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Thread: First Fell Run

  1. #11
    Master PeteS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ba-ba View Post
    Either that or do a load of squats and walking up stairs...
    Yep - working on the 8th floor has its advantages!
    Pete Shakespeare - U/A

    Going downhill fast

  2. #12
    Thanks to all for your welcoming and helpful replies!

    I (re)started running about a year ago at 37, having not run at all since I left school. Initially not terribly serious about it, I got convinced to run a half-marathon at the start of this year by an ultra-runner friend and quite enjoyed training for and running in it in a way that I never did when I ran cross country at school. I go on holiday to Borrowdale every Easter, and have visited there at least once every year since I was about 5, so with the newfound ability to run more than 100 yards without coughing my guts up it seemed an obvious next step to go run up a big hill and back down again. I've done quite a bit of hill walking and some winter mountaineering in Scotland and the Lakes, so I'm an OK-ish navigator with a map and compass, but could probably do with a bit more practice.

    I run reasonably regularly at the moment, probably four times a week on average, with a few short runs in the week and a longer one at the weekends. Most of this is done on the flat, but there are some places nearby where I can find something a bit steeper and rougher to train on. I've also been trying to run more on public footpaths than on pavements/roads to avoid knackering knees and ankles. More generally I need to start upping my mileage from about 20 miles per week to something a bit more meaningful, but need to do this gradually.

    On the race front, I'd really like to do the Borrowdale Fell Race at some point, having seen the start a couple of times as a kid and looked at the race results , but that's well out of my league for now! I'll see if I can find a BM or similar race at some point to recce first and then enter later in the year (summer is a busy time for me.)

    Cheers!

    Gaz
    Last edited by GazMorris; 02-05-2014 at 09:21 AM.

  3. #13
    Master PeteS's Avatar
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    The more time spent on your feet running off-road the better and of course any hill is better than no hill when it comes to training.
    My local ones are only around the 1000ft mark and the longest continous ascent you can do is probably only about 400ft. That said, with a load of reps on ascents from as little as 75-100ft you can easily clock up quite a total.

    There's quite a few races in the autumn and early winter that would make a good first race. The Cardington Cracker springs to mind - deservedly popular but plenty of range in ability and navigation is not really an issue as its largely flagged anyway.
    Pete Shakespeare - U/A

    Going downhill fast

  4. #14
    Member invisible's Avatar
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    Where do you live Gaz? Springfield Striders are based in Chelmsford and travel most weeks to the hills. We even have the Welsh V50 Fell Champion in our club. ba-ba is right you need to practice on long hills which we obviously don't have but we have some good terrain for training and polishing your downhill technique.
    Fellrunner Feb 2005 Page 80

  5. #15
    Master L.F.F.'s Avatar
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    I wouldn't get too hung up on practising the long climbs. It'd be ideal to be able to, but if you're in good shape with what you're doing then you'll manage the long climbs, and probably make up ground on the more gradual stuff that's more similar to what you train on.
    Josh Hubbard - Ambleside AC

  6. #16
    Master PeteS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by L.F.F. View Post
    I wouldn't get too hung up on practising the long climbs. It'd be ideal to be able to, but if you're in good shape with what you're doing then you'll manage the long climbs, and probably make up ground on the more gradual stuff that's more similar to what you train on.
    I'd agree with that and of course any climbing is better than none. Over my small local hills, I can rack up 1500ft of climbing per hour if I put my mind to it albeit with no individual ascent more than 400ft. So for a long 2 hour run, that's quite comparable to a BM - well it is for us lesser mid-pack mortals anyway!
    Pete Shakespeare - U/A

    Going downhill fast

  7. #17
    Thanks once again for the support folks.

    I may have found the right run: I'm going to be spending much of late July and early August in and around Glasgow, and I've got Saturday 2nd August currently free which is the date of the Creag Dhubh hill race in Newtonmore. It's an AS race at just under 4 miles with plenty of fences, a road and a river crossing thrown in for good measure, which sounds like good fun.

    I live just over the Essex border near Bishop's Stortford but travel around quite a bit for work, which gives me opportunities to run in different places but also makes joining a club difficult (I also have a young family.)

    Cheers,

    Gaz
    Last edited by GazMorris; 19-06-2014 at 03:22 PM.

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