Trig Points Race - 06/01/2013

Coming into Moors Gorse - pic Colin Williamson
Zoe isn't sure whether she's going to throw the gel
back up or wash it down.

The Cannock Chase Trigs race is a nice winter warmer, fairly flat and fast but generally on good trails. There's a significant element of nav, not so much in devising the optimal route on the map - that's an open secret - but in translating the mapped route into the correct turns and trails on the ground. Climbing and descending ability isn't much of a factor, it's more about being able to run at a decent clip for almost all of the 16 and a bit miles. Zoe has just started her training for the London Marathon, and didn't know the route at all. She's (currently) fairly similar paced to me on flatter traily stuff so we decided to run together. On the Saturday we had a quick go through and decided 2:30 would be a stretching but achievable target time. I ran 2:39:49 in 2011, the only other time I've done this event.

We started with an inefficient route choice over the hill by the start instead of round it (my fault, although I enjoyed a minute or two chatting to Paul Cadman before he got his proverbial in gear). Then Zoe's ankle (she'd buggered it in a fall on a road tempo run three days earlier) started to play up, so a couple of biref stops to sort that left us well down the field at the first checkpoint at Rifle Range.

We ran reasonably comforatably down to Moors Gorse, passing a couple of folk, and getting a gel down just before the railway and road crossing. This year Bob, the RO, has introduced SI timing and to ensure everyone's safety a 2 minute allowance was made each way so folk didn't have to race across the railway and busy road. We made the most of it, taking a minute to have a drink and sort kit before starting the climb towards Beaudesert. I had a very momentary nav stutter about two hundred yards before the road crossing.

On the way up from Beaudesert to Castle Ring the faster runners were flying down the hill towards us and it was nice to shout up friends and get encouragement as the passed. One of the nicest bits of longer races is points where the route doubles back and you can do this (I'm thinking of the Lawley and Earl's Hill on the Longmynd Hike too). We walked a bit of the climb to Castle Ring - I could have run but Zoe's ankle was really giving her pain on the steeper bits of ascent. Still this was a good leg and we were overtaking people, a few at a time.

We ran well back down to Beaudesert and on to Brereton Spurs, Zoe setting a cracking 8:00 pace on the road so much so that I was wondering how long it would be before she dropped me. Just as this somewhat unpleasant thought crept into my mind, the road kicked up and I was able to bring all the hill triaing to bear and catch up. We took the marked route down from the spurs and a Mow Cop couple passed us just as we merged - I reckon as a pair we'd have been quicker by the road in hindsight as Zoe wasn't that quick down this rough kilometre.

Back at Moors Gorse we took another drink and a quick passage over the road (thanks Tom) and railway (thanks Network Rail) meant we could rest for 30 seconds before dibbing to start the next (and toughest) leg. This takes runners up from Moors Gorse, past the Visitor Centre, down to the head of Sherbrook Valley and then up to the Glacial Boulder trig. The climb out of Moors Gorse isn't steep but it's tough after 11 or 12 miles of running. We ran the first half and hiked the second half, passing a few runners en route. Hitting the longest road section Zoe was quickly on the pace again, and as I was feeling quite good we took it in turns to lead and made a cracking pace for the next 2 km. I got the nav right on the drop into and climb out of Sherbrook Valley and we were at the boulder quite rapidly - this was our best leg, about 50th fastest of the 133 runners.

We were passing people fairly thick and fast by now, coming across a tired looking Andrew Brooke just after the control. I gave him some encouragement and we set off hard to the incline and down that. We were about 4 minutes from home with 5 to go before the target time of 2:30 when I made a horrible nav error at the bottom of the incline and instead of going straight on down the final section for some reason I thought the pool was on the wrong side and went right instead. This gave us an extra quarter mile and a steep 130' of climbing that no-one else had to do. We lost nearly four minutes and 15 places, finally finishing a bit deflated in 79th equal place, 2:32:17.

Never mind, lesson learned. We'd run fast enough for a 2:30 finish, so job done there, and we'd each only lost a couple of points in the Mercia champs (in a race which probably won't be a counter for me, and possibly not for Zoe).

Resolution: do the race again and aim for 2:25 or better. Reccie the start/finish properly, and also sort out the section through then campsite etc between the Rifle Range and The visitor centre car park where I only got the right line by following others. I've marked my race maps with the correct route since finishing because reading the map is easier if you know instantly which path you are intending to take!

Christmas and Training to 06/01/2013

A trial run of embedding pages from my Garmin Connect site to create a training diary quickly. If it doesn't work I'll go back to just covering events on here...

Week commencing 24/12/2012: I mostly concentrated on relaxing after Tour de Helvellyn and enjoying the Christmas holiday. We had a nice run on Boxing Day from Coln St Aldwyn to Bibury in the Costwolds, watched the charity duck race (our duck didn't win), dranked mulled wine and ran back. Then it was out on the Mynd on the Sunday for 8 miles (the easy 8) of the Longmynd Valleys race route. The headwind on the usually runnable Portway section was a bit unwelcoming but we had a great time. A mere 2 runs and 3:05 of training: 14 miles and 2,500' of climbing almost all on trail or fell.



Week commencing 31/12/2012: Another rather limp start to the week due to New Year's Eve and the aftermath, but I got in a good hill reps session on Wednesday 2nd and ran a hard road tempo run the following day (albeit a bit interrupted stopping first because Zoe tripped badly on a deep pothole, and then because I needed a pee). On the Saturday I did a fairly rapid whizz round one of the suggested routes on the Nesscliffe Permanent Orienteering Course. With the trig points race this gives me 4 runs lasting a total of 5:19, covering 31 miles and 4,000' of climbing. I'm looking forward to getting back to some decent climbing sessions as Tuesday night runs start again for me now.

Cardington Cracker - 02/12/2012

Crossing the summit of Caer Caradoc

I woke up feeling absolutely lousy on the morning of the Cracker, and it took some serious persuading from Zoe to get me out there. Zoe's friend Jo was staying and they'd decided to come and watch so in the end that was the deciding factor and I was running!

It was nice to meet everyone again and I was feeling a bit better by the start, but I was caught napping when Paul started the race and ended up a very long way back at the first gateway. I overtook a few people in the fields and up the first little bank on the way to Enchmarsh and eventually found myself descending towards the Lawley just behind Val, probably about the right position in the field but it had cost me some effort.

For some reason (maybe the virus I reckon I have had which had made me feel so bad when I got up), I just switched off on the Lawley climb and sat in my comfort zone over the top, on the descent (Em and Archie were at the bottom supporting - thanks guys) and also up the Caradoc. Don't get me wrong, I worked a bit but I wasn't anything like flat out. I did run the final section of the climb past Al, which at least got me a nice pic. I cruised the Caradoc descent too, crossing the stream 7 minutes or so slower than last year.

Race face on, working up to the summit of Caradoc

Descending past the gate at Three Fingers Rock

Zoe and Jo were at the gate as you start the long slog up Hazler Woods and this geed me up a bit. I ran all of it, although I think sometimes it's no quicker than walking. I spotted Pete Johnson up ahead and decided to try to close the gap on him. I worked a little harder on the way up to the Gaer Stone and enjoyed the fast run across the Bowdler Hills, working hard to run a lot of the short rises I had to walk last year. As I got to the Gaer Stone, the gap to Pete had come down quite a bit and I was able to pass him on the rough descent here. The path which Pete was using was very muddy and slippery so I ran on the bilberry to the side which was much easier.

The gates at the bottom were open this year which was good - no one likes vaulting / climbing / whaling over 4' high gates when they're tired. This marks the start of a 2 mile steeplechase in to the finish. I tried to run the entire field up to the Old Cardington Lane, and managed it! One runner passed me shortly after as we headed along the seemingly unending ridge which follows, but he'd been overtaking me on all the flat bits, I guess he just had more speed. Otherwise I was passing people.

Charlie was at the first of the stiles on the final run in, encouraging me to pick off the last two runners in front of me, but in the end I just didn't have the speed or energy, and ran in in 1:40 for 96th place.

It was pleasing that I'd managed a decent run given the givens, but I'd have liked to be five minutes faster than in 2011, rather than a minute slower. The conditions were more difficult this year. I beat quite a few folk that I didn't beat last year and finished in exactly the same position. I was also pleased to have been able to run the second half of the race much quicker than last year - I put this down to more and better training: I'm quicker on the flat than I was. I just need to get in touch with my inner climbing animal again - it seems to have gone missing since Callow and the CCC.

Tour de Helvellyn - 22/12/2012

Arriving at the Swart Beck checkpoint, pleased to see Stuart

I signed up for Tour de Helvellyn after I'd ducked out of the Long Mynd Hike, as I wanted to complete one more ultramarathon this year (total six I think - 2 at Pilgrim's Way, the Brecon 40, the WOW, the CCC and TdeH). I'd tried to do the race last year but a combination of a party the night before and atrocious road conditions on the drive from Shropshire to the Lakes put paid to an early start and meant that I was a long way behind the field for much of the day. I called it quits after about 20 miles and a big struggle over Sticks Pass in total whiteout conditions.

This year I learned from some of the mistakes and drove up the night before, staying on the floor in the event centre at Askham Village Hall.

I woke at six after a fairly fitful night's sleep and had a fairly leisurely preparation, chatting with Joe, Keith and Pauline, Nick Ham, Adrian Donnelly and Dale Colclough and his partner Den. The event format allows starts from seven until nine, but the first manned checkpoint, at Patterdale about 10 miles in, only opens at 9:30. I'd decided to start about quarter to eight so the checkpoint would be open and any rush of waiting runners would be gone before I got there.

Lovely relaxing cup of tea, thank you Pauline!

Having a natter before the start...

In the event Adrian started about ten minutes before me and Dale a couple of minutes after me, so I ran the first couple of miles up to Askham Common on my own. Here, Dale caught me up and we ran together comfortably over Moor Divock and down to Howtown where Dale showed me a handy short cut to the road which cuts a little distance and a bit of muddy trail off at the cost of 50' of extra climbing. We walked purposefully up to the church at Martindale where I was able to spot the dibber and kite easily having done the event before. (1:04 from start)

Onwards along the road into Boredale and I were nicely matched for pace and managed a good conversation until the top of the Hause where I let him run on as I felt I'd gone rather faster than I originally had intended. I dropped into the Patterdale checkpoint 50 minutes after leaving Martindale.

The next stage climbs up to Greenside and then on to the footbridge over the Swart Beck on the Sticks Pass path, where Stu from NAV4 was waiting with his camera and the dibber for CP3. I went quite well up here, passing Dale and Adrian before Dale repassed me near the checkpoint. (45 minutes from Patterdale, 2:40 total)

Passing the SportSunday camera lady at Greenside

Closely followed by Adrian and Dale

Nice impressionist view of other competitors approaching Swart Beck

The remaining section to Sticks Pass is more gently graded and was much easier than last year with only a few small patches of slushy snow. The route at the top was obvious (straight on across the main ridge path) and I continued on down through ankle deep freezing water which eventually turned my feet into solid unyielding lumps. I told myself they'd warm up when I was lower down and on drier ground. The rain was still falling fairly steadily but my newish less running more mountaineering style kit (Quecha thermal, Haglofs Stem II mid layer and bargain Berghaus Etive Gore-Tex Paclite Cag) was keeping me reasonably dry and even on the pass I wasn't desperately cold. Some gloves which fitted would have helped though, and I nearly put my fleece on.

The descent down to Stanah is marginally easier to the right and I followed a quicker runner who'd just passed me on the way down. I got to Stanah 43 minutes after leaving Swart Beck (3:23 total). At this point I'd decided to bail last year and hiked up the road to Swirls so I didn't know the rest of the route intimately.

From Stanah to Swirls the route uses the public right of way following the intake wall above the fields of Thirlspot. This is probably the most technical section of the route, mostly singletrack and with lots and lots of rocks embedded in the path. I took the opportunity to take on a bit of water and half a Go-Ahead bar, walking quite a bit of this section before dropping into Swirls car park to meet Den and a couple of other check point staff. 26 minutes from Stanah (3:49 total).

I dumped a sarnie which I guessed I wasn't going to eat with Den, took on a few bits of banana and set off on the forest road towards Dunmail. I was quickly passed by a couple of quicker guys and then made the first of two dodgy route decisions, choosing to go down the forest road and then climb up again to the end of the woods rather than use the permissive traversing path used by many of the other runners. I think this probably cost a minute or two - it gave Adrian the opportunity to catch and pass me just before the next checkpoint at Birkside Gill which I reached in 41 minutes from Swirls (4:30 total).

Immediately after the checkpoint there's a choice to either continue along the intake wall to Dunmail and then use the "gutter" path up to Grisedale Tarn, or to take a more direct line climbing up onto the brilliantly named Willie Wife Moor and contouring round into Raise Beck just below the col. I chose the latter option and it was very tough, on rough ground, and I was conscious I was moving quite slowly. Eventually I reached the beck, crossing it at the only point I could see which was safe (it was very full) and then using the path for the final couple of hundred yards up to the col. I made ehavy weather of the boggy section round the tarn and down towards Ruthwaite Lodge and finally realised something wasn't right with a lot of folk passing me. I was hungry so I ate - two more Go Aheads and a gel. This got me going again and by the flatter section of the valley I was running reasonably well again. After a minor road rage incident with (you guessed) a white van, I jogged into the Patterdale checkpoint 1:54 after leaving Birkside Gill, and 6:23 total time. The loop round Helvellyn took four and a half hours. This was easily my worst leg.

Just after leaving Patterdale to climb to Boredale Hause

Here I had a quick few words with Stu and Joe, grabbed some banana and some crisps and walked through to Side Farm deliberately keeping moving but using the flat section to eat and sort my kit out for the push back to Askham. I climbed up to Boredale with Marie Mitton who was going pretty well. We used the main path, which is longer, but more easily graded. At the top Marie met her friend Helen, and I pushed on, descending the path into Boredale quite efficiently. I slowed a bit after the road junction and Marie and Helen and myself leapfrogged each other to the next checkpoint at Martindale (1:11 from Patterdale, 7:34 total).

Marie and three others with her went the high route from Martindale so I decided to try to grab a bit of ground back by using Dale's lower route again. I popped out on the path well ahead of them so stopped at a bench, drank some water and ate two thirds of a KitKat then got going again, alternately walking and running the fairly interminable section along the top of the fields above Ullswater. Eventually this starts to climb quite steeply and I hit the climb just after being passed by one of the more elite runners. He came straight back to me on the climb so I asked if he was ok and foisted the rest of my KitKat off on him. It must have worked because he got going again and passed me up by the stone circle. I was glad there were a lot of runners about as it was getting dark now and together we were able to set the right course across Moor Divock and hit the track spot on for the run in to Askham. I did most of this in company of another runner, and stayed in touch enough to find the quick way in to the finish, where Keith and Martin Stone were waiting with the final dibber and a results print out.

Martin Stone and Keith Richards manning the finishing checkpoint with style!

I finished 67th of 128 finishers and 148 starters in 9:04:48 and was 25th MV40 of 50 MV40 finishers.

Overall I was pretty pleased with this, off very little distance work at all. My longest run since the CCC had been about 15 miles, and I've had no consistency with the long runs at all. It was a very enjoyable day out in the hills and a great learning experience as ever. Thanks to Joe and all his helpers at NAV4.

Joe, a top event organiser, and Joe's soup, the best!

Time Trial - 25/11/2012

Zoe on the run back, descending to Ashes. There is not normally any kind
of watercourse this high in the Batch.

The Time Trial is one of my favourite events of the year. Get from Little Stretton to Stiperstones as fast as you can, whichever way you like, on foot. Realistically this means crossing the Mynd and Stiperstones ridges.

This year I'd decided to run as a mixed pair with Zoe (I've done male pair and solo previously, so I've now completed the set of categories I can enter without surgical intervention). We wanted to run back too, but I knew that we could get a lift if we needed to so that didn't slow us down.

We set off up Ashes Hollow at a reasonable rate only to run into a horribly muddy patch in the second field. It was pretty wet all the way up to the road. Zoe was a bit slower than me on the steep climb so thankfully I was able to get a bit of a breather a couple of times to prepare me for the road section. Andy Davies came hiking past at a pretty rapid rate up here on his way to an excellent 65 minute time. A good choice of line led us through light and burned off heather to the fingerpost and the road.

Predictably Zoe pushed on well to the Wildmoor hairpin, where I stopped to attend to my shoelace while she climbed the short rise, knowing I could catch her on the descent. Getting back on the road we met Rachael, Leena and Giz and I had a quick chat as it was Zoe's turn to deal with shoelaces!

Just before we caught Rachael, Leena and Giz - Zoe's ready to re-lace!

Zoe pushed me very hard all the way up to Hollies Farm, where the pace slowed a bit mostly owing tot the heaviness of the ground. The bog on the corner looked horrible and I stayed on the farm track, but after that it was grim up to the nature reserve boundary. A quick bit of running up to Shepherd's Rock and we were on the descent. Zoe made a pretty good fist of it and we were able to pass Kim and her friend, stopping to help each other over the field edge and at the gate. I flew the last section to be ready to dib when Zoe finished so unfortunately Stuart never got a picture of the two of us finishing. 92 minutes and change - pretty good for a reforming roadie - Zoe's running better everytime she does an off-road event :-)

Zoe finishing (pic: High Sports)

I overtook a car :-) It wasn't going fast!
(pic: High Sports)

We had a nice natter in the pub and a good, easy trip back in worsening weather.

Penmaenmawr Fell Race - 17/11/2012

At the top of the initial climb, Irish Sea behind, off to CP1 in the sunshine!

Today's training was a little different for me - I've been wanting to run in a race and really concentrate on enjoying it for a while now (probably since the Hike if not before) and, as I knew I'd be over in North Wales to support Zoe at the Conwy Half this weekend I thought I'd enter a nearby race on the Saturday. Fortunately I checked the calendar in advance, because Pen is a pre-entry only race (seems to work for them).

The route really suited what I wanted to do which was an easy to steady effort of around 10 miles - it's hard to believe I haven't run this far since the Vrynwy Half Marathon in early September!

It was pretty cold in the valley at Capelulo before the start, but very warm indeed in the community centre where I changed and annotated an map extract with the route (this was precautionary just in case of a deterioration in the lovely cold sunny weather). Zoe and Bailey saw me off with the rest of the field of just under 200 runners at 10:30.

Chris Near runs the race is run in alternate directions: this year it was anti-clockwise, so we started with a steep climb up a zig-zagging landrover track for the first half mile, before heading off towards Cefn Coch across beautifully soft grassy tracks. Al Tye was stood just past the top of the first climb taking pictures and we shared a friendly "hello". There were great views right to the sea and half left to Foel Fras (still topped with cloud) on this section. Having started at a steady but comfortable pace I let a fair number of runners pass me in this section - as I said the objective was a long easy to steady run, not a racing pace effort, and I was really enjoying the nice going and the view.

A bit of a traversing climb from Cefn Coch brought us into sight of the first checkpoint at the south edge of Penmaenmawr Quarry. At this point the route almost doubles back to drop down to the Afon Maes-y-bryn. This is great running to start with, but quickly became very boggy. I concentrated on keeping my cadence relatively high and doing nice short choppy strides to counteract the bog, and caught and passed a few folk here. The climb from the bog to the Pylon line which crosses Bwlch y Ddeufaen was good too, grass with those scattered protruding boulders which require a lot of concentration. At the top I took a gel and a few sips of water as we crossed the stile onto the Roman Road. This place is better known to a lot of runners as the start or finish of the Welsh 3000ers.

I didn't mind the road, being passed by runners on the flat bits and repassing them on a couple of short downhill sections. Keith and Pauline were out to support, and again we shared greetings and some encouragement. This and the gel geed me up a bit and I climbed well as we started up yet another lovely springy grassy track from CP2 at Cae Coch, gradually catching and overhauling a couple of runners. I kept it steady though and didn't respond when passed by another couple.

The route then traversed north for a mile and a bit with great views of the Conwy estuary and still the wonderful grassy tracks to reach the first flagging on the route which led in to CP4 (Fords) where Al was once more taking pictures, this time of runners fording a stream and climbing a short sharp climb which led to the final descent.

At the Fords, not far from the finish, happy and comfortable!

The race instructions said "The last descent of the race is steep and extremely muddy - We have cleared the vegetation from the lower section of the track but overtaking will not be easy ( or indeed advised ! ) – please get your overtaking out of your system before this last descent." Oops! I was way faster than three guys in front of me down this and in fairness they just stepped aside to let me pass as soon as it was safe to do so. If you can descend well it's a great run in and the finish is 20 yards beyond the bottom of the muddy path. So I finished with a great big smile on my face, even though I could probably have gone 5-10 minutes faster overall IF I'd wanted to race.

I'm reading Boff Whalley's book "Run Wild" at the moment and whilst Boff races (and in the past has raced at a pretty good level), it's the quality of the running that excites him, not so much the racing. If it's a nice route and good company you get the impression he's happy to turn up to a race, but he obviously is uncomfortable with the idea of running round city streets with 40,000 other people. This race was a good experiment, I like the company and I'm happy to go on attending and running in races for training as opposed to having to race full-on in every race I go to. It's for me to know which my target races are and to marshall everything I'm capable of on those days, and I just need to have the discipline to not be upset / excited / whatever about results on days like this when I'm running with the attitude that results don't matter but enjoyment does.

We've just had a discussion on the Shropshire Fell Running Facebook page about this - I think I might be in the minority with most folks saying they go flat out every time they do a race, yet there is a recognition there that if folks raced flat out a bit less often they'd be able to get better results when they did. Whatever.

On Sunday, Zoe did a very creditable 1:42 (29th lady of 650) at Conwy on relatively little training, and we both had a really nice relazing weekend. Good times.

Mad Jack's Cross Country - 10/11/2012

Starting off in from of the big house

Crossing the pond

Zoe and I decided to have a go at this a few weeks ago to help her with her off road running, and on the grounds it probably wouldn't do her too much damage the week before the Conwy half marathon. Mad Jack's is organised by my mate Mark Agnew who's the National Trust Estate Manager at Attingham Park, together with logistical support from Shrewsbury AC.

Anyway I'd been unwell for a few days before with a sickness bug that turned into a sinus infection, so had no great expectation other than to see how I felt. I'd settle for 8 minute pace over the 5.2 miles (which includes about 3 miles of rough fields, three water obstacles, several logs and quite a few fences and stiles). So 41:36 would be a reasonable target given the givens (7:30s for 39 minutes overall would be better but I wasn't up to that really).

I started way too quickly of course, trying to get to the first gate early enough not to be held up, and was lactic about a quarter of a mile in. I eased back in the second mile and struggled for a further section until we got into the woods across the deer park. I found the running there much easier (possibly because I'd slowed down by another 20 sec/mile) and in reality I was a bit too comfortable and should have been pushing on more. I got it back together and ran a decent final mile to the pond, overtaking a couple of people in the field.

The pond crossing was good, taking a slightly wider (and therefore deeper) line to pass a couple of people. I got a bit blocked off coming out of the pond but didn't have too much time to think about it as I suddenly realised Stuart Langley was coming past. Thankfully I got it together and ran in hard, staying just ahead of him until the finish.

Crossing the pond with Stuart lurking behind (in yellow)

I heard someone yelling something along the lines
of I should be able to climb out of the pond, being
a fell runner!

My splits were:

Mile 1: 6:51 (mostly rough fields but including one ditch)
Mile 2: 7:44 (more fields and another fence and ditch, then a short section of path over the river)
Mile 3: 7:43 (concrete path then lovely grass and finally woods with tree trunks to hurdle)
Mile 4: 8:01 (woods with a few tree trunks but very runnable)
Mile 5: 7:53 (along the river, then a short bit of wood and finally fields to the pool)
to finish: (through the pond, then a sprint round the field)

I was 89th of 362 and 14th V40 of 40 in 40:09. I'm fairly pleased with the time given the starting situation, but I could have pushed on a bit in mile 4 and got under 40 minutes.

Zoe did very well dealing with some tricky obstacles and finishing 2nd L35 in 42:15 (she is not 40 thank you results team!) What's more I think she enjoyed it, although she was looking for ways she could improve straight away.

Zoe climbing out of the pond

Phil, my triathloning colleague from work did a pretty creditable 44:16.