Stolly's Running Adventures

[Stolly]

Race #6

30th March 2008 - Edale Skyline - 21 miles and 4,500 ft of Climb

OS Explore Route

So I managed to remember everything - pick up my daughter from her school skiing trip late Saturday night, put the clocks forward, get up a 5:30, pack my full body waterproofs, my map and compass, emergency food and my mobile - and, having set off early on the 80 mile trip to Edale, I of course arrived early at 8:15, before the marshalls had even opened up the runners car park . It was a glorious day for a run though with bright blue skies all round. A chilly wind of course but you can't have everything.

After a little nap and something to eat, I then went through all the pre race rituals (involving vaseline and pins and deep heat in the main), I registered, got dibbered and then submitted myself to an airport customs like search of my luggage ("where's your mobile?"). I survived that and met up with one or two forumites - a chat with Swoop and Raymond Hickman (up from Brighton) and a hello to Manhar. And then we wandered up the lane to the start.

The skyline route is a cracker, following the ridge line of the Edale valley for 21 miles. Most of the climbs occur in the first half of the race with most of the tough terrain and in the second half.



And then we were off on the first climb up Ringing Roger:



I had purposely plonked myself at the front so as to avoid any chance of queuing at the stile not far from the start and, as far as these things go, quite enjoyed the climb up to Ringing Roger. After that it was a case of following the runner in front and trying not to be overtaken by too many fellow runners. I felt fighting fit and soon hit my comfortable, run all day, stride without losing too much ground. I was overtaken by quite a number of runners on the ascent and maybe a dozen to 20 or so more running towards Crookstone Knoll but then it seemed like I'd found my place in the field and even overtook three or four runners descending from Jagger's Clough.

Win Hill was next on the agenda and I held my place well all the way to it when disaster struck - just at the very foot of the last rocky climb to Win Hill my left calf muscle suddendly felt very tight. (Well I hope its my calf - its either that or the very top of my achilles). I don't even recall what caused it to be honest although the most likely culprit was on the descent from Jagger's clough when at speed I planted my left foot into deep bog, only for the front of my foot to hit a large-ish rock totally hidden by the mud but with the back of my foot carrying on regardless.

At the time the pain felt almost cramp like but, having only run 6 miles, that was lets face it really unlikely. The descent from Win Hill to Hope is very fast and, in places, very steep and I was determined to run off my injury so just ploughed on with gritted teeth. It hurt though especially going down hill.

I decided to take it easy on the climb to Lose Hill to see if that would help but, by the time I reached the summit, my leg felt worse and I then made it worse again by trying to race down the hillside to the woods. Daggers in my leg told me to stop being so stupid and I half jogged and then walked all the way to Mam Tor and retired at Mam Nick. It was absolutely horrible, having given up, to be contiunally overtaken by other runners on my walk in to Mam Nick - I almost wish I'd walked the other way back to Hope so as to not appear like a runner just out of puff; I could have even pronounced my limp and maybe groaned out loud from time to time to emphasize my injury and get some sympathy .

At the Mam Nick water stop, I shouted for directions for a footpath back to Edale and luckily met up with Nicky from Ilkley Harriers who had also retired with a calf strain - she had met a friend who was to provide us with a lift and this afforded me some time to watch the remaining runners come through. This was good fun - Swoop came past actually chatting up a lady runner who he presumably stayed on the shoulder of (whether she liked it or not) for the remaining 9 or 10 miles. One guy, just before the time cut off, came through and desperately shouted FCUK! presumably because he'd mis-timed his run and made the cut off. Another guy came through carrying a big phone handset in his right hand and ordering a chinese - his protest against the need to carry phones in the race I guess.

Anyway it was great to get back early and have a cup of tea and pork pie in the Village Hall with other retirees - thanks very much to Nicky and her friend for the lift - but its far from great to be crocked. My leg worryingly doesn't feel any better this morning. I also missed the bit of the race that I would have probably enjoyed the most.

My splits having walked most of the way after Hope were:

Win Hill: 1:02
Hope: 1:13
Lose Hill: 1:41
Mam Tor: 2:11

Results

[Swoop]

Swoop came past actually chatting up a lady runner who he presumably stayed on the shoulder of (whether she liked it or not) for the remaining 9 or 10 miles.

That was Piglet - see new avatar courtesy of Dominion. I didn' see her after that as I pulled away a bit. She finished a few minutes behind with team mate Barbara ,first F60 - in the Mam Nick pic, behind Piglet.

[IanDarkpeak]

Excellent report Stolly, I must have past you on the approach to Win Hill as I was 40 seconds in front of you.

Hope the injury isn't too bad and we'll see you next year.

[Raymond Hickman]

Really nice to meet you Stolly and very sorry to hear about the injury; hope you're fully recovered for the 3 Peaks.

Take care and all the best - Raymond

[Guick Dotto]

"at speed I planted my left foot into deep bog, only for the front of my foot to hit a large-ish rock totally hidden my the mud but with the back of my foot carrying on regardless."

Stolly that sounds very much like what happened to me back in November. I talked about it in my "Gastrocnemius" thread. I went to casualty as I'd never experienced anything like it before. The physio recommended calf stretches, but it was only after a week that I could think about that. I was ok for walking about after a week and after a month I was doing easy jogging. This month I did Windmills Whizz and Arant Haw yesterday and I'm going stronger than I was before. Wish I'd laid off the buns whilst I was inactive though
I went back to the place where it happened and what you describe is exactly what I found: a large flat rock in the trail with a deep slot in front of it so that the front of the foot stayed on the rock and the heel disappeared down the slot.
Take it easy soldier.

[Stolly]

2nd April 2008 - Kettlewell, Arncliffe, Old Cote Moor and Starbotten Loop - circa 8 miles and 1600 ft of Climb

OS Explore Route

Well following Sunday's sorry performance, I was keen to get over my crockedness as soon as I could. It's definitely a calf strain (according to the internet anyway) but clearly not as bad as yours was Guick Dotto. It was really stiff and painful on Sunday night but, since then, I have intensively used my magic bag of birdseye peas each evening together with a good dollop of deep heat in the mornings and, come yesterday, the bruising had started to come out and my calf felt slightly less tight. I did a 3 mile jog yesterday too and it held up quite well although I was very careful and incredibly slow.

The trouble is I have a 14 mile road race coming up this Saturday (the Coniston 14) and I needed to get out and really give my leg a bit more of a tester. There's no way I'll be able to push it, either way, but it will be nice to feel relatively confident of being able to at least trot round the race on Saturday.

So, with today off work, I drove over to Kettlewell for a jaunt around the ridge to Arncliffe, directly back over to Starbotton and then along the Wharfe back to Kettlewell. This route has one easyish climb at the start but then a ball breaker of a climb at the half way point so it was likely to give my calf a seeing to, with all that on tip toe running.

Setting off from the car park, I crossed the bridge and followed the road towards Kilnsey for 150 yards or so before going through a stile on my right with this path rising around the front of the ridge and then dropping down into Littondale.

Kettlewell from the ridge with the top of Great Whernside shrouded in cloud:



I managed to run all of this first climb but, although my calf held up and I wasn't limping, it did feel tight and sore as I neared the turn at the top. I took the run down towards Hawswick nice and steady, followed the road for 100 yards at the bottom before crossing the bridge over the stream and into fields. There was a nice path here that I followed all the way to Arncliffe where I went around the church, crossed the stream again and hacked straight up the side of the ridge sign posted Starbotton at the stile.

My leg at this half way point didn't feel too good and, given the steepness of this climb (which I have run all the way up before, honest) I opted to mainly walk all the way to the top of Old Cote Moor. A view of Arncliffe and the Cowside Beck valley beyond:



Then it was over the top with a terrific view of the Wharfe valley with Starbotten and Buckden Pike to one side:



And Kettlewell in the distance to my right:



I could now pick up the pace a bit for my descent to Startbotton but didn't go nearly as fast as I would have liked to - this is usually a fantastic and fast descent, although it gets a bit rubblely as you near and go through the woods before the bottom. Then it was a nice jog along the Dales Way back to Kettlewell for my finish in 1 hour and 47 minutes - slowy slow pants or what?

Mind you my leg survived enough to inspire me to give Coniston a crack at the weekend. Oh, and as you might have guessed, I actually took my own camera with me today rather than nicking pictures off of the internet as usual.

[Guick Dotto]

Well it's really cheered me up reading that! I talked to an orienteering friend of mine who described an injury he'd suffered in much the same terms as you and I Stolly and he said he was back on winning form the following weekend. Apparently these calf strains are all different in terms of severity. Well done and good luck for Coniston.

[Stolly]

Well it's really cheered me up reading that! I talked to an orienteering friend of mine who described an injury he'd suffered in much the same terms as you and I Stolly and he said he was back on winning form the following weekend. Apparently these calf strains are all different in terms of severity. Well done and good luck for Coniston.

Its a bit weird really - I'm never one to quit but on Sunday I knew that if I carried on I'd both wreck my leg completely and probably come last in the process. A few years ago (well tell a lie probably even a year ago) running something like Edale, finishing would have been everything and I would have crawled over the finish line if need be. I ran last year's 3P with a knackered knee and in a just not fit enough condition - I still finished the damn race but in a totally trashed and demolished state - in fact a near death experience might be a better description of that race .

Now going through that sort of torture just seems utterly bonkers. I know I can run the distance so not finishing doesn't worry me but I'd much rather do it properly and, more to the point, I want to be able to keep running afterwards if I can. Stopping on Sunday was a really sensible thing to do and was done by somebody who has pretty much never done anything sensible in his life before. It also seems that using ice packs made a great for a speedy recovery too. After todays run, which admittedly I did pretty crapily, my leg tonight feels even better than before and I'm even holding out for a good run on Saturday now.

[Guick Dotto]

Yes I think ice packs are the key to a swift recovery. Another bloke (I was after a lot of advice) said jump in a beck and sit there as quickly as you can after pulling a calf muscle. There were no becks around where I did mine in and I went into "feel sorry for myself mode" too quickly. Although, blimey!, it did hurt at the time.

[Stolly]

Race #7

5th April 2008 - The Coniston 14 - 13.875 miles and maybe 900 ft of Climb

OS Explore Route

Well despite only being able to walk up and down stairs gingerly, one step at a time last Sunday night, having knacked my calf at Edale, I arrived fighting fit yesterday morning for the Coniston 14 road race, along with my daughter Kelly and about 1300 other runners. We got there a bit early and it was cold out so we sat in the car and generally commented on, giggled at and derided all the other runners as they arrived, togged up and generally milled about in the school field.

Its easy to get all fell runningly snobbish about the difference in attendees to a race like this - there are just more joggers, more fatties and more oddballs at a road race it seemed to me and some of the pre race warm up routines and stretches were brilliant..... to take the piss out of . In comparison a fell race, before the off, feels more like a gathering of mountain men (and women) - a more leathered look, more 1000 yard stares with everyone seeming generally more battered by the elements and terrain I guess.

Although this is a road race around a lake, it is an undulating course and does have a few hills. From the Coniston 14 web site there's an extract from a Runner's World write up from 2000 saying things like:

"Everything about the Coniston 14 -the scenery, the organisation, the camaraderie, even the hills!-make this popular event well worth the journey......Yes, it does have hills. Terrible, quad-sapping, gravity-defying, monstrous hills. But then, that’s all part of the appeal as well".

The course was slightly hilly then.

So having been all so smug and superior before the start, as soon as the race started, I found myself amongst a field of excellent runners all of whom for the first 5 miles seemed to be cruising past me. My calf was feeling fine but I was purposely running at maybe a 7 to 7.5 minute mile pace from the off, looking to just maintain that all the way round. Eveyone else it seemed was much much faster - where were all the fat joggers all of a sudden?

After about 5 miles runners stopped overtaking me and after the turn back at around the 6:5 mile point I actually started to get a few places back. The undulations of the course (sorry 'gravity defying monstrous hills') did suit me and at the 11 mile point there's a good solid climb that did throw a few spanners in many of the runners works, allowing me to 'cruise' past a few in turn. And then there was a fast drop back to lake level and a run in to Coniston which was great - I especially enjoyed all of the last 3 miles and finished pretty strong I'd say. A lovely hilly road run all in all, in beautiful Lakeland scenery, and much (albeit grudging) respect to the many excellent runners involved. I did a time of 1 hour 41:25 minutes (half marathon split of 1:35:51), coming in 181st. Kelly did brilliantly with a time of 1:50:59 finishing in 394th place.

Having felt totally crocked last Sunday at Edale, stopping after what 12 or so miles, and having run 3 excruciating miles on Tuesday, 8 sore ones in the hills on Wednesday, 5 okayish in the hills on Thursday and walked several thousand miles around Alton Towers on Friday, I was more than pleased with my 'come back'.

Results