I had intended to keep the mileage up this week but I have decided to listen to my body for once and take things a little easy. Didn't run Friday or Saturday and only ran 6m or so this evening. Legs have been giving me a few signs here and there of being under some stress and it was this time of year I injured my knee last year by not listening to my body. Also after last weekend's 45m run and a chest infection, I figured a rest might be advisable!
A nice (albeit freezing) run up to Clifton on trail and road. Glad I've been sensble. Will run 10m tomorrow, 6m on Tuesday, 6 on Wednesday and 7 on Thursday. Then a reasonable weekend with some running (maybe 18 on Saturday) and some cycling on Sunday with Iain.
Happy Days.
♫Listening to: Chinese Democracy byGuns n Roses
Sunday 30 November 2008
Thursday 27 November 2008
Club run
Nice run with the club North of the River, 6m road an trail. Beautiful clear evening, but a little under-dressed (freezing!)
Legs felt a bit tired tonight, so will rest tomorrow.
Legs felt a bit tired tonight, so will rest tomorrow.
Tuesday 25 November 2008
First run after the long mynd
Ran a pacey 7m with the club tonight despite promising myself I would take it easy. 3.5 miles reasonable incline and 3.5 miles nicely back down again!
Really pleased with my recovery after Saturday's long run. Bit shakey in the middle, but that sorted itself quickly.
Nice run and a lovely clear evening :)
Really pleased with my recovery after Saturday's long run. Bit shakey in the middle, but that sorted itself quickly.
Nice run and a lovely clear evening :)
Sunday 23 November 2008
The Long(ish) Mynd
Yesterday I had the pleasure of ruuning the majority of The Long Mynd Hike route with Paul Tranter.
This is a race that I had wanted to run in October, but I was unwell so had to pull out. Since then this route has felt a bit like unfinished business, so I planned to do an unsupported attempt. Thankfully Paul agreed to come with me. Without his company, there wwas no way I would have finished what turned out to be an extremely difficult route.
We stayed the night in the nice little town of Chruch Stretton and were up at 4.30 a.m and out by 5. This was so that we could try to finish in the light when we were tired and do some night navigation while we were still fresh. So the first summit of Caer Caradoc was navigated in the dark which was lots of fun! Gale force winds on the far side of the hill added to the difficulties, but it was a good start to the run. It was 2 more hours before we would see the sun rising in the East - beautiful orange and yellow colours over Caer Caradoc. It's an amazing feeling to be high up on a hill knowing that that most other people are still tucked up in bed (or not even there yet!)
The run was going really well despite some long drags which were unrunable gradients. On arrival at Bridges, we checked the progress and time and were devastaed that this first section had taken 3 hours! We thought we had been going really well, but realised that if we had kept this pace up we would be looking at 15 hours out - a much longer day than anticipated. We continued up to Stiperstones somewhat dejected and already thinking of whether to cut the route short. On arrival at Stiperstones, we were buoyed by the possibility of being able to run along the ridge, but this also proved impossible for a while at least due to the angular stones protruding along the ridge. These do eventually subside though and we started making good progress down to Habberly.
We had decided that we would assess the situation again at Tankerville as there is a way of cutting out some of the route there. To be honest at Tankerville if Paul had agreed, I would have gladly turned back, but he was feeling much stonger than me here and suggested we press on. We soon came down to Corndon Hill (and Wales!) where we lost quite a bit of time getting lost! Eventually though, we found our route and pressed on around Black Rhadley (it's private land here so we avoided the hill itself). Now I had a second wind and Paul was finding the going tough. I had it in my head that if we could make it back up to Stipertones car park, we could make it home again. So we pressed on and sooner than expected we had made it to the car park. A quick munch on some food and we made the long descent back to Bridges. A look at the map showed that there was a direct road to Church Stretton, but we both decided we would like to finsih the proper route via Minton, so pressed on up to Pole Cottage.
From here, we both seemed to have fresh legs and we soon found that we were on the descent into Minton, with Little Stretton and Chruch Stretton in view. A great feeling as it had been a very challening day. My legs had a little wobble in Little Stretton (!) but a Mars Bar and some drink soon gave me the energy to run along to Church Stretton at a good pace.
We finally reached Church Stretton just as it had gone dark (something we had earlier given up on!) and ran into the car park at about 5pm, just short of 12 hours after starting.
We missed the summits of The Lawley, Earl Hill and Ragleth Hill as neither of us felt inclined to run up a hill merely for the sake of it, but I think we ran around 45 miles. We probably lost about an hour plus due to navigation difficulties. Overall, I estimate that on a race, sub 12 hours would be a possibility which although isn't a great time for a 50m course, would be a good time for this course with the elevation changes and diffcult terrain.
Thanks to Paul for coming down with me and the good company. A really excellent day out in the hills.
I've never been to Shropshire before and it is definitely somewhere I'd like to go back and visit.
Sorry for the lack of photos, but it was just too cold and I was too tired.
This is a race that I had wanted to run in October, but I was unwell so had to pull out. Since then this route has felt a bit like unfinished business, so I planned to do an unsupported attempt. Thankfully Paul agreed to come with me. Without his company, there wwas no way I would have finished what turned out to be an extremely difficult route.
We stayed the night in the nice little town of Chruch Stretton and were up at 4.30 a.m and out by 5. This was so that we could try to finish in the light when we were tired and do some night navigation while we were still fresh. So the first summit of Caer Caradoc was navigated in the dark which was lots of fun! Gale force winds on the far side of the hill added to the difficulties, but it was a good start to the run. It was 2 more hours before we would see the sun rising in the East - beautiful orange and yellow colours over Caer Caradoc. It's an amazing feeling to be high up on a hill knowing that that most other people are still tucked up in bed (or not even there yet!)
The run was going really well despite some long drags which were unrunable gradients. On arrival at Bridges, we checked the progress and time and were devastaed that this first section had taken 3 hours! We thought we had been going really well, but realised that if we had kept this pace up we would be looking at 15 hours out - a much longer day than anticipated. We continued up to Stiperstones somewhat dejected and already thinking of whether to cut the route short. On arrival at Stiperstones, we were buoyed by the possibility of being able to run along the ridge, but this also proved impossible for a while at least due to the angular stones protruding along the ridge. These do eventually subside though and we started making good progress down to Habberly.
We had decided that we would assess the situation again at Tankerville as there is a way of cutting out some of the route there. To be honest at Tankerville if Paul had agreed, I would have gladly turned back, but he was feeling much stonger than me here and suggested we press on. We soon came down to Corndon Hill (and Wales!) where we lost quite a bit of time getting lost! Eventually though, we found our route and pressed on around Black Rhadley (it's private land here so we avoided the hill itself). Now I had a second wind and Paul was finding the going tough. I had it in my head that if we could make it back up to Stipertones car park, we could make it home again. So we pressed on and sooner than expected we had made it to the car park. A quick munch on some food and we made the long descent back to Bridges. A look at the map showed that there was a direct road to Church Stretton, but we both decided we would like to finsih the proper route via Minton, so pressed on up to Pole Cottage.
From here, we both seemed to have fresh legs and we soon found that we were on the descent into Minton, with Little Stretton and Chruch Stretton in view. A great feeling as it had been a very challening day. My legs had a little wobble in Little Stretton (!) but a Mars Bar and some drink soon gave me the energy to run along to Church Stretton at a good pace.
We finally reached Church Stretton just as it had gone dark (something we had earlier given up on!) and ran into the car park at about 5pm, just short of 12 hours after starting.
We missed the summits of The Lawley, Earl Hill and Ragleth Hill as neither of us felt inclined to run up a hill merely for the sake of it, but I think we ran around 45 miles. We probably lost about an hour plus due to navigation difficulties. Overall, I estimate that on a race, sub 12 hours would be a possibility which although isn't a great time for a 50m course, would be a good time for this course with the elevation changes and diffcult terrain.
Thanks to Paul for coming down with me and the good company. A really excellent day out in the hills.
I've never been to Shropshire before and it is definitely somewhere I'd like to go back and visit.
Sorry for the lack of photos, but it was just too cold and I was too tired.
Thursday 20 November 2008
Last run before Long Mynd (unsupported run)
Ran my last run of 6m before Saturday's unsupported attempt of The Long Mynd. Not a great run, but felt really tired when I set off so I'm not surprised. Had to stop at a 24hr garage to get a mars bar as my legs were very shaky - not had that for a while! Will make sure I load up on good food tomorrow before the long drive down to Shropshire.
Wednesday 19 November 2008
Tapering a bit
Resting most of this week apart from tomorrow when I'll run a light 5m or so. This is in prep for the unsupoorted Long Mynd Hike attempt (50m) with Paul Tranter on Saturday.
Monday 17 November 2008
Theatre Run
Watched a friend in Romeo and Juliet tonight and then ran the 7m home. It's great to do things you don't normally do and I really enjoyed the performance.
♫Listening to: Caught in the Trees by Damien Jurado
♫Listening to: Caught in the Trees by Damien Jurado
Sunday 16 November 2008
Draycote
Ran a nice run from my brother-in-law's house to Draycote water and a lap around the reservoir. Planned to do at least two laps, but my head wasn't in the right place unfortunately. Nonetheless an enjoyable run of 15m.
Thursday 13 November 2008
Tuesday 11 November 2008
late, windy run
Ran a quick 6m loop to Pool and back.
♫Listening to: Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd by Lynyrd Skynyrd
♫Listening to: Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Monday 10 November 2008
Stressbuster
Whilst I have been known to listen to loud aggressive rock music in my spare time, I don't often listen to it while running as my feet get carried away with the b.p.m and I end up a broken man by the middle of the run.
Occasionally however, a good loud Ipod run is just what you need to brush the cobwebs of the day away. Today was just such a day. A difficult day at the office was soon forgotten after 7 blistering miles along headtorch-lit trails with thumping music in both ears. Can't beat it.
A GREAT run of almost spiritual proportions.
♫Listening to: Death Magnetic by Metallica
Occasionally however, a good loud Ipod run is just what you need to brush the cobwebs of the day away. Today was just such a day. A difficult day at the office was soon forgotten after 7 blistering miles along headtorch-lit trails with thumping music in both ears. Can't beat it.
A GREAT run of almost spiritual proportions.
♫Listening to: Death Magnetic by Metallica
Sunday 9 November 2008
1 Peak :(
Disappointingly I cut the run short to just one peak (Pen-y-ghent) today as the weather was pretty horrific. Gale force winds on the top and driving snow made me think that a solo round was a bit daft really.
So I took the safe option and cut things short. Will run another 10m later this evening to make up some mileage.
Despite the freezing conditions, I enjoyed the plod up pen-y-ghent and the controlled fall back down again!
So I took the safe option and cut things short. Will run another 10m later this evening to make up some mileage.
Despite the freezing conditions, I enjoyed the plod up pen-y-ghent and the controlled fall back down again!
Saturday 8 November 2008
Kit list for tomorrow
Just about to write a kitlist for tomorrow so I thought I might aswell write it here:
Here is the forecast for tomorrow, and looking out of my window (even though I'm 2 hours away) it looks about right.
Montrail Hardrock shoes
Shorts and running tights
2 pairs socks
map, case, compass, GPS (sorry orienteers - I hate being lost!), whislte
Macpac backpack
gloves
hat, buff
2 X helly
lightweight and thicker waterproof, waterproof trousers
emergency blanket
water (platypus) and food
ipod (sorry running purists!)
wallet, phone.
dry change of clothes, towell, flask.
Plan is to be out by 5am and hopefully running by 7, round by 12 and home by 2ish.
Here is the forecast for tomorrow, and looking out of my window (even though I'm 2 hours away) it looks about right.
Montrail Hardrock shoes
Shorts and running tights
2 pairs socks
map, case, compass, GPS (sorry orienteers - I hate being lost!), whislte
Macpac backpack
gloves
hat, buff
2 X helly
lightweight and thicker waterproof, waterproof trousers
emergency blanket
water (platypus) and food
ipod (sorry running purists!)
wallet, phone.
dry change of clothes, towell, flask.
Plan is to be out by 5am and hopefully running by 7, round by 12 and home by 2ish.
Fancy dress run
It's OK - I didn't do a 5k dressed as a tomato (although that reminds me of running in the local Chevin Chase run held on Dec 26th eacher year. I nearly always get beaten by fairies, Christmass puddings etc - bad for the ego). I was merely shopping for a Batman outfit for my Nephew's Batman birthday party next weekend. So I combined this with a nice run home (in normal clothes) of about 8m.
Noticed an ever so slight tweak in the hamstring, but feels OK tonight. Hope so as I have a long run ahead of me tomorrow. I'm planning on running the Yorshire 3 peaks tomorrow (Pen-Y-Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough). I need a change of scenery for the long run and some good climbs in my legs.
Weather forecast looks a bit nasty (7C, heavy rain and 40mph wind) but I'll drive out and see what I think.
Early start tomorrow so nice early night tonight :)
♫ (Still) Listening to: 23 by Blonde Redhead
Noticed an ever so slight tweak in the hamstring, but feels OK tonight. Hope so as I have a long run ahead of me tomorrow. I'm planning on running the Yorshire 3 peaks tomorrow (Pen-Y-Ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough). I need a change of scenery for the long run and some good climbs in my legs.
Weather forecast looks a bit nasty (7C, heavy rain and 40mph wind) but I'll drive out and see what I think.
Early start tomorrow so nice early night tonight :)
♫ (Still) Listening to: 23 by Blonde Redhead
Music
I have had a really nice week this week, being lucky enough to see lots of live music. I love watching people play instruments that they're really into.
I saw Lizzie Vince, Holly Taymar, Alun Tan Lan, Kate Aumonier and Ben Parker
Today I was totally amazed to watch Izzy's piano teacher (Mr Ian McTeer) perform a classical piano recital at The Courthose in Otley.
All totally inspiring.
I saw Lizzie Vince, Holly Taymar, Alun Tan Lan, Kate Aumonier and Ben Parker
Today I was totally amazed to watch Izzy's piano teacher (Mr Ian McTeer) perform a classical piano recital at The Courthose in Otley.
All totally inspiring.
Wednesday 5 November 2008
Pool Loop
Late nighter due to work...Ran a pacey 6m loop with a good push up Pool Bank right to the top. Nice flow to the run tonight - enjoyed it.
:)
♫ Listening to: 23 by Blonde Redhead
:)
♫ Listening to: 23 by Blonde Redhead
Tuesday 4 November 2008
Club run
Ran with thte faster froups tonight a 7m road route round Otley, taking in a couple of short but steep climbs. Good sub 7 minute mile pace for a lot of the way.
Monday 3 November 2008
Run to work
As I live a minute from my work, I don't get the opportunity to run to work, unless I am on a course or something. Today, however, we had our training day in Yeadon, a few miles away and this gave me the chance to run there this morning. Nice way to start the day!
In the evening I also did some running, but slow and ploddy.
♫ Listening to: Magic Potion by The Black Keys
In the evening I also did some running, but slow and ploddy.
♫ Listening to: Magic Potion by The Black Keys
Saturday 1 November 2008
Back into Running
Ran a pacey 10k this evening with a good hill in the middle. Legs felt strong after the recent mountain adventures!
♫ Listening to: Words are Dead by Horse Feathers
♫ Listening to: Words are Dead by Horse Feathers
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