OK, will do.Originally Posted by Stolly
Chill Alexandra I'm fine
OK, will do.Chill Alexandra I'm fine
Stolly, I am interested in your weekly training regime as much is mad by others not necessarily yourself of how you just run for the personal enjoyment of it and have fun. Are you organised ?. Does your job include physical stuff so that's part of training or do you just run nothing more. What sort of thing did you do when you first started running the fells and how long have you being doing it.
Matt.
Herakles I don't really 'train' at all but just run in the hills. I do enjoy running too so it never feels much at all like a chore. But there again I never ever do self torture running like hill reps and fartlek and all that gubbins so I'll never be a 'proper' runner. I'm well past my prime as far as being able to run fast goes anyway. I've lived up north since 1997 and have gradually evolved into a fell runner; I used to run around the woods and hills of the Chilterns when I lived down south. More than anything I'm really lucky in that I'm smack in the middle of the hills straight out the back door.
The view from my back door just before Christmas
And looking back down at my house on the way up High Hill last summer
Oh and nowadays I don't race much either - I always seem to get injured in races and in any event it often seems daft to spend an hour or two getting to a 90 minute race and an hour or two getting back when I could go for a 3 hour run locally instead
Last edited by Stolly; 11-03-2010 at 12:02 PM.
So run and enjoy is your motto. At 40 this year i to think speed for me is out of the question all i want to do is finish nothing more. I envy the position of your property it looks beautiful.
Plover Hill and Pen y Ghent from Horton
10 miles ~ 2,000 feet
Horton --> Horton Scar --> Foxup Moor --> Plover Hill --> Pen y Ghent --> Hull Pot --> Whitber Hill --> Horton
After feeling really washed out and knackered all week I managed to garner enough get up and go to er... get up and go for a run this morning. And I'm glad I did as, once I had actually got going, I really enjoyed it. Mind you, although it was spring time down in the valley it sure as hell was still winter up top!
The Pennine Way cart track as it winds its way past Horton Scar
By the time I'd run round to Foxup Moor, as I kind of expected, the climb up Plover Hill still included a totally lethal, icy snow bank. Following my doomed attempt at a similar climb a couple of weeks ago, yet again I got most of the way up this....
... before bottling it big style; it was stupidly sheer as I got nearer the top and the snow was solid ice really, without any give in it for making foot or hand holes. This time though I was damned if I was going to give in and I managed to climb up a (marginally) easier bit - see the right hand side of the same picture. Not the most sensible thing I've ever done in my life but luckily I made it!
The view towards Foxup having scaled the side of Plover
Oh and the stile at the top of Plover Hill was a tad snowy too
Last edited by Stolly; 15-03-2010 at 12:26 AM.
Continued...
Panorama piccy of the week – the view of most of my route back from the top of PyG
On the way off of the side of PyG there was another fairly hairy snow bank, made all the more impassable by a lady, who was scared witless, slowly clawing her way across the small groove of a path. I caught up with her (her name was Trish) and helped talk her down – to be fair the slide off to our left didn’t look particularly survivable without multiple broken bones had either of us slipped.
After that though I was back in spring time (it was 11 degrees when I got back to my car) and the descent pretty much all the way back, apart from the hump of Whitber Hill, was fabulous.
Spring time in Ribblesdale
Last edited by Stolly; 16-03-2010 at 01:00 AM.
Looks very dramatic that Stolly ! How did the Walshes handle it ?Continued...
On the way off of the side of PyG there was another fairly hairy snow bank, made all the more impassable by a lady, who was scared witless, slowly clawing her way across the small groove of a path. I caught up with her (her name was Trish
]
I wouldn't mind another run up there if you don't mind dragging me round again on one of your routes sometime?
Settle to Malham Tarn, over Fountains Fell, up Pen y Ghent and back to Settle
24 miles ~ 3,800+ feet
Home --> Settle Market Square --> up the main drag past Attermire Scar --> Stockdale --> Nappa Cross --> Langscar Gate --> Malham Tarn Field Centre --> Tennant Gill Farm --> Fountains Fell Cairns --> Dale Head --> Pen y Ghent Trig --> back down the way I went up and then across the top of the Overdale and Great Moorhead ridge all the way to Stainforth --> Stainforth Foss --> follow the Ribble all the way to Settle --> Home
An absolute humdinger!!! And tough too with lots of going uphill but not much (not enough) downhill... or so it seemed. The weather forecast was better for today than yesterday so I purposely just did an hour's run in the hills yesterday, saving the big 'un for today. And to start with the weather was lovely, frosty with hazy early morning sunshine (I set off at 7am). As I dropped down to Malham Tarn though low cloud was obscuring Fountains Fell and I actually went over Fountains in absolutely freezing misty fog, with a fairly cutting head on wind as icing on the cake.... not helped by me just running in shorts and the one top with no extra body cover and no gloves!
The low cloud continued all the way up Pen y Ghent but, as you might expect, it immediately started to clear just as I commenced the long ridge run in the direction of Stainforth. I kidded myself that once I'd hit the trig on Pen y Ghent, I'd broken the back of the run and it was doddlesville from there back to Settle but, to be honest, there was a very soggy and muddy 4 miles to Stainforth and then still another 3 from there, running alongside the Ribble all the way home.
Confused sheep just before I hit the lane in Stockdale
More confused sheep - this lot mistook me for the farmer and charged after me
Malham Tarn
Cairns at the top of Fountains Fell
Last edited by Stolly; 23-03-2010 at 07:15 AM.
Continued….
Fountains Fell emerges from the mist as I come off Pen y Ghent
The (never ending) ridgeline back to Stainforth
Ribblesdale with Stainforth and, in the distance, Settle coming into view
The bridge at Stainforth Foss
A fabulous run, albeit one that took me 4 hours and 49 minutes all in!!
Panorama picture of the week - looking back on the way up to Nappa Cross
Last edited by Stolly; 22-03-2010 at 12:24 AM.
Fantastic Stolly ! Cheers.
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