Newbie & Hello!

Hello all!

Name is Hannah, in West Yorkshire, and I'm very new to fell running. I've been running on and off on the road for the last few years, which has helped me so much with my mental health and confidence, but I prefer hills and mud so am hopefully going to be partaking in Kendal Winter League, BOFRAs etc next year!

It's just been my birthday so I'm now all suited and booted (head lamp, clothing, backpack and inov-8 shoes!) and am now starting to train daily (hill reps, moors circulars, scenic canal route from work and a bit of road) and so far so good!

Running is also something that goes alongside my love for the gym (weights) and I'm hoping will help in my weight loss as well as overall stamina and muscular toning. I know I do however need to focus a lot more on what I'm eating, as I work in a health food cafe so some days are great, yet my days off not so much - once I crack this I'm onto a winner!

So a hello from me; any tips, tricks or words of wisdom on fell running, gathering speed, routine, training plans, weight loss, diet plans or a little hello, send 'em my way!

Hannah

Welcome, Hannah!

Always good to see people still joining the forum - it's a lot better for solid/"proper" advice and tips, in comparison to f'book...

Enjoy the hills & this magnificent sport. See you at a race soon, no doubt

Cal

Hello Hannah... welcome... I hope you'll find, like I did, that as you get more and more involved, the forum becomes an absolute treasure trove of great info.

My advice (for what it's worth), if you want to race, is just get stuck straight in and work forward from there. Too many people, in other sports, have told me they want to 'get fit' before they really get into it, and they never have the motivation to actually give things a go. You'll never know how you can do until you give it a try.

And don't let people tell you that you can't do something. I started with a 4 mile fell race... by my 3rd race I was doing 16 miles and was told by certain quarters that it was "too much", same when I went in for the Haworth Hobble (32 miles), LM42 (42 miles), 10 Peaks (45 miles), UTS100 (they may have had a point on that one! No doubt I'll have some scorn poured on a couple of my ambitions for next year, but being told something is too much just spurs me on.

There's still obviously an element of technique and natural ability that you need to reach the elite, but fellracing (and running in general) seems to me to be one of the rare sports where those who work hardest generally get the best results, everything is there for the taking.

Once everything eventually clicks with training/dieting/etc, the results can be dramatic. It does take time though. Main advice is to keep it regular, it's a lot better to go out for 6 x half hour brisk runs in a week, than 1 x 3hr run then sit around for 5 days.

Most of all enjoy it. I knew about Fell Running for years, but didn't get into it until 2015. I really regret that I spent many 'wasted' years playing local football when I could have been out running and racing on the fells, and am determined to make up for it....

Pete

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Originally Posted by CalFerguson

Welcome, Hannah!

Always good to see people still joining the forum - it's a lot better for solid/"proper" advice and tips, in comparison to f'book...

Enjoy the hills & this magnificent sport. See you at a race soon, no doubt

Cal

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Thank you!

Thank you for your advice, very useful!

Hi there. Joining a local club has always been my first port of call when moving to a new area. Once I was moved to a new area shortly after recovering from injury and regretted the several months I spent "getting fit again" before showing face at the local club. I'd have enjoyed getting fit again so much more with the club.
Your local club can provide motivation to run with mates when the weather is grim, fantastic insight into local routes to run, camaraderie when traveling to races and wealth of first hand experience on running, training and erm well drinking too sometimes...

Agree with you there PiesAreGood.

When i first started emailed a couple of Fell clubs, enquiring about being a long-distance member, so i could feel part of a team and have somewhere to look for advice (am very grateful to both Ambleside AC and Dark Peak for their kind help), eventually joined DPFR and yes it was great for a year or so.

But when i looked honestly at my running, i realised i needed to be training regularly to improve, and joined a local team. So i'm now a lone-ranger at races, but much improved by virtue of regularly training with people at a higher level than myself.

Hello and welcome!

some good advice so far. Clubs can be good fun and yes, getting out and doing it is the key thing!
Run plenty of hills! The best advice if you want to do well at races is: get good at descending. Any fool can climb, but descending is a skill and requires strong quads and good stability as well as an ability to read the ground ahead. There's nothing more depressing than doing well on a climb, then runners streaming past you as you descend (ask me how I know).

Enjoy yourself!

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Originally Posted by Dave_Mole

The best advice if you want to do well at races is: get good at descending. Any fool can climb, but descending is a skill and requires strong quads and good stability as well as an ability to read the ground ahead. There's nothing more depressing than doing well on a climb, then runners streaming past you as you descend (ask me how I know).

Enjoy yourself!

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Without wanting to turn the poor lady's thread into a debate on the merits of climbing vs descending... i'd be tempted to beg to differ on this... and would suggest that climbing is where most time is actually lost?

I can entirely see your point Dave, gaps open up massively on descents, but due to the speed you are travelling, even if only descending poorly, they don't usually amount to massive amounts of time when you get to the bottom of the next hill and have to start climbing again.

I'd suggest that due to the proportionally larger amount of time spent climbing, that this where to concentrate. You're correct that 'any fool can climb' but it takes a lot of effort to get there! And developing strength for climbing gives you a good basis to not knackering yourself out descending.

Example for me is the Callow race this year. I was in a group where i fired ahead on the climbs, and lost it all on the descents, but each climb i was pulling further away, and eventually the powerful descenders became more tired and didn't have the legs left to catch me up on the descents. it may be that i was overall stronger, but seemed to me that the tough climbs finished the other guys off, to a larger extent than the tricky descents hurt me.

Another example, possibly the descent where you can lose most time that i can think of, is down to Pen-y-Pass on the Peris/Welsh 1000 races. Assuming clear weather, even a shocking descent can't really lose you more than 5 minutes on those in a similar position to you in a race. But the preceding climb onto the Glyders (in particular on the 1000m race), you could lose masses of time if you fall apart on the climb.

I also wish i could descend!

Pete

Great advice from everyone! I'm going to join my local club when memberships starts over again in January so am looking forward to that. And although I do lots (and lots!) of hill reps and general hill work, I am now trying to spend more time descending too, doing all my windmill arms can manage!

...and it goes without saying that you're going to join the FRA :)

You may also look at the FRA navigation weekends for even more help, Elterwater in Autumn, Kettlewell in Spring, apart from map and compass work, there is a vast array of talent in the instructors, lots of humour and heavily subsidised (even for non FRA members!)

Have you done any races yet Hannah?

Depending on your location there are so good races around Hayfield, Marsden or Saddleworth areas.

Oh sorry. Welcome.

hey Hannah I'm aslo from west Yorkshire , welcome to the world of fell running , its all pretty new to me too