Today's Training

Are conditions bad over on the Mynd?

I shall definitely be at the race and am on the entry list, but a couple of weeks of barely being able to train (hence my absence from this thread!) means I’m also conscious that giving it a miss might be advisable.... but I’ll be on the course in that case as supporting a clubmate...

he is a high level runner (top 30 in the Stretton Eng Champs race last year) but the LMV bit him hard last year on those last few miles and he went backwards, nearly being caught by myself!

He’ll know what’s coming this year and certainly improve and could easily be top 10 or 20 (although we have got cross country the day before as well actually!)

Just realised my previous post is a bit ambiguous! Any reference to ice or the climb of yearlet was regarding the pain in my calf and not anything to do conditions on the Long Mynd (of which I haven't a clue! 😁)

Hope to see you there, Pete, either running or supporting..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PeteS

Just realised my previous post is a bit ambiguous! Any reference to ice or the climb of yearlet was regarding the pain in my calf and not anything to do conditions on the Long Mynd (of which I haven't a clue! ��)

Hope to see you there, Pete, either running or supporting..

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:D

Understood now! I thought you were referring to Yearlet being in a state... although some might say it always is a state!!

First fell run of the year.
6 3/4 mile, 1350 ft, 85 mins around Darwen Tower. Slow going, but felt better at the end than when I last did the same run in December before my ankle turn.
I used to do runs like this in under 70, but will be happy just to get under 80 at the moment. Might try again in a couple of weeks.
Was planning on Bleasdale as a first race, a lovely short local race, as Burnley are away at Southampton that day. But looks like we are live on BT Sport so may have to look for another option before the Stan Bradshaw.

Got back into training today with a solid 8 miles/3300ft.

After barely running, let alone training properly, for over two weeks, I’m not going to be XC-ing or Long Mynd Valleys-ing this weekend.... so it’s full steam ahead for the first NWales Champs race the weekend after at Conwy Mountain...

A cool and frosty evening for this weeks RATRun from The Moon, Stoney Middleton. 8 miles and 1,500ft over varied terrain which was surprisingly mud free.
The cheesy chips back at The Moon were excellent as was the Wainwright Golden Ale and Monks Gold from Howard Town Brewery.The only downer being charged £4.20 a pint!

Another solid but steady day... 11 miles and 3050ft. Plenty of strength work.

A long walk today. An old mate and his wife are going through a divorce and yesterday was his big move. Decided to pay him a visit just to give him some company for a couple of hours, and as it was a nice day and work was quiet, I decided to walk.

17.75 miles, 5 hours, 2700ft (I think it was nearer 2000ft) from my corner of Blackburn to Holcombe Brook with a short pitstop at the Strawberry Duck at Entwistle.

Kept almost entirely to tracks and trails.

Glad Mrs WP picked me up. I wouldn't have made it back :D

Good stuff WP.

90mins on the treadmill this morning. 8 miles 2900ft. Loads of strength work again.

Looking forward to a little run out on the Mynd tomorrow, spectating the Long Mynd Valleys.

After the Long Mynd Valleys was cancelled it was back to the treadmill to conclude the week.

Managed a weekly total of 36 miles/10,600ft.... not bad considering didn’t lace up the trainers at all until Thursday.

Felt good today and buzzing for next weekend’s opener in the North Wales Champs. Just the conundrum of another race to fit into the schedule (the rearranged LMV.... hoping it doesn’t fall the day after the National XC, that would be a weekend and a half...!)

I saw somewhere March 1st was a possible new date. So you can still do the national full gas the week before!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gazb

I saw somewhere March 1st was a possible new date. So you can still do the national full gas the week before!

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Yes it was on that video...!

10 miles and just 1,000ft lunchtime in and around Lathkill, Cales and Fern dales trying to keep out of the wind. Halfway around it started snowing and the flakes were the largest I have seen for many years. They were huge. One landed on my watch and totally covered it.
Back home now having boiled egg and soldiers for lunch and the snow has stopped, the wind has died and the sun has made an appearance!

A solid start to the week with a big treadmill/stairclimber session.... 11.5miles/4200ft....

Looking forward to a testing track session tomorrow night, snow/ice permitting.

early morning squally hail fest with a 4 mile undulating road loop in 37 minutes.
I could feel the biting wind through my Berghaus.

Great track session tonight in a biting wind.

1km, 800m, 600m, 400m, 1km, 800m, 600m, 400m, 4 x 200m...... all off 90-120secs rest.

Was knocking the 1km’s off in 3:30 and maintaining a similar pace throughout... began to fall apart a little on the last couple of reps, but generally very pleased with the session.

7.5 miles of which 4 miles were hard effort.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Travs

Great track session tonight in a biting wind.

1km, 800m, 600m, 400m, 1km, 800m, 600m, 400m, 4 x 200m...... all off 90-120secs rest.

Was knocking the 1km’s off in 3:30 and maintaining a similar pace throughout... began to fall apart a little on the last couple of reps, but generally very pleased with the session.

7.5 miles of which 4 miles were hard effort.

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Used to enjoy sessions like that. I could knock out 3:40 kms but would be more like 5 minutes now :D

Another undulating 4 miles on road in 37 minutes today. Caught the worst squall of the day so far in the last 10-12 minutes.

Yes track sessions are great stuff.... I’m a firm believer that running hard on the flat improves your fellrunning no end... look at Carl Bell, not just a beast on the fells, but a high-level Cross-country Runner too....

Another solid but steady day, 9.5 miles/3650ft. Another big effort tomorrow, then that’s the hard work done before Conwy Mountain on Saturday.

Club night and an 8.5 mile road run around southern Cov, with the middle 2.5 miles being an effort....

This effectively meant a 2.5 mile full blown race... I went flying off after the two lads who are on paper faster than me (and both at least a decade younger!). One of them pasted me by around 100 yards, but managed to keep the other around 10 yards behind me to take the silver!

Worked a little harder than intended (can’t resist getting involved in a race!), but a very easy few miles tomorrow and should be looking good for Saturday.

This weeks RATRun was a still and starlit 6 miles and 1,000ft from The Queens at Taddington taking in the hamlets of Priestcliffe and Brushfield. Some lovely running which was drier than expected underfoot. Thirsts were quenched with some very well kept Wren's Nest from the Howard Town Brewery.

A very gentle 4 miles to loosen the legs up after last nights efforts, and to prepare for tomorrow’s race.

Had a medical this morning and have a resting heart rate of 49bpm.... which appears to be pretty decent.

Missed 3 days with a stomach bug although I'd probably only have got 3-4 miles in on Thursday anyway.

Darwen Tower Loop again today for the 3rd time in 6 weeks.

6.75 miles, 1400ft, 83 minutes.

Took 2.5 minutes off since first one and conditions pretty similar on each run. I probably feel better after today than the others so at least it's in the right direction and barring any glitches should be OK to potter around the Stan Bradshaw in a few weeks.

I plan to stick to this as my longish effort until I'm under 80 and then look for something top side of 90 minutes.

Rounded the week off with a 1hr40 session on the treadmill. Final scores for the week 59.5 miles/14,600ft.

Think the next few weeks will be back down towards 40mpw as got lots in the way of racing to try and stay fresh for...

Spent the weekend in Cardiff visiting daughter number 2 and was planning on having a run in the Brecon Beacons on the way back. Storm Dennis had other ideas.....

Grasping the last of the daylight, I managed to get in a 12km/600m over the Clent Hills when I got home. It was a bit of a plod as I'm still nursing a torn calf but felt good to be out after a couple of days avoiding the worst of the weather. Calf feeling OK so hopefully should fine for Long Mynd Valleys in a couple of weeks.

I wouldn't normally use my waterproof jacket (with taped seams :)) on a run around here, especially not on a short run up to the Outwoods. But coming back from my latest calf injury, and still a bit concerned that my calf may ask me to slow down to a walk at any stage, I decided it was the best policy in today's cold and rain. As it turned out, the only walking I needed to do was when when I chose to go up the steepest hill in the Outwoods, which I can only just manage to run up when fully fit.

Something really heartening was seeing two adults with about eight small children (probably 4 - 5 years old), all togged up in warm anoraks and woolly hats, just coming out of the woods onto the footpath towards Loughborough. It's good to see the children being shown that "there's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing".

I have a colleague who lived in Bergen, Norway for three years before coming here. Soon after he settled here, his children (then aged 9, 7, 5) complained to him that the school wouldn't let them play outside during break-time when it was raining. In Bergen, where it rains on about 300 days each year, children always take a coat to school, and if it's raining during break-time, they just put on the coat and go outside.

My daughter's four children have all attended a rural primary school on the edge of the Forest of Bowland (only the youngest [9 years old] there, now). School policy is that all children have waterproofs and wellingtons at school and nobody misses playtime.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by anthonykay

I wouldn't normally use my waterproof jacket (with taped seams :)) on a run around here, especially not on a short run up to the Outwoods. But coming back from my latest calf injury, and still a bit concerned that my calf may ask me to slow down to a walk at any stage, I decided it was the best policy in today's cold and rain. As it turned out, the only walking I needed to do was when when I chose to go up the steepest hill in the Outwoods, which I can only just manage to run up when fully fit.

Something really heartening was seeing two adults with about eight small children (probably 4 - 5 years old), all togged up in warm anoraks and woolly hats, just coming out of the woods onto the footpath towards Loughborough. It's good to see the children being shown that "there's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing".

I have a colleague who lived in Bergen, Norway for three years before coming here. Soon after he settled here, his children (then aged 9, 7, 5) complained to him that the school wouldn't let them play outside during break-time when it was raining. In Bergen, where it rains on about 300 days each year, children always take a coat to school, and if it's raining during break-time, they just put on the coat and go outside.

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I'm expecting to get drenched tomorrow - got to turn out as I'm this week's leader of the CTC Thursday ride.

A muddy, wet head-torcher. 8km/350m at a rather gentile pace as I had to take my glasses off due to the driving rain.

Not felling it this week. Combination of weather, lots of work on and a bit of a niggle on the top of my right foot.
So it's not worth posting daily :D (many would say not at all :P )

Tuesday
4.15 mile, 39 minutes - Witton
Thursday
4 mile, 39 minutes - Witton - canal strides to finish

Next stop weekend as tied up tomorrow.

A steady 9 road miles around southern Cov.... remarkably every kept it steady, with a view to the Nationals on Saturday...

A cool, breezy evening for tonight's RATRun from The Duke of York at Pomeroy. 8 miles and 1,200 feet over some waterlogged fields and taking in High Wheeldon and Hitter Hill under a wonderful starlit sky.
Back at the Duke, cheesy chips were washed down with Dizzy Blonde and Cumbria Way from Robinson's Brewery

a bit peed of with this week's efforts so squeezed in a 3 mile, 26:48, 220ft in to a headwind early this morning.
Now shower, breakfast and brew and off to get the granddaughter for the day :)

Come-back from latest calf injury continues: first time doing one of my standard short routes (as opposed to even shorter versions). It's a route where I consider "par" to be 37 minutes, so doing 39m15s with current ground conditions and state of my fitness seems quite respectable. The uphills seemed really hard, though.

Long Mynd today - 16km/1000m. Very windy on the tops meaning forward progress was arduous at the very least. Only real running as such was in the valleys and across Yapsel Bank which seemed to be the only time I had a tail wind on the entire run. A very slow time in the conditions but the calf held up well and I even pushed it a little on the climb up Ashlet. Dog now snoring his head off and drowning out the rugby commentary!

A rare clockwise run around Darwen Moor.
6 mile, 1250ft, 75 mins
Soggy - running water everywhere.

Managed 39.5 miles, 10100ft for the week. Whilst the racing schedule is so congested, that’s about as good as it’s going to get for a couple of months...

Done little for a few days, I did have a short waddle on ice yesterday though

Club night on an utterly miserable evening.... cold, driving rain and sleet, wind... then snow on the drive home.

8 x half mile reps on road/path.... 2 mins rest after the first rep, with rest decreasing by 10 seconds each time.

After the XC on Saturday, and then over 8000ft of climbing across Sunday and Monday, I was feeling strong but not particularly pacy.... and so it was, with the reps being consistent, but certainly not any faster than 6:10min/mile pace.... but for the next couple of months it’s just going to be a case of do what I can in the week, and be fresh each weekend to race.

8.5 miles, of which 4 were effort.

Head torcher on the Clent Hills after work. 9km/400m at a reasonable pace despite the mud.

So far this week.

Tuesday - 4 miles around Witton - 37 minutes
Wednesday - 45 minutes exercise bike
Thursday - dropped off at the end of Tockholes to run back through the snow - 6 1/4 mile, 66 minutes, 515 ft - plenty of downhill with almost 500ft drop from start to finish, although it was pretty tricky first few miles.