Training Log Archive: Mark3

Damp, becoming damper. Legs felt good, arms still chafy.

Feeling good legs-wise but my arms now just constantly itch.

I thought it mine be the first no-sweating run of the year as it was breezy and much cooler than it has been - but still managed to remain a bit humid on the way back somehow.

Easy loop which became more progressive. My hip felt fine so the two rest days and all the stretching has worked out.

The underarm chafing however is still really painful.

Hip a bit better, but arms still sore. Playing it safe.

Wandered around York. Ate a York Egg (which is like a scotch egg but wrapped in bacon as well and then baked. It was good).

Hip sore, and underarms wrecked from chafing.

1st/56
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gdtv_u4i4O...
[56 on the results anyway, but that doesn't include all the DNFs since I know that Em was at least one of them :( ]

Obvs pleased with the result but not really with how I got there... made the retrospectively poor decision of putting my watch in 'ultra' mode which is the one I set up for long stuff like the BG where everything is all on one screen - but it doesn't include things I didn't think I would need for stuff like that - like 'pace'. So I set off way faster than I thought I was running (sub 4 first km, first 5k in about 21 mins - with the occasion gate/set of steps/briefly steep slope etc) and felt fine. No-one else in sight after the first very nice bit along the coast path; good views, nice terrain etc. Then from the first CP (when apparently I was only 45s ahead but I'm wondering if the guy started late since I never saw any sign of him) it was dull cycle path for a bit, then a bit of nice woodland which was cool and shady, then a load more dull cycle path back to the start point.

Feeling pretty good at this point which was about a third of the way. Really warm though, and getting underarm chafing, which I was annoyed about since I'd applied Lanacane to the right places beforehand. I think the skin was a bit sore from the South Mynd Tour last week. Another nice section along the coast path, nice to run along it in the opposite direction from the HM60. Ran up the (very) steep hill in Robin Hood's Bay and still felt good at CP2 (again, only 45s ahead based on the splits but pretty dubious about that). Once more nice section along the coast before turning South again along another cycle path.

CP3 was along paths/roads/fields and was pretty uninteresting. Now 7 mins ahead of my mystery pursuer but starting to feel grim. Running out of water and sweating all over the place. A bit of nice track through the woods and a steep decent where I passed a load of people doing the HM, which was fun, but otherwise largely dull again. Then crossed a road and a marshal gestured to a gap in the hedge and said 'just through there, and there's a CP on the other side' - I assumed she meant the other side of the hedge and so finished off my water; turns out she meant the other side of the massive chunk of moorland and the CP wasn't for about 2 miles. Pace really slowed across there, despite it being good running. 15 mins ahead at CP 4 so he must have been struggling even more than I was.

A mile back to Ravenscar and then 'now follow the signs for the 10k route' - feel sorry for those guys as it was about 13k. Repeat of the first 7k and the last 6k of the initial loop; so first bit good, last bit dull. Ludicrously slow in comparison to how fast I was running at the start; so really, really badly paced. 23 minutes ahead by the CP in the middle though, and 30 minutes ahead by the end despite another water stop (so drank 2L total).

So I think I did okay holding it together, but I really made it hard for myself. Had I had pace displayed on my watch at the outset there's no way I'd have gone out that fast, which would have made for a much more enjoyable experience. Easy thing to correct for next time. Although tbh, probably going to largely avoid non-mountainous races in the future because they're just not interesting enough. Only entered this one because Em needed some ITRA points in order to enter a race in Spain - which ended up not happening anyway. After the prizegiving (won HumanFood, which is not great), drove to pick her up from about 10k away, with back spasms and dehydration... I think she might be sticking to shorter stuff from now on.

Bit more tempo-y today as it had been a bit damp so wore the shoes with downhill grip; also feeling much better.

No after effects from the flu jab.

Easy loop. Hip feeling a bit better but I'm a bit run down.

Had my flu jab today but was feeling bad before that.

Steady canal loop. Feeling ok following rest day yesterday except my hip is still aching.

Going to rest for a few days, loads of places ache unusually at the moment, particularly my hips, and it feels like I'm right on the edge of getting an injury. Maybe for the first time ever, I'll try and be sensible so that doesn't happen.

Until Saturday.

C • Wise move. 3

51st/167
https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/MerciaFR/2021...
Could've been 6 places higher without making a silly mistake from the last CP to the finish... Annoying. Standard really high as usual for a champs race. Would've been 5th woman... Maybe I should transition.

Bad choice at the start. Good route choices (big OOB area between start and #1 means big decision literally on the start line - makes for good Strava labs viewing) on the course but disadvantage of the way I chose was that 1-2 goes that way so you have loads of fast people running towards you. Failed to factor that in. Also recognised some of the people running towards me as people I should've been ahead of - reckon it's less the a minute difference but still; bad call.

Next CP had two steep dusty descents, first was ok but struggled with the second, suspect contouring around a bit more might have been nicer. Good contouring along a trod in between that I didn't realise sounds be there, so that saved some accent.

Other than the surprisingly steep descent from 6-7 that might have been faster just to go around the track, rest of the race fairly standard. Some nice views etc, and good running, and steep climbs, and some more runnable ones; bit of everything really. Then the mistake; coming back from Pole Bank to Pole Cottage, turned left before the reentrant rather than afterwards (not navigating precisely enough; probably just tired) and so failed to cut the corner properly and had to cut a load of head high bracken and bog in order to regain the path; maybe 2 mins or something. Really annoying so close to the end. Otherwise though, that route down was a good one. Tim K told me a Barrister's Plain cut before the start which I implemented and saved a bit of ascent.

Good route around some lesser visited terrain. My body felt a bit of a wreck though, stuff hurting that shouldn't hurt after these distances. Need a really easy week before Saturday I think.

Results:
https://www.fellrunner.org.uk/results.php?id=6448
24th/162.

----
15 seconds faster than 2018. 15 seconds! But 10 mins faster than 2019.

Had been looking forward to this as it's one of my favourites. The forecast could be summarised as "very probably dry" and so it was a bit of surprise when it was raining for the last hour of the journey, on the walk to the registration field and for the first half an hour of the race. So damn that I did consider starting with a coat on - but 99% of the field took theirs off a few mins before the start, so I went with the crowd. This was a good call - despite being damp, it was really really warm. Definitely the warmest September race I've ever done.

Note to self - at the start, don't need to go on the higher section just before the bridge which is slippery and has awkward trees, because there are steps up just before the bridge itself. I forget this every year.

Started straight into the clag. We took a higher line than previous years and so ended up on the rocky tourist path sooner - I imagine this is because whoever was at the front wanted to play it a bit safe and not risk ending up too low, given the conditions. Given the rain, rocks were really slippery and it was slow going.

Someone very near the top talked to me for a bit, and so I trusted him. I need to work on this mentality - I followed him off Wetherlam NW (didn't check my compass, I assumed we were going the SW that I wanted to go) and then he got to what looked like the edge and stopped - this gave me pause for thought and so I did glance down and realised we were way off line - I was gracious enough to tell him about it before correcting and getting back to something more reasonable; Stava makes it seems like only about a 90s loss but it felt like more! Also I was annoyed with myself.

Swirl How ascent goes on for ever and has plenty of false summits (in the clag it does, anyway). I've just checked and it is nearly 200m ascent, which I had no idea. At one point there was a guy riding a bike down (!!) and the squeak of his brakes I thought was someone at the top blowing an airhorn to guide us to the checkpoint. It wasn't. And that wasn't the top. Turns out the first ascent from the col, you can contour around - you have to climb eventually so you just gain grassyness rather than anything else. Looked like a good option for next time.

Used the map/compass to pick a nice line around Great Carrs, just to the left of the scree worked fine. This was much harder to get right in the clag than it was last year, though! I couldn't see anyone ahead of me; there were some vague shapes to the right but I decided (correctly) they were too high. Actually I could have gone very slightly lower, especially near the end, but it was pretty good. Loads followed me anyway. Then Allen caught me up, who I hadn't seen since the start, and he told me he hadn't expected to see me again. Which I don't think he would if it hadn't have been for the Wetherlam error.

Tiptoed along the rocky ridge losing places left right and centre as I kept leaving the racing line to find grassier options which all turned out to be slower; lesson - don't do this. Fine down to Three Shires Stone though and repassed Allen just after the pass (post Clif bar. I think this race is probably possible just on bloks so might try that next year - happy with 500ml although I did drink all of it this time).

Up Blisco I didn't cut the initial corner since no-one around me was; just stayed on the path until the stream, then up the stream. I've definitely done this at least one year but I can't remember which. I don't think it makes too much difference.

Led a group down Blisco after taking the correct (ie, farmost) way down from the top. Managed to remember the way to the fence crossing OK. Climbed Lingmoor strongly but a bit confused by the new fence just before the carin at the top (which didn't look new but I've definitely not crossed a stile to the CP before). After crossing the stile back again (the lap of the cairn and the stile has to add a minute!) made things hard for myself by going across the heather - would have been faster to stay on the trod from the top along the fence and then just take the first trod to the right.

I went past the old buildings which I think it what I've always done. It looks like it's possible to stay on the wall until the corner, then continue on for a bit and end up on a parallel trod to the main one but a bit higher, though what looks on satellite like some other building and a quarryish thing, and then this trod joins the main one after the buildings and avoids the very slight down and up again. There might be 30 seconds there so I'll have to try it :)

Standard way all the way down although a bit tentative since it wasn't flagged anywhere near as high this year! Basically get along the spur as far as possible and then turn right when it starts dropping off.

Think I was in the top 30ish, which I think was a good result. I don't think the few minutes I lost would have meant anything other than one position. The fact that I was only 15s up on 2018 shows again how randomly good that 2018 performance was! Conditions then were similarly claggy but this was much much warmer.

Really looking forward to this again next year now because I know I can beat this time! Still one of my favourites despite it not really being long enough for me to do well.

Went for a walk. Well, planning on going for a walk after dinner anyway.

Put some effort in and finally got the uphill to Nancy segment. Feeling a bit sniffly and hip still sore, but at least well rested now after getting loads of sleep last night.

Easy loop, got a bit tempo-y in the middle.

Was supposed to be at a race tonight. Hip is still sore from the Segway incident but it's more about the lack of motivation and the hour drive there and back tbh. Bit despondent for no reason; probably getting a cold or something. Or a Covid.

Easy loop with Em. Hip still a bit sore.

Feeling really tired, slept badly due to the excess coffee required to get me home last night. But rest day because of my hip, which is really sore post my Segway accident...getting bizarrely worse as time goes on.

Classic course. 25th/86 starters.

I'd been wanting to do this for a while as it's one of the things I thinks 'makes' you a fell runner; along with the Lakeland classic series, the BG, the OMM etc. After getting hyperthermic on the Medium a couple of years ago I was a bit intimidated by the Classic but after GL3D a fortnight ago I thought I could handle it.

1.8k run out to map collection where I nearly got lost (they said follow tape but then there were arrows too; I nearly ignored the arrows as assumed they were for something else...). Diagonally contoured #1 but it was pretty rocky, looking at RG going all the way around the straight up the stream is faster, but not a lot in it.

First mistake on #2, tried to climb the marginally shorter heathery slope rather than staying in the grass of the reentrant; crazy decision as it was so energy sapping and slow, totally not worth it. But otherwise happy with this route, and happy with #3.

Then #3-#4 looked like a nightmare leg; lots of route choice but no 'good' choice. I elected to go as straight as possible which wouldn't have been terrible other than the really steep downhill from Knott Rigg which was waist deep heather and bracken for 300m decent over a kilometre - really slow and depressing. It was a much faster route to go down to Newlands Hause and up and over Robinson, which is more ascent and more distance but nicer terrain. In fairness though you can't really tell that from the map - local knowledge would have been helpful. Although I should've known a South facing slope would be grim.

Mistake on the next one too, I think High Snockrigg descent was a good choice but then I went via Bleaberry tarn and over Red Pike as I'd convinced myself that I had to go via Red Pike anyway and so that was the fastest option. But actually that's not even true; the route via Ling Comb is shorter and 150m less ascent. Shouldn't have missed that one - more annoying than the previous leg as that should've been obvious.

Happy from there to the finish making use of the Ennerdale race trod around Starling Dodd and halfway to Great Borne before dropping down. Terrain was long grass and I made a lot of time up on people here by continuing to run.

Took 1l and filled three bottles I think, so 2.5l total.

Main takeaway is it's worth spending a bit longer thinking about the route choices and being totally confident. And thinking about slope direction and likely undergrowth in September! But I think 25th is a good result. Happy to sneak under a totally arbitrary 6 hours too.

Results and routegadget: https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/LDMTA/2021/LD...

C • Good effort. 3

Inaugural parkrun. 2nd - the first two were well ahead and I was with 4th for basically all of it - then I could see us gradually catching 2nd and I got him with about 100m to go and outsprinted him to the line. Really pushed hard. And only 6s off a pb, despite it having corners, slopes, gravel, grass and wind. So happy with this.

It was a nice course actually, 2 laps but the 2nd slightly different so there's really not much overtaking at all. Nice day for running too; still a bit warm but not too bad.

C • Nice! 1

Great event. Bit conflicted as there were a lot of options today, but thought I'd do a shortish one given LDMT tomorrow.

Big climb on walk to the start (which I ran obvs) and then largely downhill course. Struggled with some of the peat hags just knowing which were mapped and which weren't. So there were some moments of confusion and APs were few and far between. The differences between stream, wet ditch and reentrant were not obvious. In general the best tactic seemed to be to trust the compass; a bit of pace counting wouldn't have gone amiss either but I didn't think of that at the time.

Some lovely running (the down bits), gamboling through the heather and grass. And the woodland at the end was great; no undergrowth.

Haven't seen any results yet (1st of 1) but happy with my performance; running well.

Crazy golf (draw), mini golf (won; and Em hit a tourist), then segwaying (I loved it, she hated it. Also, I fell off)

Lightning forecast so bit of additional danger, but actually it looked fine. Drizzle on and off to Wasdale with atmospheric inversions. Yewbarrow very brackeny near the bottom then as normal higher up. Thick clag halfway up Red Pike onward. Em didn't want to risk the increasing stormyness and so we elected to play it safe and miss most of the summits; so missed Steeple and just did Pillar, then got to the col before Kirkfell and dropped down and then up again to join Moses just before Honister. Vis was fine lower down but pants on the ridge; glad I knew it well. Couple of torrential showers which soaked us, but warm enough.

Failed once again to find the correct way down Looking Stead.

Got a bit lost near the end trying to nav without a compass, based on 'feel'. Turns out a compass works better.

Easy walk up with Em post-Go Ape. Brisk walk back down again to meet our restaurant reservation.

Easy loop. Feeling sluggish - but it's very hot. Dripping in sweat after coming into the house.

Shortish run this week (which I planned it to be) - legs were empty at the start but feeling ok by the end.

1st of 3. Really badly attended, probably due to the AIRE event same day. Shame as it was really well mapped and planned. Only really made 1 mistake, distinct tree control was on was actually a bush and I checked all the actual trees rather than going to the right place. So that was a bit embarrassing. Otherwise went well, 1:4k felt weird in the forest and on the long legs but it was good for the nine sprint style controls in the complex bit in the middle of the course.

Feeling pretty sprightly once I got into it. Hot though.

Easy run up to Tegg's and then run/walk back and up to Sponds with Em on her first ultra. She was struggling in the heat but held it together to finish which was good.

62nd. Really tough race! A little of everything. Eaten alive by midges going up the gully on the third climb. Some crazy scree descents and some lovely grassy ones. Four tough climbs. Standard really high unsurprisingly - think I did alright tbh.

62nd
https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/Dufton/2021/H...

Lazy

Straightforward park sprint; easy win to go top of the DEE series (best 4). Not really being precise enough or planning enough in advance, but didn't really matter too much.

To Lyme park and loop around; I like this loop as some nice descents and it's nice to get into the trees around Knight's Low.

Feeling pretty good considering the 80 miles, 8000m ascent over the long weekend - not super speedy but keeping up appearances. No sign of any knee trouble either but I'll keep up the hip exercises for a bit anyway.