start but got some eventual nice views from Stony Cove down. There was snow on the ground at the top of High Street.

Found this relatively easy at this pace.

Had been in two minds about keeping going but after getting up so early, thought it would be worthwhile! Glad I did.
Climb up Red Screes felt fine because not pushing. Then all the way to Hart crag, again, walking or jogging depending on steepness but nothing fast. Slight nav wobble on way to Fairfield but nothing major. Some amazing views down Rydal Head when the cloud broke for a bit. Then the horrible scree descent which I hate, but fine at sedate pace really, then another hard but ok because slow climb up to Seat Sandal. Then the Bob Graham trod down to Dunmal where we gained some time back, but still 17mins down overall I think. But the M55 schedule is something like an hour 20 slower, so a lot of time in hand still at halfway.

It would've been logistically impossible to carry on, but I certainly felt capable of it physically. I gather the weather became much more like the forecast weather after that point, so maybe good that I didn't! Nice to end on a high.

I gather he came in with 10 mins to spare in the end, although not sure which schedule that was compared with.

I think I might piggyback off the next person's attempt and try and do the whole thing; seems like a good BG stepping stone. Really nice to support and have a good day out despite the early start, also had lunch in a lovely Ambleside cafe with Emma and then went to look at Grasmere caves. Great day :)

Disappointing.

Course was net downhill (marginally) but not flat - this is no good for me; I lose too much time on the hills. So the second and last kms were fine, the first was a bit fast, but the 3rd and 4th (which were constant ascent, albeit minor) were rubbish. Consequently this was slower than half of the 10k a month ago, which is depressing.

Still, I have a fair few chances over summer to do a bit better! Onwards and upwards.

Very easy loop before tomorrow. Calf hurt for most of it, but was feeling ok by the end. Need a very long warm up tomorrow.

I'm hoping this is the last day of 'ill'.

Easy with the fell group.

Wore road shoes since its so dry and wanted to protect my achilles. Fell over. Not serious but cuts on the palms of both hands (again, sigh) which is such a tedious injury.

Averaging 43 miles a week so far this year, although this jumps to 49 miles if you don't include my two weeks skiing. Vaguely aiming at 50 average, so seems to be going alright.

This was very much about time on feet rather than any kind of pace! It was hot, but not so much as the last couple of days in IOM.
Made it round without being tempted by my emergency food, but probably drank 750ml. Didn't apply ibuprofen just did lots of stretching, and pain level was bearable.

Weird not being at the JK at Easter :(

Touristing. Still blowing my nose every 5 mins which is getting pretty tedious.
My legs don't feel too bad; I suspect because although there was a lot of climb, little of it was massively steep.

4.30am alarm to leave at 5.30 for the 5.45 bus to the start...was pretty nervous since I had no idea if my achilles was going to hold up or not. Actually, lashings of ibuprofen gel worked it's wonders and it was fine; main issue was just standard blisters which are hard to avoid when running for a long time in these temperatures... It was hot. At least 20. The high bits were ok because there was a slight breeze, but it was grim lower down.
Started steadily, maybe in about 25th for the first climb and along the ridge. First climb was the toughest; 565m from sea level. Then lovely ridge run for 4k; great views. Feeling good at this point. First Clif bar up to Snaefell, highest point on the island, as planned. Didn't stop at first drinks place.
Passed a couple more on the climb to CP4 and some people who couldn't be to get their map out followed my line to 5, which was ok. Descent to second drinks was tough going, deep heather/grass the whole way. One glass of water at Injebreck. Then climb to Colden was off-path; anyone who recced had a big advantage there as there were trods if you knew where to look - I didn't. So that was another tough climb. Few people got that right though; guess not a lot of the mainland Brits had recced. 2 Clif bar going up there as planned.
Then my mistake, between 6 and 7 decided to contour to avoid crossing 2 contours, terrible decision as the terrain was so un-runnable, ended up descending before it became reasonable enough to get up again, but then it was off-path. Lost a few minutes, which would cost me a position at the end :(

Horrible descent through spiky plants and deep heather from Greeba. (Was this Emma's first word in Friends? Turns out not, I've just googled it, it was Gleeba). Stopped for a while to drink a couple of glasses and refill both bottles. Then a dull hot flat section on railway path to get to the next mountains. There was a massive aid station at St John's with loads of food that wasn't marked on the map, so that was a bit annoying. Otherwise would've stopped there rather than the previous. Lots did; I think I caught the last of a group of 6 is gradually been catching for ages here. As it was just had a glass of coke then kept going. Climb up through trees was nice and cool. Had Clif bar #3 again as planned. Could see a guy ahead of me but he was really far ahead, never expected to catch him. He was still ahead 3kand another glass of water down the road, by about the same amount. But I caught him on the climb up to South Barrule; he looked pretty dead.
Didn't take water at Round Table as I thought I could hold out to the next one. Fairly easy run and ascent to 11 but everything was feeling hard now. Scenic running on the coast path, though. Filled one bottle at 2nd to last water point and had a glass as well, then a steep but short climb up to CP12. Decided against the last planned Clue as feels it was too near the end. Finished second pack of shot bloks instead, mainly for the salt.
Steep descent to Fleshwick really hard on tired legs (amazing views here; if you come to IOM, go to that bit), but finally saw someone ahead of me, partway up the last climb (hadn't seen anyone for at least an hour). This gave me a bit of motivation for the last climb but I was starting to feel like death at this point due to the heat. The gap was probably down to a minute at the top of the climb, and he maintained that for the mile down to the finish.

10th/106 starters. Pretty pleased with that. Would've been 9th without that one bad call, so not too annoying. 28 mins down on 2nd... An hour down on first. Tom Gibbs is pretty good. Good food at the cafe at the finish, and felt ok once I'd cooled down. Great way to see the whole island!

Feeling a bit better today, definitely less ill. Notionally a rest day but actually been walking at least 20k around the IOM. It's lovely.

Easy through the lanes and fields.
Achilles feeling better, probably due to smothering it in ibuprofen gel. That's probably the method I'll use on Sat.

Less mucus now, but getting the inevitable cough.

C • You wouldn't get the "inevitable" cough ..... 4

https://fellrunner.org.uk/results/race19/Herod_Far...

20th (13th last year) - but a minute faster this year which is unbelievable. Standard much higher this year. Conditions were better (drier) although it was pretty dry last year. Don't think conditions were a minute faster. So my fitness must be better despite my dreadful cold and my injury. Although did do what I tell other people not to and downed a couple of ibuprofen before I started. Actually not convinced this did a lot as it was still hurting.

Noted last year it wasn't clear if running/walking the second climb was faster, but didn't state which I actually did. This year I chose running (other than the top 1.0 Bl bit) which I think was the right choice. Still got into a bit of a single track queue on the first down but there was no way I could've done the first up any faster. After that it was good. Remembered a headband this year, too :)

4th - beaten by a 14 year old, a 60 year old and a novice.
Also ran off the map.
I can't blame my cold for this.

In fairness the vegetation was mapped in 2002, but that was the same for everyone...

My Achilles was very painful. It seems like my numb foot hasn't caused any issue for a while now, though.

Found this really tough. Blowing nose every 30s. Way off the back of the group. Hope this is over by Saturday!
Nice evening, but didn't really appreciate it.
Achilles hurt.

Skiing: https://youtu.be/dzNbZuCkQYI

Despite 10 hours sleep, felt pretty dreadful this morning.
Double-migraine - which I rarely ever get, happened - weird flashing lights, headache; then more lights. Very nearly didn't come to this event.

But actually, felt ok once I arrived. Interesting crags at the start, mapped pretty precisely but hard to see their shapes from the edges. Vegetation mapping appalling, though. Struggled a bit with 7 since I have not learnt that a green x is a rootstock (expect these to be brown?) So was looking for a tree. Took circuitous routes on many controls to be safe as the area was complex. Need to ensure attack points are points rather than linear! And think more about height to gain/lose between AP and control.
Lost the most time on 20 which I knew was going to be hard and so did it really carefully; must've missed it by metres. I blame the map here because it was a small depression, but the small depression was on a large (unmapped) platform which was definitely the more prominent feature. For this reason missed it twice and spent a while stationary and confused.

Some legs I did really well, though, so that was nice.

Not seen any results yet but I suspect to be fairly average.

Achilles hurting a bit, although not too much.

Edit: 13th/33, pretty poor. Did well on the legs which were uphill and I took the straight route. Looks like I was too cautious and went round where others went straight.

Seem to have acquired a cold, dammit. Not had one for a while,I suppose.

Due to both this and the skinning, I did not go for a run today. Also the requirement to catch a 5am bus; yawn.

Excellent last day - started out very foggy and thought it was going to be a bit grim, but brightened up in patches and the guide found some amazing snow.

One fall (video link to follow once I've uploaded it) where I found a buried rock. Otherwise though, no falls through user-error. Imho my skiing is pretty damn good.

For the afternoon the rest of the group all needed to pick up/ski with children, so I had the guide to myself (about £200-worth for £17.50; bargain). We skinned two-thirds of the way up Grande Motte (which is closed) on the Tignes glacier and then had a massive area of untouched silky snow to ourselves; then we came back into Tignes more or less over the top of the underground funicular ie navigating our way through the cliffs down a narrow couloir. Basically it was great and I didn't die (bonus).

Only 8 months to wait before more skiing!

Was going to go for a run yesterday but it was snowing; then was going to go for a run tonight but it's snowing.

Will go tomorrow whether it's snowing or not!

No idea why this isn't part of the other activity.

Variable conditions. By 2pm or so my quads were getting really tired; struggling to maintain technique in the flat light. Hopefully better visibility for the last day of the season tomorrow!

Proper off piste with a guide; as usual going with a guide was great as he found some great fresh snow.
Quads burning at times; still not quite over Saturday's race!

Warm up day before the guiding starts, so practicing technique on the piste. Feeling pretty good. Weather amazing.

Travelling for skiing #2. How the other half live, eh?

Quads destroyed after yesterday; otherwise not feeling too bad. Aim was to be not-too-far-behind Chris as this is one of our club champs races.
Deliberately sprinted the first 50m (garmin says 2:36min/k) to be one of the first to the kissing gate a few hundred metres in, as I hate queuing. Was probably about 5th through the gate, so it worked. Then passed by quite a few up the first ascent but not bothered by that. Would be worth staying nearer the front for the short quarry section though as was held up a bit there.
Caught Chris going down through the fields; pleased with that. But he got me back on the road section at the bottom of the hill. Catching him steadily on the climb (ran the whole way; less painful since used different muscles from all the walking yesterday) but not close enough to threaten. Lost a few seconds due to route marking on the descent as the tape was tucked right around the corner. Put in a lot of effort on the descent to stay ahead of a Mow Cop runner, but couldn't catch Chris (25s gap at the end).

11th, and MaccH first team (10,11,21).

Good race; Mow Cop castle is pretty impressive. Right shoe choice; not that much road. Maybe could've got away with trails but I think most years it's quite a lot muddier than that.

136th/341. As expected from an English Champs race, very high standard!

http://live.sportident.co.uk/home/multistage/stage...

Very tough. Constant up/down/up/down etc with basically no flat running at all; doesn't play to my strengths.

Position varies quite a lot; at each CP:
144th,140th,168th,167th,164th,160th,155th,150th,148th,138th,136th
so looks like I lost a lot on the long leg past Cautley Spout, although I didn't make any bad route decisions here so might just have been people who were boxed in at the start finally getting past.

As expected, I gained the most positions on the climbs nearer the end of the race, when everyone who hadn't got their nutrition right was dying. Actually, I'd only taken 500ml liquid which was a bad decision, it was really hot. 1L would have been much better and would've prevented me worrying about it for most of the race and trying to ration.
I think I ended up eating both of my Clif bars on the 45m leg B->C (maybe that lost me some of the places). Had just about finished my 2 packs of shot bloks by the end too. Got the food right I think, just the liquid wrong.

Happy with all my routes. Went round the scree C->D which is much further but I hate scree; remained roughly position neutral so that was a good decision. Looking at Strava Flybys, the straight route to Cautley looks no better or worse than either following the stream or staying higher for a bit longer. Would do one of those in preference next time though, as the contouring on the straight line wasn't that comfortable.

As usual, could feel my calf for the whole thing, but it wasn't slowing me down.

New release. Lunges, shoulders, biceps, chest tracks all harder than previously - people must've complained!

Argh I have a migraine so I can't see what I'm typing. Run was fine although very wet. Coat and gloves kept me dry though. Calf hurt.

It's cold again!
Fairly short with the fell group. Started slowly but moving ok by the end. Calf pretty sore.

Probably the longest and hilliest run we'll do on a Monday! Nice to have light evenings again.
Calf not too bad, sore at start but improved.