Stockport 10

My strategy was going to be just to run this race, not race it, however I tend to get sucked into things and before I knew it I was running at 6:30 min/miles, faster than my target pace of 7 min/miles for the whole race. I planned to keep Charlie in my sights and if I could do so I'd be having a good race. Charlie is a much faster runner than me on the roads. A shock to the system was how well Neil got off at the start of the race, who ploughed ahead both me and Charlie and I didn't see until the later stages of the race. I'm usually a bit faster than Neil at Park Run so I thought I'll catch him later.
I settled into the race and found myself very gradually drawing Charlie in and by mile 5, just at the start of the first ascent I drew level. With a long way to go I was worried that Charlie, being the better road runner, would catch me. I carried on, anticipating Charlie appearing, when at about mile 6, I spotted Neil! Part of me was thinking I needn't worry, that he'd set off to fast and I would catch him. I thought wrong! I did gain ground on him and was about 15 second behind him at the final hill at 8.5 miles, back up to Woodbank Stadium, thinking again I'd catch him, but he held a good pace and couldn't catch him, no matter how hard I tried. I finished the 10 miles in 1:08:30 and Neil finished 13 seconds ahead of me.
I would like to say I'd have caught him if 'd have tried harder, but I put everything in. In fact, I probably wouldn't have gotten the time I did if I'd have not have been trying to chase Neil, so I owe my time partly to him! Massive well done to Neil and everyone else at Glossopdale Harrier in the Stockport 10.
It was a great race, well organised, got a nice technical top and a brilliant goody bag!
(The good bag contailed: A ruler, a £5 sweatshop voucher, an Oxo cube, a lollypop, a kitkat and a radiator key!)

Results here: http://www.chiptiming.co.uk/pdf/Stockport10.pdf
I was 117th out of 748.

I'm wondering if aiming for a sub60 10 mile for next year is out of my reach. I really need to drop a stone and train hard!

Dave Hogg: There's No 'I' In Team

Today I ran leg two of the UKA British Fell & Hill Relays statrting from Church Stretton, Shropshire and running round the Long Mynd Valleys. My running partner was changed last minute and the guy who I was meant to be running with was put on leg one (a solo leg) and the guy who I was meant do leg one was partnered with me.
Leg one set off as a mass start at 10 o'clock and our runner put our team (Glossopdale Harriers - B) in good stead by coming in 30th. There was a bit of confusion swapping over with him, but me and my partner set off up the steep hill out of the event field. Flustered, I think we both set off too fast but my partner pulled away from me going up.
Recently, with my slight improvement I've beaten my relay partner a few times in races, but I think he's gained a lot of fitness back and I was unable to keep with him. He just pulled further and further away from me and would be waiting for me at checkpoints that we had to 'dib' in (like an electronic checkpoint). Once we got onto the descents I caught him and the overtook him (downhills are my strong point), I thought though, I'll stick by him and do as you should when you are running as a pair. He fell over on the way down and winded himself and I waited with him. Then once down in the bottom of the valley we headed back up the other side to 'Callow', which is a really really really steep. See ya later, he was off again. At this point I thought "fuck it, I give up", I felt totally demoralised as being left behind by him. He waited for me at the top by the checkpoint. Once I dibbed, he was off again, my knee was starting to play up (injured after Good Shepherd last week) and as I dropped down the descent it became really painful so was unable to keep any speed up. I just grimaced and hobbled down. Another whacking great hill to climb (Ashlet) and I was still really demoralised and my knee was hurting more. The only joy I had in this race was seeing John H and Matt D (the leg 1 runner) at near the top and ran the last bit of the ascent and along the top with me. This was a massive boost seeing them and did wonders for my mood, I wished they could have stayed with me all the way to the finish.

One long descent down from Ashlet then little kicker of a hill before the finish there was one last checkpoint... but no partner. He'd pissed off to the finish already. As I dropped down to the finish line (hand over point) he was there waiting. Apparently he'd been waiting about 5 minutes. Needless to say I felt like a right dickhead coming in, in front of the crowd, on my own, with my 'partner' casually stood there waiting for me. I don't think I'll take part in any relays in future, I've never had a good experience with them. 

Glossopdale B team came in 75th out of  160+

Map of leg 2: http://merciarelays.org.uk/Long%20Mynd%2025000%20FRA%20Leg%202%20purple.pdf

My garmin log: http://connect.garmin.com/player/233454498 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/233454498

My knee is totally screwed now, just totally seized up and mega mega painful (until I took an nice floaty-light dose of codeine).

Good Shepherd, bad knee

Last weekend I took part in the Good Shepherd fell race, which starts from Mytholmroyd, Calderdale. I like getting out of Manchester to places I don't usually run in. The hills round Glossop can become a bit too familiar after a while. I know Mytholmroyd reasonably well as it's where I briefly went to high school before moving away.
The train station was right next to the church that was hosting the registration so I had no trouble finding it. The start was a 10 minute walk up the road to a lane which headed off towards the hills. There was no rush to get up there as the lady I was walking up there with had the start hooter.
Parrrp. And the race was off. People rushing off in front as would be expected in a race. I decided to play it cool and hold back a bit and catch people as they tire. The race route heads up to Stoodley Pike, down to a reservoir, back up the hills, down again, up Stoodley Pike a second time and then skirting along the top of the valley before dropping back down into Mytholmroyd for the finish.

As I headed up Stoodley Pike for the first time I caught a few people and then heading down to the reservoir I passed a fella who was really really taking his time running down the hill. By the time I got down to the bottom he was way back. I'd say one of my strong points in fell running is that I'm a good descender. Just let go and let gravity do it's work. But on the ascent after the reser the guy caught me! I wasn't really pushing myself with this race as I usually would (as I've got the FRA relays this coming weekend and I want to save myself for them), but the guy was flying up the hill. I can only assume that he was a super super fit fell runner and he was running the race, not racing the race.

After this my position in the race didn't alter much but the runners were spreading thin, only 65ish runners over what was supposed to be a 14.9mile race. I took my time getting up Stoodley Pike a second time, but joked about near the top, breaking into a run especially for a photographer, I didn't want my photo showing me slacking! ha

Still with miles to go I headed down towards Cragg Vale and I was relieved to know the rest of the course was flagged (but very sparsely I might add). I nearly went wrong after the road crossing but was shouted by some runners I'd caught up. That's the good thing about fell running, everyone looks after each other.

I followed those guys for a bit, but they were pulling  further and further away. So for the rest of the race I didn't see anyone at all, which makes navigating the course more difficult, even if it's flagged as there might not be a flag for a quarter of a mile. Sometimes it's not so obvious as to which way to go in unfamiliar woodlands. The only place I ended up going wrong was right, right at the end. I missed the turn for the finish line and ended up running into Mytholmroyd train station and back out again! I think I only lost about 30 seconds but didn't lose my ranking.

Stoodley Pike (the first time):

On the way up to Stoodley Pike for a second time:

I think I came in about 26th out of about 65. I've not seen the official results yet. Though I'm not too bothered, I just really enjoyed this one. I'll definitely give it another go next year and not hold back.

Park Run (Personal Best)

I've been taking part in Park Runs for about a year and a half now, timed 5k runs/races which are free to enter which take place every Saturday come rain or shine. My first ever Park Run was the South Manchester Park Run in Platt Fields Park, Fallowfield where I surprised myself with a time of 20:31 (I only though I was capable of 24 minutes) and following that I was hooked on trying to chip away at my personal best.
Better prepared, the month after I got my time down to 20:01 and a few months after that I broke the sub 20 minute mark with 19:56. This year I've been running at a few different Park Runs such as Woodbank in Stockport, Marple, Heaton Park and Wythenshawe Park. None of those courses are as 'fast' as the on in Fallowfield, some of them on grass, some with varying degrees of uphill. I managed 19:50 at Fallowfield this year and thought a good target to aim for by the end of the year would be to try and get to 19:30.
Well yesterday, I had another bash and to my surprise came in at 19:16. I was so happy I wouldn't shut up about it all day (I think I was driving Kate mad). I can only put this massive improvement down to the fact I've not drunk any alcohol for over 3 and a half months (and lost weight because of that). I makes me not want to drink again.
Now I'm thinking, can I go sub-19 by the end of the year....

Km splits for my pb: 3:45, 4:01, 3:55, 4:00, 3:35

Lantern Pike

Last weekend I took part in Lantern Pike Fell Race, I've been meaning to blog all week but haven't got round to it. The race starts from Spray House Farm in Little Hayfield as part of the Hayfield show and goes all over the place before heading up Lantern Pike and then back to the farm. It works out about 5.1 miles with 1000 ft of ascent. Two hundred and forty five people took part and I was hoping to at least come in the top 50% and finish in about 42ish minutes. Charlie featured heavily in my race again with him staring strong and me closing the gap and finally catching him on the top of Lantern Pike. I stayed with him on the path down and once we got onto the road I managed to pull away by just letting myself go and flop down the hill. My finish was great, I managed to gain two places in the final 100 yards, the last by a few inches. My time was 42:59 and I was 60th out of the 245. 

I was pleased with my result, even if I was a little slower that I thought I could do, last weekend's 2 races in one day probably had some effect. Also there were a lot of places where I was held up by slower runners because there was nowhere to pass or I was waiting to get over stiles, I could have run it 'tactically' better. Target for next year is 40 minutes!

Results: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/temples-bin/hc.pl?a=list&d=hc&f=lantern-pike-2012

Staying with Charlie on the descent from Lantern Pike

Me taking things a bit too seriously at the finish

The Double Triple-Lite Dip

I've finally got round to writing another blog entry, a year on from my last. My running club, Glossopdale Harriers have had a blog for a while (here: http://glossopdaleharriers.blogspot.co.uk/ ) and I was going to write on that, but having not written anything for a while I'll just stick to this and when I get a bit more comfortable I'll write on it. At least with this one there's little or no audience.

So recently I've been out of action (-ish) due to having a hernia repair operation on the 14th of June. The surgeon told me not to do anything strenuous for 6 weeks after... a week later I was back running. It may sound foolish but I felt reasonably ok and running at a 12 min/mile on the road for a few miles really isn't strenuous to me. I soon built back up to longer and faster runs. My first 'race' was Marple ParkRun ( http://www.parkrun.org.uk/marple/home ) on the 1st of September, I came 13th out of 115 with a time of 20:52. A time I consider reasonable, but nothing special. I know I'm capable of a faster time with a drier course.

So the first real test would be a fell race but since Coombes Tor (in Rowarth) and Padfield Plum Fair Scamper were on the same day (Sunday 9th September) I decided to do both. I was meant to be getting a lift over to Rowarth in the morning but I ended up getting a train (which was late) to Marple and riding the 4 odd miles there, leaving only 10 mins to compose myself & register. There were lots of  Glossopdale Harriers there as it was a club championship race and also quite a few people were also planning on doing the two races like they did the previous year (I was injured last year due to my long run which I blogged about last).

The race got started at 10:30am sharp from a lane up from the village pub, running back through where registration was. The field of runners started to spread as the ascent started and I lost track of where other Glossopdalers were as I just got my head down and paced myself. The weather hasn't exactly been brilliant lately but the sun was out and it was very warm,  up the first ascent the sweat was dripping off me so I was relieved to get to the top (and pleased I seem to be able to manage to keep running up hills these days rather than have to start walking). I noticed that Charlie from the club was ahead of me (as usual) and I was determined to keep him in my sights. I managed to close the gap a little on the first descent but then he pulled away from me on the climb up onto Coombes Tor and along the top. The rest of the course is kind of a gradual downhill all the way to the finish. I managed to creep closer and closer to Charlie again and finally caught him on a lane near to Monks Road and decided to try and stay with him rather than overtake as I feared I'd not be able to keep up the pace if I overtook and there was still 3 miles to go. That didn't last long since I'm super competitive by nature (can you not tell...) and I decided to go for it and even managed to catch a group of runners further in front. The whole time thinking in my head "Charlie's going to pass me any minute..", as I neared the finish I really had to go hell for leather to keep my place against the other runners (I was running at a 4min/mile according to my Garmin: http://connect.garmin.com/player/220779161 ). I crossed the finish line in 57:50, 29th out of 88. (Results: http://www.goytvalleystriders.org.uk/pages/coombesresults/ct2012.html ). I think I Coombes Tor has to be one of my favourite races to date.

Coombes Tor over and I had 1 hour 45 mins to rest / get over to Padfield for the next race at 1:15pm. A few Glossopdalers drove over and so did the so called "Triple Dip" running in between like last year. I headed over on my push bike with the guidance of fellow cyclist and club member Rod. The ride was about 7.5 miles and avoiding all the hills (though at the time I was convinced Rod was taking me the longest possible route - after a look at the map when I got home he was spot on). It was good to be able to shelter behind Rod on the way there too, conserving a bit of energy for the next race, I was struggling a bit though as my legs were getting tired from Coombes.

I had plenty of time to faff about before the race and get some more water down my neck as I was getting a bit worried I could get dehydrated from the heat. All the other harriers that ran over from Rowarth were on the start line ready to go again... all except Sikobe. He'd disappeared off putting a rucksack in someone's car. Luckily quite a few people told the race organiser to hold on while he turned up, legging it down the road. This is what I like about fell running, it's not all dead serious, everyone is friendly (mostly) and good sportsmen.

And off we go. Down the road, round the corner, up the road and what... a queue to get over a stile. Get going again and stop queue again for another stile. Must've lost 30 seconds waiting on both of them. Finally no more hold ups, over the road crossing cheered on by Matt and then up a long track, gaining places, to the top of Glossop Low, turning back SW down the grouse butts to Cock Hill trig point. I managed to catch up to (and stay with) a vet runner which turned out to be a club member's (Mark O's) dad. I chatted to him for a bit and he kept warning me of the bits of terrain and the best way across stuff. Got back to the road crossing with Matt still cheering runners on and decided to go for it. God only knows what my running style looked like, my legs were so tired at this point I was flopping all over the place. No sign of Mark O's dad coming round the corner at the finish but still put full effort in (only to lose 10 seconds because they couldn't see my race number).  Padfield Scamper is a great race too, I just have to remember to start fast next year to avoid the stile queues... oh and not do a race and ride beforehand!

Garmin: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220779107
Results: https://sites.google.com/a/sheffield.ac.uk/plumfairscamper/

There was a coal sack race later on (400 metres uphill carrying a 25kg sack of coal) but I gave it a miss and rode home. On Monday my legs were absolutely naffed, I was hobbling around the house and also trying to figure out the best way to combat the stairs (settled for a sideways limp down them).

My legs are still sore after a bit of light running this week. I've got Lantern Pike Fell Race tomorrow (another club champs race), I have a feeling I'm not going to have a good race, but I'll still do it anyway!

That's enough blogging now. I'm starting to bore myself and I'm getting a numb arse.