Training Log Archive: Mark3

Was planning on Chunal race today but took 2 hours to drive home from work due to flooding. Had to abandon car 400m metered from home and walk through quad-high water. My house is ok but a house about 5metres away is very much underwater.

R shin still hurting :( not much, but enough to not enworsen it.

Travelling home. R shin hurts, but no other issues.

The second half of WRC.

Some events take longer to write about than they take to do. I hope this isn't one of those.

Note - read with https://tracktherace.com/en/world-rogaining-champi... - we are team 185. Select as favourite, then click on us, and one of the buttons makes the tail show up.

It was Jack's idea to have a go at this, and we'd agreed to treat it as an experiment to see what it was like, rather than as a race, so as not to risk breaking ourselves. In the event Jack moved to Norway (the things some people will do to avoid a commitment, eh Jack?) and I drafted Robbie in to take his place (hi Robbie, if you're reading this). Robbie and I did the Saunders together last year so I knew we could spend 24 hours together without getting on each other's nerves too much.

Arrived too late on Friday after the drive from Girona to register, so just checked into the hotel (5 mins from the start), packed race bags and went to bed. Registered at 8am following a convoluted system of signing disclaimer forms and multiple queues in time to get to map issue for 9am. Then the three hours planning time commenced. Provided with three (A1 size!) maps.

We had booked a planning table, but didn't get the confirmation ticket we were supposed to - luckily we blagged our way into the marquee. We wanted to be inside due to the thunderstorm going on outside - torrential rain and thunder and lightning that sounded unsettlingly close when you're up a mountain already and planning to go even higher.

We had seen people lugging around large pieces of cardboard and we were about to find out why - they places their maps on the cardboard and inserted drawing pins with cylindrical heads into the locations of each control - one colour per control points value. Then used string to wrap around the pins on possible routes so they could judge their intended distances. Genius.

We had a small piece of string and a pen.

I had thought that 3 hours was going to be massive overkill and it would take about 10 minutes, but the time flew. We eventually decided that:
- we would do multiple loops in order for us to come back to the hash house to eat/restock food/sleep maybe
- given it was really claggy, we didn't want to be going up into the mountains immediately; however we also didn't want to be in the mountains in the clag in the dark since this would render the torches useless. This last point won, and so we decided on a mountain loop first
- we decided on a mountain loop, a forest loop, and a final loop at the end which was shorter and may not happen dependent on if we'd misjudged the timing of the first two loops massively
- we worked on a speed of 4kms/hour on the basis that we thought we could brisk-walk at that speed - uphill might be more like 3 and downhill would be more like 5, but 4 was a good average

Based on these vague sentiments we planning loops of about 36k, 33k and 20ish k. The idea was for the first two to take about 8 hours each and then to have 6 hours for the final one to allow time for stops, etc. We didn't have much of a scientific basis for the loop other than the obvious points; avoid unnecessary ascent and don't worry about ignoring low points values. We loaded our bags with enough food for an 8-hour loop, threw in torches just in case and got to the start in time for the 15-minutes-to-go 'compulsory gear check' which we assumed would be a kit check but actually involved just a GPS check. We think maybe this was relaxed and sped up due to the rain.

By the start the rain had eased, but it was still enough to warrant full waterproofs. First control straightforward and in a massive train - hard to walk at this point with plenty of people running off, but we restrained ourselves. Next control straightward again, still lots of people, feeling the altitude a bit on the climb. Then another easy one but we were now already more or less on our own after an hour. We then had a contouring leg where we realised the mapping had some issues - massive more-or-less impassible in the wet conditions boulderfield not shown - so had to drop lower and then climb up to the crag. They had said that the veg mapping was two-colour only (white and green) and that veg thickness had been determined automatically and so might be wrong - but we thought they'd have got rocks right. Unfortunately not. It was weird using something in o map colours with only the amount of detail a MM map has.

Easy path leg, then halfway to 89 we got to a slope so steep that we determined it was so wet it would be near-impossible to climb in the conditions. So we deviated from our plan for the first time and bypassed it. Annoying since it was a high points score, but I think we'd have been there for ages.

Then the first control we (I) messed up, top of a reentrant. AP wasn't strong enough and we were slightly too high and missed it. Vegetation mapping definitely had issues, but could've read it better regardless. Annoying but one of the advantages of 24 hours is that 24 hours is ages; who cares about a few minutes, right?

Easy next control and then finally the sun showed up and it was off with the waterproofs. Then down to the lowest point before a climb to the highest - Tosa d'Alp, at 2587m. This was, I think, a 1,150m climb all pretty much in one go, about 4k, via a water points and some other controls. [At the water point we should've done an out-and-back to #89 which we'd missed before, as we were now at the correct height - but I didn't even consider it - see (4) below]. As we climbed to the high point it got all claggy again, obviously.
Stopped at the aid point for a bathroom break (bit lucky here; of the two we visited this was the only one with toilets) and found out the aid points had soup. Don't know if this is standard! This one also had a roaring fire. It was hard not to stay.

Lovely ridge walk (well it would have been if we'd been able to see anything) to very suspicious control 'narrow passage between cliffs, southern end' - which was tucked around a corner in the narrow passage - definitely hidden. The passage is straight on the map, so it was pretty dodgy imho. I had literally just said to Robbie 'I will just check round here, but I really don't expect it to be here'. This set the tone for some of the other controls later.

Lovely bit of nav in the clag to the next control, still out in the open in the mountains, put waterproofs back on again (and on they stayed). Lower line than intetended but worked well to the next 'rock passage' which was also tucked way, way deep into the middle of the passage rather than being at the end as described. We faffed around with this one before coming back to the one we'd looked at first and searching more thoroughly. Lesson learnt...finally.

Along the path/ascent to the next control, thunderstorm began again in earnest with thunder and bright, bright lightning strikes which due to the clag, seemed like they were everywhere at once. At c.2000m up a mountain, this was pretty unnerving. High winds as well, so was starting to get a bit chilly, especially with wet hands. A few more easy controls to finish though, only one of which confused us in the clag due to an unmapped fence. Steep descent back to the hash house with just enough light to still read the map by.

Loop 1 had taken us about 10 hours - 2 hours more than expected and with one control less than we'd hoped. So not great, perhaps, but we didn't see it like that - we'd got back before nightfall which had been the original aim, and still feeling good. Had a sausage baguette at the hash house (surprisingly empty, we thought) which was nice but my stomach didn't accept it as race food (Clif products only, apparently) and so felt a bit dodgy for an hour. But fine after another Clif bar, obvs.
On went all the layers (hat, gloves, 5 layers [vest,ls,thermashell,thin jacket,coat) - bear in mind it's July in Spain(!). I didn't have tights, so just had wproof trousers over my shorts. Not having tights was an error. Headtorch with spare battery, and emergency headtorch just in case (in reality 2 batteries were more than enough - I think because I'm used to using it in November where the cold kills the batteries). Loaded up with another 10 Clif bars (ended up eating 11 in total over the 24 hours).

Decided to do 2nd loop in reverse direction than we'd planned it, because it had a section which was into the mountains again near the beginning, and it was still claggy/raining and so I wanted that section at the end of the loop where it might have improved (or it might be dawn, but either way).

Some issues with #53 where we couldn't find a way through the steep uphill wet veg in the dark and so had to retrace our steps and go to next control another way. Remembered that navigating in the dark is hard. Still, despite the unmapped (massive) stream, hit a crag on a spur bang on and similarly with the next control, before messing up and losing time on the one after, #46, due to dodgy mapping again I reckon #excuse - the stream continued way further on the map than the ground, making using the end as an AP impossible. Had given up on it, and found it on the way out.

Good next few controls including hitting another crag pretty well, and stopped at another aid point to fill our bottles. They had soup again here, and tea and coffee I think, but we didn't have anything. This was another time at which I should have deviated from the plan given that we were at the aid point already, and picked up #58 and gone a different route to #90, but didn't consider it. Leaving the aid station where it was toasty, I was getting cold again now and not looking forward to going back into the more mountainous region. But I hoped the climb would warm me up a bit, and it did. Some nice nav again before a windy section along a ridge. Getting close to 4.30am now I think and we were flagging, but not feeling as bad as expected. Perfect nav again into a re-entrant.

Crossed the border into France (totally unknowingly) and then down a steep hill, with Robbie noticeably dropping behind and complaining a bit... I hoped he was just fatigued as I was. Definite dawn as we hit #105 and my spirits were lifted a bit - we'd made it through the night! Without ever considering giving up. Decided that as we needed the waterpoint anyway, we would get a 'bonus' #35 to make up a bit for #89 that we'd missed. Robbie removed his shoes at #35 though as thought he'd got thorns or something in his feet - turned out they were insanely blistered. I offered blister plasters - they were rejected because I only had two and he needed ten. Ah. Problem.

The event now turned into a real struggle for Robbie and he was going pretty slowly. I was feeling worse and worse, with my R shin starting to hurt and my general hip/knee fatigue that sets in after a long race, but they were low level pain and I could have pushed through it for longer. But Robbie was in a world of pain. Between #40 and #91 there were definite tears in his eyes, although he probably wouldn't admit it. It was a real struggle to watch to be honest, he was insanely determined to carry on. I was very impressed. Especially as the route to #40 through 'yellow' had been anything but - impassible vegetation for literally hundreds of meters. Some of my distance judgement went way off in the latter stages of the race, maybe due to tiredness, #91 felt a very long way away. Saved by finding the mapped cave in the first reentrant (but counted three caves all the same size; not sure why the other two didn't warrant a mention).

One last waterpoint and given Robbie's condition I thought that was it, but he bravely/stupidly insisted we get another three controls from our final small loop before heading back. We managed this mainly with no issue (other than one slight nav error where I was way off, basically caused by following other people; I blame being tired) other than being very slow. I tried a little jog in this section and it felt much better than walking - this is one of the reasons for (3) below. I guess it uses different muscles.

Finished at just under 23 hours. Probably had time to get another one of the closeby controls that we'd left for the the final loop, but Robbie really wasn't up to it and I wasn't going to insist.

Finished 34th on MOpen, out of 75 teams. Top half, in world championships in a sport we've never tried before? Pretty pleased to be honest. 88th/381 overall, so beaten by lots of vets/women etc, but still; high standard competition; literally the best in the world. And we didn't run any of it, and we learned a lot too (below).

https://www.wrc2019.cat/wrc2019/resultats/RESULTAT...

At the time I was thinking about how I'd never do it again - but am already planning on doing it again. Learned about myself too I guess - it's not really about whether I enjoy something, but I need to feel that I've given it my best shot - if I feel like I can do better, I need to keep going until I've done as well as I 'should'. So needs another attempt, definitely - with updated strategy.

Learnings:
(1) Take cardboard, pins, string etc
(2) Have more of an idea about walking and running speed and the effect elevation has
(3) Do three loops; 9 hours day, 9 hours night, 4 hours day (with options to shorten or lengthen last loop - basically leave a lot of controls near the finish). Plan to run the first and last loops and walk the night one
(4) Don't be afraid to modify the loops on the fly - and remember controls discarded might be accessible from other angles later in the course
(5) It is cold at night! Take tights and a down layer even if it doesn't feel like it's going to be used (eg July in Spain, for example)
(6) Take spares of everything in case they get wet/damaged
(7) Take spares of shoes and socks and then change between walking/running loops - if conditions have changed; change socks too
(8) Waterproof socks for the night/walking loop!
(9) I have only just thought of this - but different colour pens to highlight contours at different levels would have given a much better indication of the relative heights of different parts of the area
(10) Hat/gloves need to be more accessible to allow for changing conditions

Might add more to this list as I think of them!

Note - actually, this did take more or less as long to write as the event took to do :)

C • Thanks for the write-up. 5

Live tracking available from 12pm Sat - 12pm Sun, link from
https://www.wrc2019.cat/en/

C • La Molina 1

Hottest July day in the UK thus far, so seemed a good evening for a race.

Tough conditions. Went pretty fast round the field at the start to be ahead of the inevitable queue at the gate - that worked well. Plenty of people came past up the high street (steepest high street in Britain, apparently), but as the climb went on and on, got most of them back again.
At the top terrain changed from road to stony track, fairly technical. Continued undulating for another mile or so. Then grassy descent into the dale before coming out at a T junction with no sign...stopped for 15s or so and asked the guy behind me who said he thought it was right... Turned right but then gradually ran slower and slower, chatting about how I thought it was probably wrong - before eventually seeing a marshal and so able to speed up again. Short up and final down into the finish. Maybe could've caught up one place without the issue.

Dealt pretty well with the heat I think. Definitely a trail rather than a fell race; probably would go elsewhere next year (there was a clash with Brassington so maybe there).

No ill effects from Joss :)

Easy trails jog. Pretty happy - my left shin was feeling a bit sore at work so thought there might've been some fallout from Sunday - but felt fine whilst running. Feeling reasonable in general as well, other than the heat which was affecting everyone.

C • Lazy 4

A bit epic.

Dropped off car at Greendale and halfway bag at Dummail the day before - 6 Clif bars and 4 packs of shot bloks (started with 4 of each as well) and a litre of SIS'd water. Cheap night in pub room backfired due to presence of live band...

Leg 1
Started from pooley bridge at 6am. Fairly confident on this leg. Took the campsite route from the bridge which starts off on a confusingly labelled private road which I missed last time - think this is marginally shorter. Good conditions up to #1, and took right path to Loadpot this time (due S). Other than not noticing Wether Hill (tiny cairn on path), and remembering Stoney Cove is much further than it feels like it should be, no problems with this leg.
Target was 2:45 and came in 2:54. Could've run faster up the first hill; no real savings to be made.

Leg 2
Red Scree climb didn't feel too bad. Path all the way to Dove was fine. Potential saving in future - at 374513ish, cross immediately and contour around Dove, rather than up and down. Maybe a few mins. No other time to be saved.
Target 4:45, came in 4:52, so gained back 2mins on this leg.

Leg 3
5mins stopped refilling water, getting more food packed, changing maps, but off again asap. Long climb up Steel Fell, but not too bad. Path following wall all the way to Birks Gill - diagonal from path junc and then followed leftmost stream, compass bearing at top. Worked well. There's a prominent cairn on the fenceline which can be ignored, actual summit is further across a flat bit - stay on original bearing. Ground past Birks is a bit moist and slightly uphill, so a fast walk.think definitely faster than going around.
From High raise trod goes all the way to stream and meets, then down stream. This is much further north than mapped, but is fine.ensure to cut up onto ridge. Skiing
Along ridge to Rosset, can stay on trod right until last minute as highest cairn (I think!) really is the last one on the ridge. Rosset keeps being obscured by other peaks which lure you left. We went back to a cairn which turned out to be a smaller one. In the most (It's misty now. Amazing views from High Raise, though). Maybe 5 mins here.
Correctly did the first bit of the Bowfell route, contouring round to the spring and then going along the first step. Went up the scree a bit, but too far - N said we needed to contour again but had missed it. There was another opportunity to contour just below a steep gully, but I suggested we give the gully a go and N agreed. Bad decision, it was much steeper than it looked, a proper climb, full of wet slippery moss and very dangerous. I had to force myself not to look down or I think I'd have frozen and would probably still be out there. Or at the bottom. Anyway once at the top we headed S over the rocks. We should've carried on west until hitting the path and we'd have had a much easier time. After the horrible rocky windy summit, we headed too far left in search of a grassy line. From Maps it looks like need to stay on main path until big left-right kink just after a steep section a bit of a way from the summit, then bear off slightly left but only just off the line of the main path. Should then come out at Ore Gap. We were a bit low and on a rubbish line. Esk and off Esk were fine (although getting very windy and clag getting thicker). Great End pretty grim (although always is) due to massive rocks. Tempted to consider going all the way around path to the South then due North on this one? As much less rocky that way.
Elected to leave Great End same way as wet didn't fancy unknown route down The band in the conditions. Cut a bit of the corner, but there would be been a faster line down just to the north of a very steep bit (rather than down the steep bit) just after it turned grassy. But would like to recce the band.
Target 8:00, actual 8:53 (!!). We were 7 down plus the 5 faffing =12, so 41 mins lost on this leg. I believe that maybe as many as 25 of those could be avoided...

Leg 4
Climb up Gable goes on for ever but isn't hard. Getting off to the NW is terrible, though. Looking at Maps, none of the ways look any good, so might have to accept it's just always going to be slow.
Fell over a few times in the wind and cut my hand but nothing serious.
Minor nav issue at Beckhead tarn (ie we couldn't see it in the clag) but quickly solved by compass.
Easy to kirkfell since same as on one of the Classics race routes (ie, it's neither of the first two summits it looks like it should be). Bit worried off kirkfell since it looked totally different to the race, but ended up in the same gully so was fine. Southern path S of Looking Stead picked up successfully.
Failed to pick up best (southern) path to Pillar AGAIN because every time I think 'it can't be that one, it's too low'. It starts around 178118 and rejoins ridge path 172120 and is largely parallel to ridge path, but much less rocky. Easy to find from the top!
Pillar to a Little Scoat I'm used to contouring around, but the route to steeple is from the top anyway so I think best just to follow the wall. After crossing wall and doing out and back to steeple, can just come back to cairns across flat bit, cut diagonally to wall and stay on N side of wall as that's where tiny cairn is for Great Scoat. We lost some time assuming there would be a path to Steeple as mapped.
It's still very claggy and windy. Went through a bad patch down to Haycock, started to feel really tough. Easy to Haycock, though.
Route off Haycock could've been better, after S summit cairn needed to be a touch more E than we were, ie basically SE from cairn and then due S. We might have hit a trod sooner that way. So a bit rocky, but not too bad. Raining now, getting heavier. Vis good though, since we're lower. Picked up trod eventually which is a good one, from Pots of Ashness to summit.
Direct from summit to obvious trod line(saddle at 465m) boggy but fine.middle fell ascent + descent easy on good trods.
Target: 12:00, actual 13:18
Another 25 mins lost on this leg - could be 5 on Pillar route, 5 on Steeple; no more than a few elsewhere.

Finished on a bit of a second wind; felt ok. Knees starting to feel it on the downhills.

Overall - I think there's potential for 12:45. I want another go! Just need to convince N that he does too.

Drizzle. Made some choices too fast and so made bad ones, but nothing massively material. They are struggling with results, but I suspect I lost to Leon.

Better run this one. Still drizzle; other side of river. More varied course, didn't really do anything wrong. One control description was really dodgy - had to stop for 15s just to look at it and still concluded it was impossible to tell which side it was on. Concluded it was a guess - and guessed right. Mentioned it at the finish and they looked again and said they agreed with me, so that was alright.
Probably lost to Leon again; standard.

Did a speed awareness course. Ludicrous, since I always drive slowly anyway as I'm so stingy.
Learnt some useful things about how to tell what the speed limit is and when it's mandatory, though.

25th.
Inverse profile from usual; started with very steep road downhill (pace for first 45s was below 3mins/k(!)) then a small amount of up/flat, then a mile downhill through fields of varying sharpness, but too steep to just let go. Speed at the front of the field was truly crazy - lots of youngsters (wow I'm so old). Then flat/slightly uphill and a half before it went mentally uphill - trail shoes slipping backwards in the dry kind of uphill. I overtook about 5 people by walking faster than they were, which is probably a record for me. One of them was Jordan Street whom I've only ever beaten once ever (in the DCRO Dash) and so once the hill became runnable and back from mud and rocks to fields, I really pushed very hard to stay ahead. And managed to! So pretty happy with that.

Not a race which suited me at all due to the length and steepness, and didn't like the downhill at the start when you're still in the pack. But better than Rudyard lake would've been, which was the alternative :)
Ran the last bit of the course backwards and then jogged back in with my mum - who kept running all the way up the hill #proud

WU one lap in roclites but decided it was sufficiently roady for road shoes (despite the constant light rain which persisted throughout the race).

Normally would've done the Forest 5 but wanted to run around the grounds of our new office. Some nice bits of woodland trails on gravel and some grass, but half the course was road. Wouldn't do it again unless it didn't clash. Good result though, 12th. Steve Vernon and one of the guys he coaches wiped the floor with everyone. I think they may have been paid to come...

Beat Billy by 30s which was good since in our last race he was a few seconds ahead. So think I'm in reasonable shape atm. Struggled up the hills but was much faster than the road runners on the gravelly grassy downhill bits.

https://run-northwest.niftyentries.com/Results/Ald...

Easy jog with warm up/down that were slightly faster than the actual session. Good recovery Tuesday.

Easy jog to Rainow and then looking at the scarecrows. Mostly pretty low quality this year although one guy had turned his house into Aldi and was sitting on the roof stapling carrots to it; not sure why, but he said he worked for Aldi, so that was ok.
Quads pretty sore.

Probably ill-advised after yesterday but when the race starts less than 50m from your house...

Actually this went okay. Road hill at the start was tough and passed by quite a few including first lady, and more up the steep grassy bit. But once on the fields at the top, running ok. On the next short climb took about 5 people including first lady, Allen and some other Macc guy. Clearly I have improved at the climbing! Did the downhill well, but once on the flat of the canal found it really tough and slow; seemed to go on for ages. Last hill was barely moving so lucky there was no-one close behind. Then found the last bit of road alright, probably as it was downhill.

Not an amazing route but it is (literally) on my doorstep so can't complain. First half is good.

I'm guessing I was about 10th.

23 minutes faster than last year :) despite weather which I think might've been warmer. Although no clag to speak of made the nav mostly trivial. 40th.
http://live.sportident.co.uk/home/multistage/stage...

Quite like the first two thirds of the race up to Gable, but the last third is just too rocky. Wasn't really running with anyone although kept seeing the same people, up till descent from Gable when I didn't really see anyone until halfway to Scafell. Overtaken by two on the descent but didn't care; survived :)

1. 43:44 vs 47:33 (4mins)

Helped slightly by the start being moved 100m or so up the track for no discernable reason. Otherwise, don't think my route differed at all. Tried to set off faster than I felt was really suitable as that seemed to work at Buttermere. Think I paid for this later.

2. 1:06:35 vs 1:10:20 (4mins)

Same route again, up the fields saying hi to Joss at the first road crossing then the long climb. Pleased that this was faster.

3. 52:06 vs 57:37 (5mins)

Think route was better here - the trod petered out as last year, but due to vis this year it was easy to find again. Plus just after Scoat, last year climbed an unnessahill in the clag whereas avoided it this year! So this 5 minutes is less impressive. Note descent into Wind Gap feels like it's going to go too low, but doesn't.

4. 55:20 vs 58:11 (3mins)

Took the good route off Pillar again (ie followed lower path rather than ridge) - but there's a steep bit just above Green Cove where I kept left (N) and there's clearly a much grassier way to the S as some people put a good 30s on me here and I was left most bemused. Otherwise, walked most of the path below Kirk Fell but found the climb up to Gable not too bad.

5. 39:47 vs 43:39 (4mins)

No idea how I made time here; still can't run the screen or the rocky path. Definitely my least favourite section - walked a lot of it.

6. 33:08 vs 34:12 (1min)

Ran out of water exactly same place as last year; unsurprising since had taken same amount. Filled up at Calf Cove again. Cut corner from Calf Cove which I'm pretty sure I didn't do last time, so maybe that's what gained the time here. Contoured round N of Ill Crag but I think I did that last year too. Mainly walking and hopping over the rocks. Lots of tourists to avoid.

7. 21:38 vs 23:12 (2mins)

Didn't fall over and bash my head like last year; still struggling on the rocky descent though. Plus took a perfect line under Goat Crags, I think lower than last year.

F. 5:59 vs 6:19

Someone held a gate open for me and I then felt obliged to not try and overtake them.

Quick jog to test new shoes. First impressions - RW might finally have given me a pair I like.

They're very light; feel like slippers; can barely tell you're wearing them.

Woop - 18secs faster than last year :)
Deliberately set off pretty much as fast as I could to avoid any queuing on the steps after 1km or so - this worked well. Allen disappeared into the distance. Put a lot of effort into the hills and took the downhills steady. Caught Allen up the steps on the 2nd lap which I was very pleased about as he destroyed me in the last race. Kept going ok until the end. Well ahead of my series rival from Buxton.

Last race of the series for me, so time to insert the new ones into my ranking:

Shutlingsloe - most like a fell race
Buxton - lots of variety, great downhill
Biddulph - some nice twisty bits through the woods
Ilam - bit depressing to be so near proper hills, but good variety
The Roaches - first half really nice fell, second half dull
Oakamoor - two big hills, lots of flat at the end
Tittesworth - just around a lake, but with many short ascents/descents
Rudyard Lake - very little climb, just around a lake

Feeling fine for most of the race (and the day) but then ill again afterwards :( getting like weird dizzy spells occasionally as well. Not sure what's up tbh

Feeling a lot better by this evening. Went for the slower group run to talk to the girl :)

More ill than before. Made it to the start line of the race before electing not to run - first time that's happened :(

Was fine all day at work. Suspect will be fine all day at work tomorrow as well!

28th
https://www.dpfr.org.uk/results/view/5328?page=2

Different route from last year unforts so hard to compare times, but the segments times which overlap are pretty similar.

Felt really lethargic and unmotivated during the drive and my jog warm up - but started racing and actually felt good. Set off pretty fast but still not fast enough to get caught in a queue moving slower than I wanted up the hill; overtook about ten as soon as we left the woods and then was constantly overtaking for the rest of the race - so basically, paced it badly as didn't start quickly enough.

The first half of the race is much better as well, so worth trying a bit harder on that bit, as the second half is mainly downhill on road and track. Felt pretty good up the minor inclines and was wishing for more hill (never thought I'd say that!).

Cold is improving finally, Achilles felt pretty bad before the start but much better during and post-warmup.

At the top of the first climb (c.400m ascent) we decided to retire, Emma hurt her hip flexor yesterday and it was causing her obvious pain, particularly uphill. We could have completed the day, but it would've taken a very long time and might've made it worse. So we had a nice (for me!) walk back to the cars along some ridges. Still took quite a few hours after we'd elected to give up! Cooler than yesterday but only had to put coat on for a bit because we were going so slowly.
Course less interesting today and much shorter.

Looking forward to racing again soon, but still pretty tired now and have yet to unpack the wet tent...sigh.

Doing this with Emma who is an orienteer rather than a runner and so was only ever going to be casual. I didn't expect to be out this long though and so probably didn't have enough food (was expecting about 5 hours).
The Howgills was a good venue although they won't be able to have another there for a while as we basically used all of it.
Mainly took contouring routes when possible to minimise ascent. Jogged a bit on a few flat and downhill sections but largely walking pace for most of it. Really well planned courses; lots of route choice.

Longest MM day and 2nd longest time I've been out for. It was basically fine at that pace although I did get burnt on my legs (I don't tend to suncream them as I don't tend to burn them...). Sunny and warm the whole day, but not too hot like last year.

No nav mistakes; basically perfect in that regard.

Don't think I'd do another one with someone where the disparity in fitness is that much again.

Nice to see Ali/Leah, Mark/Clare and Sam/Anna :)

Overnight camp was fairly nice although lots of midges. Slept not bad too.

Mainly packing; always takes ages.
Cold is improving but is still going to be annoying this weekend I reckon.

Since Oakamoor was my 2nd least favourite SM last year I thought I'd do the o instead. Enjoyed it actually; nice change - and still over half an hour faster than N which is the main thing :)

Saying that, not a great performance. Well planned start meant suboptimal route to 1 although recovered well. Very steep slope down to 3 was genuinely scary - it was dry with a thin layer of dust over everything which made it extremely slippery. Running ok to 6 though, which I contoured around nicely too and then failed to find, tried again with a bearing from fence corner, failed again, went back to the fence, saw what looked like a depression 45 degrees at the wrong angle, went to look in it; hey presto. Not gonna get upset by that one since its clearly mapped in the wrong place by loads.

Can blame no-one for bad down-up route on 7 though; just bad/no planning. Rest of the course went ok.

W/D with Tom whom I was physically and navigationally schooled by us usual :)

The front of the trail group is a similar speed to the MaccH trail group, but the back is much slower! So lots of looping.
Nice evening though and good route + company :)

Lemsip working; feeling marginally less ill today.

Easy flat jog with the Bollington Harriers. Did a bit of looping at the start but then stopped doing that to continue talking to a girl. Seemed a reasonable course of action.

Achilles still hurting tediously so probably good to be doing some easy stuff; might do this club's run tomorrow too.

Also she might be there again :)

Based on OS maps this should've been 7.43km with 83m ascent.
I ran round the track a few times before the start looking at my pace and estimated I should be able to keep to 5min ks, so estimated 36:06 (I misremembered as 7.42 I think).

I was rubbish; far too fast. Which is good really because it didn't feel that easy! But certainly had no idea at all I was running at 4:20 average pace - that's 3:05 marathon territory - felt much slower. Not quite last - someone was 7 minutes wrong (!) But not far off. The winner was 1s off, and then top 10 were all inside a minute. Best tactic seemed to be to run it like it race - next year will do this if I don't feel so rough.

Nice evening after the warmth of the weekend. Sociable as well which was nice. Tape over the watch so I couldn't see the screen worked well, although not great for HR accuracy clearly.

Edit: even worse that I thought since I actually estimated 37:06 but then forgot...