Bit of BGR, bit of Paddy

Monday : 5 miles rough ground, but no major hill with Richard who at his best was running 2.30 marathons. We were not running that fast though.

Tuesday : rest

Wednesday : in London

Thursday : Leg 1 of BGR including the parachute jump decent from Blencathera. Total time of 3.40 in line with my aim of a little faster than BGR pace. Could have done with more water and was the parachute jump took 30 mins to Threkeld on account of holding 2 sheets of A4 and reading from them every minute or 2 to ensure I was on route. Visibility on top was about 10m on account of the mist. I also slightly overshot the place to get over the fence on Skiddaw, but only by about 30m. Back to Keswick via the old railway/cycle path. I would have done a 2nd leg, but it would have been unfair for the folks I was pacing on the Paddy to have turned up wreaked.

Friday : rest and recovery after a evening at the Tan Hill Inn watching Drunk in Public with Mr. C. being so drunk he could not remember the words of "Just the One", despite 3 attempts. Just how it should be.

Saturday : Yak and pacer for a log of the Paddy Buckley attempt for 6 people, 1 of which I knew in passing via some work I had done over the last 3 years at the University of Edinburgh and the rest I had never meet before. I did leg 3 over Snowdon with 1 other pacer. These folks were hardened long distance runners. All had done the BGR, most had done the Ramsey Round, so it was quite hands off as a pacer, no force feeding or setting the pace. My contribution was carrying a load of water and doing the navigation from Snowdon to Moel Enion. 2 of the 6 had dropped out by the start of leg 2 and 1 more dropped out during leg 3 (why you need multiple pacers). I was in shorts and light t-shirt all night from the 9pm start to the finish at 2am. I set of up Crag-Wen a little before them on account of my 20 pounds of water, etc which was a wize move. Learned a lot about doing a round, the fact it was a different course was irrelevant .

1. Hydration is very important and there is still stuff I need to learn. I put some s2p in my water and I struggled to drink it after about 5 miles. I need to find something I can drink later on in the BGR and diluted mango juice might work.
2. Have some trial runs for the road change overs
   
3. I eat and drank too little(just not enough time), pacers need to look after themselves to look after you.
   

I was much more tired at the end of the leg than I was on the BGR leg 1 on thursday, most down to extra weight I guess and a little to still recovering from thursday. Also probably a bit of moving with 1 runner to attend to their needs, then catching up the 3 others and then dropping back a few times which takes it out of you. The pace was slower than thursday, but I found it much tougher.

I went home at 2am, but I got a text the next day that 2 finished in 23.25 and the other in 23.42. I am very pleased for them, they worked hard for it on a hot day.

A weekly total of 11,500ft and about 35 miles.

Listen to your body

An OK week, but lacking the really big day out I had aimed for at the weekend

Monday : Rest

Tuesday : 1000ft of 4 x 2500ft reps behind the house

Wednesday : 5 miles over undulating ground quite quick.

Thursday : Spent the day working in London and on the way home ran the route of the Long Mynd Valleys race 12 miles and 45ooft. Started at 8pm, got back to the car at 10.40pm, so the last hour was in the dark. Aimed for a reasonable pace to get round in 3 hours, so 2.40 was quite pleasing, only 15 minutes slower than race pace and I really was not caining it.

Friday : rest

Saturday : I had planned a 27 miles and 5500ft over the Plunmon Challenge course. I just felt tired, not my legs, but all of me. Maybe too many early morning and nights sleep being disturbed by small boy. I ended up setting out to do 1000ft and managed 500ft. Probably best to listen to your body when it talks

Sunday : 12 miles and 3500ft over local hills which was quite enjoyable. Had to sandwich between taking the children swimming in the morning and Myra going to the cinema in the late afternoon.

Total of about 30 miles and 9,500ft so a little below target, but next week is going to be a bigger one with a day in the Lakes on thursday and supporting a Paddy attempt on Saturday night. It is going to be fun.

Google 3D : makes the BGR route look much easier

Intrigued by talk of the Parachute jump descent from Blencathra, I went to have a look how steep it might be on Google maps which now has a 3D option. I have stood at the top of Blencathra and looked in that direction before heading off Dodick Fell in the snow. With snow cover it was hard to get a true feel of how steep it was. Google 3D really does make the slopes appear much gentler than I remember them. Halls Fell does not seen that steep on Google 3D, but I know it is tricker than tricky in bad weather.

While you will not learn the route and Broad Stand below looks somewhat easier than it is in reality, it is quite good for giving you the big picture and some sense of of relative location.


View Larger Map

This week has been a week of 2 halfs. The 1st half recovering from last weekends efforts and being taken away with work to the flat lands of Berkshire.

Monday : rest

Tuesday : early start and work near Reading. Did manage a few miles walking some woods

Wednesday : Work near Reading. I did intend to do a short run to break up the drive home, but was too late by the time I got back into Wales.

Thursday : That election thing meant the kids were at home and I needed to play catch up in the evening, so only managed some hill sprints ( 50ft * 10)

Friday : 10 * 250ft split in two parts to account for kids coming home. The best session to date on the hill behind the house. A challenge to do more than 10 reps in an hour has been born.

Saturday : Duty manager this weekend for which responsibility was handed over to the US at 4pm, so headed of with dog for 2 reps of Cader Idris which is 2 x 3000ft. Got down at about 9pm. I did think of doing a 3rd rep, but it would have been very late by the time I got home.
I would like to use the excuse that the dog look tired, but I would be talking rubbish.
Felt quite good when I finished, apart from some knee pain. Eating and drinking more while moving would have helped even more.

Sunday : Duty manager again and a physical day splitting fire wood, but really a rest day

Weeks total : 9000ft and about 15 miles.

While packing the weeks climb into 2 days, this was a week lacking in distance, but was OK given the other constraints.

in the wake of the Red Kite

and many Red Kites we did see on Saturday afternoon at Nant-Y-Arian, I would guess in excess of 70 at around mid-afternoon.

Monday : Late afternoon/early evening run 8 miles(ish) and 2000ft(ish) over some new hills and some I have not been over for some years around Anglers Retreat. Needless to say we saw no one else.

Tuesday : 2000ft 4 reps of from hill fort to bus stop and back including a sub 13 minute rep which broke new ground in terms of time and probably heart rate

Wednesday : In London

Thursday : In London (did plan a run on the way home, but I did not leave Canary Warf until after 6pm).

Friday : Rest in preparation for weekend

Saturday : 11 miles and 2000ft over very local ground for me in the Red Kite Challange. A bit over a minute faster than 2 years ago which given the amount of puffing up hills I have done in the last 9 months is a bit disappointing, but I got round in just over 9 minute miles. The sections I lost places on were the more gentle hills which in round training you would walk up. You get what you train for, but I did note in contrast to 2 years ago it was my legs rather my cardio-vascular system which was the limiting factor and at the finish I felt I could have continued rather than being a heap at the finish. I did give this race my all, the legs went faster than they had for at least 6 months and just would not go any faster.

Sunday : 18 miles and 2600ft over mainly forestry tracks for the Devil's Race - Ras Y Diafol which starts and finishes at Devils Bridge. Dic, the race organiser, mentioned at the start something about the Devil and a Cow, but I did not get the whole story. I had planned a slower race and my legs were tired. I had not planned to be quite so slow finishing in 3 hours and 15. I did struggle for about 4 miles between 8 and 12 miles, but got back into my stride again for the last 4 miles. 30 miles in 24 hours did make this race feel like an Ultra and despite 6 water stations equipped with Jelly Beens, I probably needed to eat a bit more. I found the steeper hills like a rest(up or down), but would slow down on the gentle hills, something which has been almost 100% absent from my winter training.

As I already know, if you are doing BGR type training, it does not help you much on shorter races with smaller amount of climb (AM, BM, BL), but you do recover much quicker. As a training week it was not ideal for the BGR, a bit faster, too little climb, but I enjoyed both races, over 8k feet of climb and over 40 relatively fast miles. A theme of the last 3 weeks or so has been to get a bit quicker on my feet before going back to slogging up the steepest hills I can find and long slow-ish days out over rough ground.

Pleased to report that I am a little less of a fat bastard than reported here. Still some work to be done in this area.

Faster than usual, but a lot less miles and climb

Monday : 4.5 miles and 800ft round a local circuit which I have not done for a while. I was about 20 seconds slower than my best ever time. Having dog with you (even though she is much faster) does slow you down as I would sometime just go over gates command style, but I have to open them for Mist. Quite pleased.

Tuesday : Work in London

Wednesday : Work in London. I was going to run, but decided against it after my annual nose bleed.

Thursday : 6 miles, 1000ft moderate speed round local hills

Friday : Clarch to Pendinas and back quite fast : 8 miles and 15000ft

Saturday : 1500ft of hill reps from Fort to Bus stop.

Sunday : An alternative training day and to be honest I was tried when I started. Training was pulling a wire rope from a winch up a hill attaching it to the bottom of Gorse, waiting for the Gorse to be pulled out and then pulling the rope back up hill. Repeat until.

Summary of the week is a low 5k of climb, but this was a speed week.

Next weekend I am going to do the Red Kite Challange and Ras Y Diafol races which start only a mile and 5 miles from home. So I need to get 600oft of climb in the 1st few days of this week.

Back in the saddle, but delaying the match

After 3 weeks of a chest/ear infection, it has gone. I think it effected my fitness a bit, but I had a great weekend running in the Lakes (well friday night and Saturday morning).

On Friday night hound and I ran (of course this is fell running, so it means ran until I had to walk and then walked until I could run again) from Dummail Raise to Stickle-o-Pike and back again. Bit before Sergeant Man was new, but I now know this section quite well having been out and back. Got back to the car just as it got dark and not a plane in the sky. Weather was warm, a little wind at times, but did not need any of the extra "just in case" kit I carried like torch, spare thermal, etc. 13 miles and 3000ft and an average speed of 3.9mph which is zipping along for me.

On saturday morning went from Honister to Pillar and back. Slower 2.5mph average, but I was not pacing myself, did not eat or drink that much, and with the previous evenings activity, was a fair bit slower. Always a bonus when one the decent from Great Gable (nice and loose and rocky) a chap says to his mate "that bloke with the dog, he makes me feel normal". Most pleased to have been of service. 12 miles and 6000ft.

So with 1,000ft of reps on thursday to make sure my cold had gone, we just reached the holy 10k goal this week.

For a number of reasons I have decided to delay my BGR attempt to September. I don't need to justify to anyone other than myself and Myra, but it is worth articulating.

• One of the constraints of doing the BGR was to complete it without collateral damage to the King family. Small man has just finished his 1st week in school and returns home as a incoherent bundle of exhausted rage. At the same point in her school career, small girl returned home as a winging bundle of exhausted jelly, so its just what kids do until they get used to it. I am already away enough with work and being out every evening thrashing my my up and down hills when he gets home from school just won't cut it. Far better to be around and with the longer evenings I can get out to exhaust myself after he has gone to bed
• 3 weeks out with a cold/chest ear infection has put my training back more than I would have wished
• I don't think I am quite up to it yet. I am sure I can do the round 66 and 27 parts, but within 24 hours concerns me. I need to get a bit faster when I am tired (post 20 miles)
• I am still enjoying my training and have lots to learn. I am fitter than I have ever been, but there is still some low hanging fitness fruit. If I knew in September, what I know know I would have done a few things differently.
  
• 8 of the 10 people I know well who I have asked as pacers are unable to make the 26th of June. Excuses like being an external examiner on Shetland on that day, going on holiday to Switzerland and already booked to run in a fell race. My climber decided to drop a suitcase on his knee (with a fair amount of cartilage damage) to get out of roping up Broadstand. I have had a great response from people like Penrith Stu, Mark Smith and Simon Anderson who I don't really know and are very supportive, but it would be nice to have a mix of old and new.

So I am delaying my attempt till the last weekend in September. There are some obvious downsides to September rather than June

• 2 legs in the dark rather than 1. I have done a lot of running in the dark over the winter, so with modern lighting, GPS and good pacers, I doubt it will cost much time. Does mean I need to get over both legs 1 and 2 in the dark before September.
• Weather could be bad. Yes, higher probability of poor weather in September, but also less probability of being very hot which was a worry with June and worries me more
  

The decision feels right on a number of levels and I it must have been burning in the back of my mind for a few days, as I seemed to find some more motivation once I committed to the new date.

Right, lets go out and start on this weeks 10k of climb.

Blah

Just had a week in Tenerife on a family holiday. Got one day out where I wondered up and ran down the west peak of Teide up to 10,000ft which made the lungs burn a bit. I have had a cold for 10 days now, so did not push it. Unfortunately, I picked up an ear infection (we are not beach bums, so we spent 3 days in the central mountains, so repeat drive up to 6000ft ascent and decent did the sinuses no good at all).

Training on hold for a few days till we get this cold/whatever it is out of the way. Only 8 weeks of possible training left which is a worrying thought.

Peris Horseshoe++

I set out on Sunday to do 8 hours at a little better than BGR pace over a distance and ascent that was similar to legs 1 and 2, but carrying enough kit to be conformable and safe. I also aimed to get the hang of eating and drinking on the move, so I only stopped for 5 minutes on Y Llwedd and to take stuff out of the rucksack. So I picked that nice easy route(not) which follows the Peris Horseshoe to Moel Cynghorion, and then carried on along the ridge to Moel Eilio. My legs were still a little tired from 14 fast (for me anyway) miles on friday night.

All boxes ticked really. The ground between Y Llwedd and Snowdon is quite tricky and time consuming, so even with a bit less distance, the ground was a bit more of a challenge. What really pleased me was that I was still running comfortably when I got back to Llanberis and today my legs are not stiff. Moel Eilio is a really nice mountain to run on, and a new one for me.

I did ask myself the question when coming off Moel Eilio if I had it in me to do it all again, twice. However, with hand maidens keeping feed and watered and not having to carry anything other than myself, I would hope to arrive at the end of leg 2 in better condition than yesterday which is very postive indeed.

Discovery of the day was that Welsh Cakes are good mountain running food. I guess at about 100 calories each, made of flour, butter or lard, eggs, sugar, and currants and/or raisins you can't really go wrong. I found them quite easy to eat and they do make you want to drink, so I will make them part of the 25,000 calories on the day which brings me to my next subject .....

I like eating. This is positive for a Round as I should be able to keep eating the required 25,000 calories. This is also bad in that I am about 1/2 -> 3/4 of a stone heavier that I would wish to be for running. I lost 1/2 a stone within 3 months of taking up running, then my body fat reduced down to 16% and my weight stayed the same(give or take 4 pounds). I do still need to loose some more, so please feel able to email me on a regular basis to, or if we meet, call me a "fat bastard" until I publish on this page that the bathroom scales have have read 11.6 or less for 3 consecutive days.

Monday : 11 miles + 3000ft
Tuesday : 10 x 50 hills sprints
Wednesday : rest (away with work)
Thursday : rained and I could not be arsed
Friday : 14 miles along the Ystwyth Valley cycle track at 9.45 pace (fast more me and it is not flat all the way)
Saturday : carried buckets of rock for an hour
Sunday : Peris++ 22 miles and 10,500ft

So a total of about 47 miles and 13,500ft.

Wise words from David Tenant and Sarah Ridgeway

Wise words from both David Tennant and Sarah Ridgeway might explain some of my running in the last week.

David Tennant, while narrating Eddie Izzard's lots of marathons programme, mentioned it takes 3 weeks to recover from running a marathon. So I guess the same holds true for a 30 mile Ultra where you spend the following evening throwing up. Even though I took the post Ultra week off running, I was not running well last week( 7-14 days post Ultra), so only managed 5 or 6000ft of climb. A distinct lack of Hwyl on my part.

I did 11 miles and 3000ft on the local mountains last night at a much improved speed. The last 20 minutes was slower, but that was down to it getting dark and I did not take a torch. There was enough light to see, but not enough to go fast. The perceived improvement reminded me of a comment Sarah made along the lines of getting a post-ultra boost a couple of weeks after an ultra.

Was it being rested or the fabled post-ultra boost, time will tell.

BGR route reconnaissance : strategic error

Work has been a bit mad of late and I had some holiday to take by the end of March. Wednesday was the 1st day I had been able to take off and the weather was not great after a run of really good weather. I set out to run from Honister over leg 4 in reverse then coming back over Kirk Fell from Wasdale.

The good thing about the day out was that visibility was very poor, so my best friend Mr Compass and I spent a lot of time conversing with Mr Map. Indeed, I could not see the Honister sprawl until I was within 15 meters of it on my return. It was also quite windy, combined with drizzle made things a bit cold. I got as far a Kirk Fell, before retracing my steps. Its OK being a bit cold when you are quite fresh, but once you are tired then errors can creep in and it was not a day for errors. Most of the snow had gone, but there was still quite a lot on Great Gable, some ice was still around so it a day for taking care where you put your feet rather than worrying about your splits between peaks.

The strategic error from a BGR training point of view was going out in wet weather running kit plus some margin (shelter, plus spare gloves and food) for 3 hours rather than full Gore-tex body armor and being content with walking, with the odd trot, for 8 hours. Less can be more.

How fast?

My last post lead me to question how fast I could actually run a mile.

I had been visiting a customer in Birmingham and took the train from Cosford. I got back about 6.30 as it was getting dark. Next to Cosford railway station is an RAF base which has a sports centre and some rubgy/football fields which get some light from the 5 a side pitch flood lights.

Never one to make things easy for myself, I decided to see how fast I could run a mile using my Garmin to record time and distance. Only problem was I could only read it when running past the sports centre, which made pacing a bit of a challange.

I am sure I could have gone a bit faster if I had known in advance that 3 laps of the pitch was a mile. I got round in 6 minutes 43 seconds and felt I could have carried on at the same pace a bit longer, so clearly could go a little faster.

While this has little bearing on the BGR training, it was quite interesting to find I am not quite as slow as I thought on the flat, but I won't be gunning for a place in Team GB for the mile.

Back on the wagon

The Sunday night after the Wye Valley ultra was memorable for projectile vomit. I was none too bright the next 2 days and the remainder of the King family got the bug later in the week. So it was a good week to pick to rest. I was not really recovered until friday from the bug and 2 days extra rest did no harm at all. I probably did about 1500ft of climb while walking dog, but it was at leisurely pace. By Sunday I found myself running downhill on the evening walk as a subconcious action. A sign that it was time to start running again.

Monday night did 6 miles and about 1000ft of climb at a 10 minute mile pace which is quite speedy for me. I struggle to get much under 8.30 minute miles for any length of time, even on the relative flat. Reading about some folks who trot out significant distances at 6 minute miles makes me wonder what the hell I am playing at.

I then remind myself I am playing a different game and I have not been playing for as long.
I should do a bit more work in the area, my running is not that efficient, but amount of climb and time out on the legs are really the priorities for the next 10 weeks.

Wye Valley ULtra

Wye Valley Ultra is a small race (maybe 100 runners) which is an out and back loop along the course of the River Wye from Ross-on-Wye. The 2nd section goes off into some Forestry. For an Ultra it is flat with maybe 1000ft of ascent in total. There is a section on road, but most is tracks, trails and some fields. It was a beautiful day for March, though a little cold when in the shade.

A neighbor of mine, Elle, came along. She had not run anything beyond a 1/2 marathon before. A few months ago she was complaining that she had entered the London Marathon 5 years running, but not got a place. So I suggested why not try the Wye Ultra, it is mostly flat and only 4 miles more and she would have no problem getting a place. Anyway she finished which was a tremendous achievement. I am not sure she quite knew what she was letting herself in for, but seemed really pleased to have finished.

I found the race a little harder than I expected. My time was a bit slower than I was aiming for. I initially thought it was because I had not fully recovered from my blind date with Stu. on Tuesday. I expected 5 days would have been enough to recover, but from watching Eddie's "lots of marathons" program the night before, an expert in such things suggested that it takes 3 weeks to recover from a marathon. Still, I thought it would be good to run on tired legs. The real reason for finding the last 10 miles hard because apparent on the way home where I had to stop to decorate a lay by which by all accounts the characters in Little Britain would have been proud. Small man was projectile ill on friday night and I very much suspect I caught his bug. At least it waited till after the race.

My legs have asked for a week off running. They have not had a rest since December and if they don't get it they promised to make my right knee hurt, so probably best to let them have their way. Might do some biking this week instead.

Stu. and Clive on a blind date

I had not been on a blind date before. You never know how compatible you might be or if the differences are too large and there is no will to compromise on one side.


I have heard of successful 1st meetings arranged on the internet
before and also know there is scope for disaster. I had no agenda for
the day, so was happy to go along with Stu's suggestion of legs 1 & 2
of the BGR and meeting at Dummail Raise, leaving 1 car and taking the other to Keswick. No need to wear a carnation at Dummail Raise layby, it was quite obvious who was who.



Stu is mild mannered and unassuming. He is also very modest to the
point where is blog is rather misleading. He is a bloody good runner
and as the day wore on it became clear I was
outclassed. However, he is also very patient and I certainly had a
great day out. Stu knows the 1st 2 legs very well indeed, taking the
took the time to show me the lines on leg 1. It was the 1st time I had
been on any of leg 1 in the light, so it was well worthwhile to get a
sense of the layout and the spatial relationship (where things are
relative to each other [ tell I am reading John Humpreheys book on
plain speaking ] ).



I struggled somewhat on leg 2 to keep up (lagging behind on
each split), keeping going was no problem, just I was slow. Clive pace might get Clive round with luck and a following breeze at a 24 hour pace. Stu pace is somewhat faster and I hope he will do a 21 or 22 hour round in May, no doubt he is capable of it. Why? He is much fitter than I am, though I still claim having longer legs helps [ :-) ]. There was a lot of snow on leg 2 and some
bits of ice. 1 steep section on the ascent of Stybarrow was a struggle
to make any progess even with my new micro-spikes until I learned how
to use them on that type of terrain, steep ice with a couple of inches
of snow over it. You can't front point with micro spikes!

Stu is a far more ordered person than I am and plans things much
better. I was not sure I was even able to make it till after 8pm the
previous evening. My life of reacting to Sun -> Oracle customers
various computer crisis for the last 12 years plus has exacerbated my
natural tendency to live via just in time decision making and reacting
to circumstances as they occur (more than a little frustration for
Myra it has to be said). Beyond where I am on a particular day, I
gave up, after a few years at Sun, trying to plan in detail and found
that beyond specific fixed events, I end up having to undo the
planning because someone else has changed their plans or needs and I
must to accommodate. It works quite well on the whole, but can cause problems. The BGR clearly is an event which need meticulous planning and I also need to pay more attention to food and drink when doing longer training runs. The up side is that I do tend to make good use of opportunities as they arise and getting out for a day this week in the Lakes was an example where I sandwiched BGR training between some work in Edinburgh. I am pleased it included a bind date with Stu.



I have kept my blind date with Stu from my current running
partner. She is aware I do the odd race and is OK with it, but I can
picture it if she got to learn I had spent the day running with
someone else. It would be glum look and lying on the floor with her
back to me for days. Worse than putting her in kennels while we went
on a family holiday. Be obliged if you don't tell her. It would be a
shame to spoil a great day out, so our little secret dear reader, OK.


Great weather, company and objective. Without doubt the best day of
BGR training I have had. 23 miles and about 10,000 ft. We missed the
last 2 summits due to time (Clive was slow) and night was approaching
and did not bother visiting 2 others which we passed close by.

Blah sort of running week

The 1st part for the week was spent in London, so options for hill climb are limited but we tried something new -> running on the flat!

Monday : in London

Tuesday : 1 lap of Kensington Park (5 miles). 3 pints the previous night at "Westminster Skeptics in a pub" made this a non trivial exercise.

Wednesday : 1 lap of Kensington Park (5 miles). Much easier than previous day

Thursday : still in London. Too late traveling home to do my usual Blorange route

Friday : 3000ft of bus stop to hill fort with a fast rep of 13 minutes 30. The other 3 were around 16 mins.

Saturaday : 4500ft of 2 reps of a circuit between Pendam and Ponterwyd. Each rep had 6 hills and was just over 2000ft and 5 miles. 1 rep in the light and 1 in the dark with a break at the car for tea and wholemeal fruit bread. 1.20 1st rep and 1.28 for the 2nd. Took it gentle and kept the heart rate about 140.

Sunday : Managed 500ft and a few miles between walking dog and walking children, but this really was a cop out. I just did not feel like running, maybe the 7500ft in the previous 2 days allowed a crack to develop in my resolve.

I have some big plans for next week including the Wye Valley Ultra (30 miles), tuesday in the Lakes doing some bit of the BGR and an evening(ok, this time of year, night) Skiddaw hike if I can get away from Edinburgh early enough on Thursday night. So a rather pathetic 8000ft might not be a bad thing in the wider context.

Does feet of climb with weapons count?

Had a really fun day out on the Glyders on Saturday with my old friend Mike (from diving days) but we have got reaquainted through having small people of similar age. Saturday was a great day out where the aim of the day was to be exciting without being scary. 65% ice on a gully on the north side of Glyder Fawr provided that with 2 axes being required on the gully. Some soft snow and some really good ice where you got cracking placements. Falling off would not have been an option, but it was good that we were both of a similar level of mountaineering ability and commitment tampered with the thought of how painful a ballocking we would have got from our respective wives if we died.

Other bit of running news continued from last week was from Coach Jon and indeed it seems I have improved according to the treadmill, except in 1 respect. I have got slower in terms of max speed, so from a not very fast base I am even slower and can now bearly outrun my 4 year old, but I can run for a lot longer. Over the 6 months since the last test

Maximum speed has moved from 18kmph to 16kmph

Middle threshold (V02 max I think) has moved from 12kmph to 13kmph at 160
beats per minute.

Lower threshold (boundary between where the body burns fat and glycogen)
has moved from 8kmph to 10kmph at 141 beats per minute

Training advice is to do long runs at 141 beats per minute and shorter more intense sessions at around 160 beats per minute which is pretty much what we have been doing. Do need more long days out of 4 hours plus.

Monday : Blorange 1500ft

Tuesday : Rest

Wednesday : 3000ft hill fort to bus stop

Thursday : In London

Friday : 1000ft hill sprints.

Saturday : 3500ft, part of which was a grade 2 ice climb up a gully on the north side of Glyder Fawr.

Sunday : 1500ft of random reps

so just about managed the target for climb. A little lacking on distence.

1st long day out

Too much travel with work to do all things. Long days traveling rarely yield a body and mind which would benefit from late evening training.

Monday : rest and working in Bradford

Tuesday : working in Birmingham, managed 5 miles and 500ft along Cwm Enion on the way home

Wednesday : Ramp test with Coach Jon on the tread mill

Thursday : working in London

Friday : 3 mile warm up and 10 x 80ft hill reps, so about 500ft

Saturday : Ogwen Horseshoe starting from Capel Curig, over the Glyders to Y Garn, Idwal Cottage for a butty and tea, 3 Carnedd's and along the ridge back to Capel. 21 miles and 8000ft.
A great day out, but some slow as a lot of care was required as some sections had ice (going down Idwal for example). Dog still had the same spring in her step at the end of the run, really annoying. She could at least fake looking cream-crackered to make me feel better.
No pictures as camera broke which might be something to do while small girl's comment that she dropped it at the Long Mynd Valleys race when Brother was meant to be looking after both children and Camera. I should have issued specific instructions to keep the 2 apart.


View Ogwen Horseshoe in a larger map

So at least 9,000ft and one long day out. Doing the ramp test meant not getting the 10k of ascent in, but that was a conscious decision and it is well worth knowing the training thresholds.

Next week I think I am going to make it a climb focused week.

Long Mynd Valleys race according to Garmin

Interesting elevation profile with the 1st 8 miles being more hilly than I remember.

Joss

I first heard the name Joss Naylor about 18 years ago when walking with a friend in Snowdonia and discussing the 14 peaks record. Feet in the Clouds set out his place in fell running legend very clearly, but you did not get to know much about the man. When I took up fell running again 18 months ago, the name also kept cropping up as holding various records for races.

Joss by Keith Richardson describes more of the man and the place he lived and work. It is a month since I read it now and I can remember more about the sheep and dog discussions than about the running. It gives a insight into life in Wasdale as a sheep farmer and less direct insight into the runner, but perhaps that is the point. Joss as a hard case was a product of both environment and genetics.

It is a beautiful book and reminds you there is more to running than just running.

Long Mynd Valleys race and week round up

The early part of the week, I was away and the later part of the week I was resting for the Long Mynd Valleys race, but still managed 8,500ft of climb.

Monday : rest

Tuesday : 2000ft hill fort to bus stop reps

wednesday : away with work

Thursday : away with work

Friday : 2000ft hill fort to bus stop reps

Saturday : rest

Sunday : Long Mynd Valleys race 12 miles, 4,500ft

This is a good race for me in terms of location as it is 1/2 way between where I live and where my brother lives. Uncle and auntie get to see the small people, I get a race in and mum gets some quiet time. A win all round.

Conditions were misty on the top, but it did not cause a navigation problem. Still easier to route find than 10 days previous when I ran it at night.

I was really please with a time of 2:24:53 and 91st overall. A little better than 1/2 way down the field and about 1/2 way down the class which for those of us lacking in ability is quite pleasing. Conditions were a bit faster than last year, so the 12 minute improvement was not just down to getting fitter, but I think most of it was. One of my tests was did numerous people pass me on the last 2 hills as occurred last year? Nope. I made a few places on each of the last 2 hills and did not back off in effort terms at all.

So to have managed under 2.20 what would I have needed to do? I probably lost at least 2 minutes by falling over going along the relatively flat (hence fast) before the last hill. This resulted in a bang on the knee, 4 small holes in knees, elbow and hand which leaked some claret, a strange pinch mark on my stomach which makes no sense at all and a painful shoulder. One of the really nice things is that each person who saw it happen made sure to ask if I was OK as I was winding myself back up again to run. One kind chap even commented that he did not expect me to get up from the fall, let alone run. Only took a couple of seconds loss of concentration as I started to think about the last ascent and I was over. I am no shrinking violet when it comes to descending. Each of the down hill sections I would pass between 5 and 10 runners (some of which would pass me on the next hill, but on aggregate it was good for gaining places). For this fall, I was probably lucky not to get hurt seriously.

So 10,000ft a weeks seems to be working. I might be a little faster on the fast section than last year, but the hills were faster and I felt I passed more people on the steep downhill sections than last year. Given I am not training specifically for this type of even, I was really pleased with the outcome. I also recovered much faster than last year at the finish.