January 31, 2010

Roundup of the week

A good week running for having 3 days rest. No short sharp hill reps or fast work and still need to get much longer days out, but 2 good runs.

Monday : rest

Tuesday : 1000ft 4 x 250 hill reps moderate pace

Wednesday : 4500ft and 12 miles at night on the Long Mynd Valleys race route in 2hours 45 ish

Thursday : rest

Friday : rest (did intend to do something beyond a dog walk, but work went mad).

Saturday : 3500ft and 11 miles great run around Nant-y-Moch area for 3 hours. Some bog trotting which slows thing down. It was a great afternoon out and got some great photo's from a couple of hills to the north I had not been on before.

Sunday : 3 * 650ft from bus stop to hill fort. times were 14.20, 14.30 and 14.40. Not use this route for a few weeks and seem to be a bit quicker. Usually do this in the dark, still no view as white out on the top.

Myra admitted she now reads my blog to get an idea of where I have been running. I am sure there is a note to self there somewhere.

Next week need to get 5500ft in the 1st 4 days as the Long Mynd Valleys race(2nd best race of the year in my view) is on the Sunday.

January 28, 2010

Doing it in the dark

I ran the route of the Long Mynd Valleys race last night. Actual race is in 10 days time so going it was good to get to know the route a little better, even in the dark. I was with a customer all day, so did not get started till 7.30pm, so finished about 10.15pm. So it was dark, but there was enough moon through the clouds to be able to make out the hills and route finding was no problem. One of these as a head torch does give you some confidence and makes route finding much easier. A few parts of the course are fast, but quite rocky, so a lot of light is really helpful. So a good week so far with a 1000ft on Tuesday and 4500ft last night.

January 23, 2010

London damages your running

Working away for 4 days this week and was quite tired on Monday, so training really was left to the end of the week. However, I did hear about a chap who did his BGR training with a Rucksack and stairs in a tower block, so maybe I am just not being imaginative enough.

Monday : Rest

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday : in London. Need to plan this better to I can do something, even if it is flat running.

Friday : 3000ft, 5 miles. Spent at office in Reading and then 2 reps of "the Blorange" in the dark, an idea stolen from Martin Beale. About 25 minutes from the tunnel to the hut which is an improvement, but it feels a lot easier than when I 1st did it 6 months ago. Rude not to when you are passing.

Saturday : 3 miles and 500ft. 3 reps of the field above the house as a warm up and then 10 x 6oft reps as fast a possible. exhausting.

Sunday : 6,000ft and 16 miles. long run of the week. Myra had a bike ride in the morning, so I got the afternoon and into the evening for a 4 hour plus random wander around Nant-y-Moch with the last hour or so in the dark. Had wanted to go faster and further. Must take something to drink with me on the longer weekend runs.

So 1,000ft short of target, but some good training the end of the week at least. Must work out how to make better use of my travel time.

January 12, 2010

Not the shape of training profile I would have liked, but the best in the circumstances. You have a goal of 10,000ft for a reason.

Monday : Rest

Tuesday : 2 miles and 2000ft in dark : 3 reps of bus stop to iron age hill fort while is the largest climb (650 ft) which is close to the house. White out on top of hill.

Wednesday : 4 reps of 250ft on hill next to house. No commute required. Dog sits half way up hill chewing a stick.

Thursday : Long day in London. Preceded by a only just make it drive over the Cambrian mountains following a gritting lorry and a failed attempt to find accommodation in Shrewbury or Telford (all full) meaning that I ended up sleeping in the back of the car in a disused quarry on the Wrekin in order to get the 6.20am train to London for a meeting which got cancelled via text at 7.08am. Head training?

Friday : felt a bit ick with something picked up from kids, so day off

Saturday : The needs of being Duty Manager and keeping law and order at a 4 year olds birthday party meant 4 x 650ft from bus stop to Iron age hill fort plus the run up to the top of the fort to start, 3000ft in less than 3 miles in the dark. 1 rep was in 16.30 and the next 3 were all less.

Note to self, you have 2 pairs of MudClaws for a reason and that reason is that anything less aggressive such as Mudroc and x-talons means you fall over on this route when it is wet, so wear Mudclaws.

Sunday : Again being D.M. and needing to look after small man while small girl and Mum are at Jack and the Beanstack meant no scope for a long run this weekend. Thats the breaks and we work around them. 4 * 650ft from bus stop to Hill Fort as fast as we can manage which was a little faster than the previous day finishing just before 9pm. Mudclaws proved to be about 30 seconds faster on the decent than mudrocks and I did not slide over, though it was a little drier.

so with some hill dog walks we come in at about 9,500ft this week, a little short of target.

Next week will have to be quite creative as I am in London for 4 days doing work type things.

Decided not to enter the Highland Fling this year. It was the best things I have ever done in terms of running and possibly the hardest. It took me at least month to recover last year and I if I am serious about a BGR, it is just too close.

January 10, 2010

What is the snow plod multiplier?


A great week training wise, though no huge distances or climbs and I did not reach the 10k target, but 7000ft and a lot of snow plodding made for a hard week. I don't know what the snow plod multiplier is but I guess at about 1.5. Even going downhill in a knee deep drift can be exhausting. All in the local hills which are covered with power snow which has drifted in places. All the lakes are frozen as above to a good thickness, but I have limited walking on them to the ones I know are less then 3ft deep. It has been just a great week to be out, even if progress felt quite slow.

Monday : rest

Tuesday : 2 hour later afternoon, early evening snow plod for about 8 miles and 2000ft

Wednesday : 1 hour in dark snow plodding 4 miles and 1000ft

Thursday : 1 hour in dark snow plodding 5 miles and 1000ft

Friday : rest

Saturday : morning 4 1/2 hours with 3000ft and 12 miles. Even dog was cream-crackered at the end of it spending the rest of the day on her couch.

Sunday : 10 * 100ft hill sprints

So we are introducing a new metric to judge the effectiveness of my training - the dog knacker index.

January 3, 2010

How hard can 8 miles be?

I started in September with doing at least 6000ft of climb (easy when you have the Peris Horseshoe one week and Plumumon Challenge the next) per week. October stepping up to 7000ft, November 8000ft and December 9000ft of climb. I have managed to meet or overshoot the target most week. I think I missed the target by less than 1000ft in 2 weeks where work got in the way. This week was the last 9000ft week before trying to get in at least 10000ft each week until the 1st week of June.

Monday : 2500ft and 5 miles on Plumumon.

Tuesday : rest

Wednesday : 0ft and 5 miles of fast reps of a 1km loop in woods. It was blowing a gale, so the woods gave a nice sheltered run.

Thursday : 2500ft and 8 miles in the hills to the west of Nant-y-Moch. Knee deep snow with a thin crust which is hard enough to kick you shins against, but not strong enough to support your weight. Very hard work indeed, felt like double the distance at least. Super moon rise over Plumumon, but no camera. Got back to car as it got fully dark.

Friday : rest

Saturday : 2000ft and 13 miles on tracks around Nant-y-Moch. Easier going than Thursday, but still hard. Last hour was in the dark.

Sunday : 2000ft and 2 miles hill reps up to the Iron aged fort behind the house 3 times in the dark.

Product plug of the week is a pair of SealSkinz socks. I became aware of these while supporting Mark Smith a few weeks ago. A couple of people were wearing them and swore by them, were as cross the river between Great Calva and Blencathera I swore at my socks. I since bought a pair to try out and I have found them not to be 100% waterproof, but it does not matter as you feet don't get cold even if they are a little damp. Just going through snow was fine and dry, but feet crashing through the ice into the water below will make them wet, even if the water does not go over the top. Lets be fair, they are socks. If you want dry feet, stay inside or wear wellies. If you want warm feet when out and about in winter, SealSkinz do the job.