Hello :)

[flappinganimal]

Hi everyone,

Great forum you have here, I've been reading through the threads and found some great advice and funnies

I'm yet to do any proper fell running but am very excited to be taking it up soon and hopefully you guys can inspire me and help me out when I inevitably have some questions haha.

I have a good amount of experience in fell walking having been going on regular trips to the Lakes since I was a kid. I also do a lot of mountain biking, so I know the mountains fairly well.

My fitness is ok but I think I have a fair amount of work to do before I'm doing long runs. Most of my fitness comes from mountain biking and at home exercises. At the moment I'm running maybe once every other week, mainly road running as I don't have any off road shoes. My best run so far is 13.6 miles in 1:52, on the road, on the flat haha.

So yeah, just thought I'd introduce myself and kind of outline where I am at the moment. Oh I should probably also add that I live in Essex, very flat and very far away from any decent hills haha, not good for someone into mountain biking and looking to do fell running, but I try to make as many trips to Wales, the Peaks and the Lakes as I can.

So now I'm just waiting for my new shoes to arrive and I'm good to start some training. I'm not focusing on racing at all at the moment, but maybe in a couple of years, who knows?

Sorry if I've bored you with this post and I hope I've posted in the right forum. Thanks for reading

Any advice on training for fell running in flat Essex would be awesome. I've got a slightly hilly country park and the army training grounds near by so I hope to utilize those.

Cheers

Pete.

[Witton Park]

Welcome to the forum.
I'm a coach of juniors (some pretty good ones) but a slow plodder around the fells myself.
What you should do? Well it depends really whether you want to get more competitive or just want to be able to come along to an A Cat race and be competent.

Whichever, one thing you will need is some hill craft and an ability to navigate and read a map - it sounds like you have that.

If you want to be competent, then normal endurance training which you would do for racing 10K - marathon would be fine subject to the distances you want to cover in the events (or recces).
Cycling is good and I particularly like spinning sessions to compliment what you might do running. I think the spinning and time on a cross trainer may help with the climbing.

Just be careful when you cycle, particularly if you have resistance (such as a turbo) that you stretch properly afterwards and maybe even go for a cool down run of 15 - 20 minutes. When cycling the muscles down the back of the legs are contracted so a short run and stretch helps after cycling activity.

If you want to be more competitive over time, well there's evidence to show that "Southerners" can be very competitive over hilly terrain and that speed may be a more important asset than climbing and descending skills. But of course that is probably a pendulum that will swing either way subject to the severity of the course.

If you intend to run, then run training is important, but you need to amend what you are doing gradually. Set your self a rough plan, to gradually tweak what you do to get more emphasis on the running.
eg. Give yourself a 3 months block.
Start with 2 runs per week and 12 miles total compliment by your other fitness activities.
By the end of the block work towards a 25 mile total, perhaps split 3 x 5 mile and 1 x 10 miler which will most likely mean a drop in your other activities.
See where you are at the end of the period.
You can assess that by having a times run - perhaps finding a local park run.

Just a few ideas

[flappinganimal]

Hi,thanks for the welcome and the really useful advice, very much appreciated

I suppose at the moment I just want to get competent, with the hope of entering some "just for fun" events. This is kind of what I do with mountain biking.

I'll have to do some research into what hill craft I will need, I'm not too sure exactly what you mean by this but these are things that enthuse me, I love getting stuck into outdoorsy stuff.

Great advice on the cycling stretches, I did pick up an injury to the back of my knee at the last event I did, I think this was more down to no warming up properly rather than warming down as I noticed it right at the start, I then got banter from the other riders for doing yoga at the side of the trail haha.

I really like your training ideas, I'll give them some thought and plan some training in blocks. Thanks so much for the welcome and great advice.

[LissaJous]

Yep that's good advice from WP, especially about the hamstrings and slowly adjusting to the movement in a new activity (running).

It sounds like your hamstring was already strained before the event. You probably know all this but just in case: warming up would loosen it more and reduce the risk of doing more damage. Small strains from training are quite normal, and generally the best thing to do is to keep it moving, but slow and gentle. It's OK if it feels like slight stretching, but not like it's doing damage. If it feels more severe or you are worried in any way then rest/ice may be needed and you can see a physio/masseur if you want to.

Hillcraft: well there's map & compass stuff, combined with reading topography from maps or google earth so you can find the way if needed, and there's the running skills on different terrain. Some of this you can do if you find small slopes of different gradients near where you live, and increase your confidence & speed running them both uphill & downhill.

Finally, for dry & easy paths you don't necessarily need trail shoes, and this can be very beneficial in building up ankle & other support muscles without the heavy load that an experienced fellrunner would use on a steep downhill. Especially given your cycling background, start on slight downhills and build up.

Finally (2) some single leg balance work will be very useful for the ankles & knees ~ using a balance cushion / wobble board or with eyes shut.

[flappinganimal]

Hi Lissajous, thanks for the great advice. I definitely agree Re the stretching, I always stretch after a long ride and other exercise, I think the problem at the race was getting a bit carried away from the start with the first climb and I got caught up with the excitement and forgot to stretch.

Thanks for clearing up hill craft for me. I'm fairly ok with that stuff but a little swatting up would be helpful to me I think. Sometimes on a fell walk I'll do a bit of running if the trail looks too good not to so I've got a bit of experience of moving quickly through the terrain. Can't wait to get a proper fell run under my belt.

Regarding the shoes, I own one pair of natural feel (?) trainers which I'd like to keep clean for my indoor workouts (I use the Insanity workout program in varying forms) and dry road running. So I think a pair of trail shoes for getting off road would not only encourage me to get in the woods but also keep my other shoes nice. I went for some Inov8 trailroc shoes, they got good reviews, any thoughts? I've ordered them from Wiggle so free returns if they don't fit or any of you guys think they might be wrong for me. Unfortunately around here we don't have many outdoors shops to try a load on. We've got a big Go Outdoors but their trail running shoes in stock are quite limited.

Great advice on the knee workouts, that's exactly what my physio told me a few months ago when I had problems with my other knee, seemed to help, that and all the squats I do maybe haha.

Thanks again,

Pete.

[IanDarkpeak]

Welcome to the Forum Flapping.

I'm your man if you need to up grade your hill skills..

check out my Nav courses via my Signature


Welcome to the forum.

[MickTor]

Welcome to the forum! Already some great advice for you there!
I can vouch for IanDarkPeaks above post! He is the man and will turn you into the hill master!!

[sbrt]

Hey up Flappinganimal!

Hillcraft for fell runners involves learning how to get cold wet and lost in the UK's hills and uplands.

I know you said that you are not bothered about racing but I find having a race as a goal is a great motivator. Yes there are some amazing athletes at the front end but there are also lots of muppets like myself further down the field. Just dont forget to enjoy yourself

Good luck

[that_fjell_guy]

Enjoy!

[flappinganimal]

Hi everyone, thanks for the replies

Ian, your courses looks awesome, thanks for the info, certainly something to consider.

Sbrt, I think you're spot on there, once I've got a couple of decent runs under my belt and feel confident enough I'll look into doing some events. It'll be great to see other people doing it and I suppose I'd learn a great deal from running with more experienced people, and like you say, it'll be a great motivator.

Thanks again for all the welcomes.

Oh yeah, I got my Inov-8 Trailroc 245s today, theyre so comfy! Can't wait to get out and run in them. I'm sure I shouldn't be getting this excited over some shoes but its my first proper pair of fell running shoes haha.

I'm off to Wales for some mountain biking this weekend but when I get back I'll be properly planning my training blocks as recommended and set my focus becoming a stronger runner. Love it

Thanks