Thursday, October 23, 2014
Sunday, October 19, 2014
The power of 10K
Disappointed at my Fleet half marathon time slipping out of the Power of 10 rankings the Parbold 10K, which was advertised as a course suitable for PBs, seemed a good opportunity to return to the age group listings.
Unfortunately the organisers were a trifle liberal with their use of the English language and what promised to be a fast course was in fact undulating with a steady climb during the last mile. However, recent training on the hilly roads around Winter Hill proved their worth and gave me a finishing time of 51 mins 14 secs, fast enough to win a bottle of wine (I was the only over 75). I also beat the winner of the over 70s, who is member of the national duathlon team, so a worthy scalp to take.
Disappointed at my Fleet half marathon time slipping out of the Power of 10 rankings the Parbold 10K, which was advertised as a course suitable for PBs, seemed a good opportunity to return to the age group listings.
Unfortunately the organisers were a trifle liberal with their use of the English language and what promised to be a fast course was in fact undulating with a steady climb during the last mile. However, recent training on the hilly roads around Winter Hill proved their worth and gave me a finishing time of 51 mins 14 secs, fast enough to win a bottle of wine (I was the only over 75). I also beat the winner of the over 70s, who is member of the national duathlon team, so a worthy scalp to take.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Langdale Fell Race - Saturday 11th October
Earlier rain made for treacherous conditions for the racers resulting in our mate TYC being airlifted off with a dislocated knee. He’s resting up and planning to be back on the fells before too long
FSS suffering from a poorly knee so I had company on the hill for a bit of a trot and some snapping. More in the usual place if you fancy it.
Gatekeeper
From The Band
Three Tarns
Suzanne
Bad Step
Martin
Monday, October 13, 2014
Last Saturday
Thanks EtU for your kind words. It is obvious from my performance that I have a mountain to climb.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Saturday 11th October
A happy little outing, with TM, KLM, YJ, self and last, but definitely not least, JtE! Good to have you back John.
Without an obvious leader we weren't really sure where to go but eventually opted for the Pike, Two Lads, the Trig Point, Hordern Stoops, the Bomber Memorial and back to Rivington Green via Alance Bridge. At that point YJ and I decided that we had permission to play out for a little longer and roamed through the gardens whilst the others headed back to the barn for refreshments.
The cafe set probably clocked up a good 9 miles, whilst the bros went well over 11.
Good to have a bigger group than of late, and especially good to have our senior member back on board.
I'm up in the Lakes on the 18th (Joss Naylor Dinner and probably the Screes Race) but hopefully someone will take my place at the barn and keep the numbers up.
Without an obvious leader we weren't really sure where to go but eventually opted for the Pike, Two Lads, the Trig Point, Hordern Stoops, the Bomber Memorial and back to Rivington Green via Alance Bridge. At that point YJ and I decided that we had permission to play out for a little longer and roamed through the gardens whilst the others headed back to the barn for refreshments.
The cafe set probably clocked up a good 9 miles, whilst the bros went well over 11.
Good to have a bigger group than of late, and especially good to have our senior member back on board.
I'm up in the Lakes on the 18th (Joss Naylor Dinner and probably the Screes Race) but hopefully someone will take my place at the barn and keep the numbers up.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Friday, October 03, 2014
Does anybody fancy going to 'Ell and back on Sunday
I wouldn't mind having a go at this challenge event - 20 miles in Calderdale, 9.30 start for runners. Does anyone fancy going over with me? Details here.
Thursday, October 02, 2014
Monday, September 29, 2014
Bowland Fells – Sunday 29th September
Good conditions for a run out over Toridge Fell, passing Langdale Castle – more details here 
Langden Castle
Friday, September 26, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Langdale Marathon - 20th September 2014
In conditions perfect for running and just three days after his 75th birthday, YJ stormed round this two lap hilly course in just 4 hours and 37 minutes and in the process left all the V65s and all but two of the V60s trailing in his wake (there was no other runner older than 69).
As he crossed the finish line in front of the New Dungeon Ghyll, his younger brother still had 6 miles to 'run'!
I think the only time I smiled (except for Josie's photograph) was when I asked the whereabouts of the electric sweeper car and was told that when fully charged, it was good for 28 miles. Fine for the marathon it was thought, but no allowance had been made for the distance from the charging point in Ambleside to the start of the race some distance up the Langdale Valley. Seems like our Duracell Bunny carried more charge than theirs!
Ladies will no doubt be pleased to hear that one Katherine Cousins, of Lancaster and Morcambe AC, placed 5th overall, beating all the senior men. Vets took the first four places, with Steven Prentice the outright winner in 3:05 and Glyn Kay of Horwich second in 3:11.
Not a lot more to say other than to repeat my congratulations to John and to return once more to the drawing board - I'm wearing a path in the carpet!
Full results on John Schofield's website.
As he crossed the finish line in front of the New Dungeon Ghyll, his younger brother still had 6 miles to 'run'!
I think the only time I smiled (except for Josie's photograph) was when I asked the whereabouts of the electric sweeper car and was told that when fully charged, it was good for 28 miles. Fine for the marathon it was thought, but no allowance had been made for the distance from the charging point in Ambleside to the start of the race some distance up the Langdale Valley. Seems like our Duracell Bunny carried more charge than theirs!
Ladies will no doubt be pleased to hear that one Katherine Cousins, of Lancaster and Morcambe AC, placed 5th overall, beating all the senior men. Vets took the first four places, with Steven Prentice the outright winner in 3:05 and Glyn Kay of Horwich second in 3:11.
Not a lot more to say other than to repeat my congratulations to John and to return once more to the drawing board - I'm wearing a path in the carpet!
Full results on John Schofield's website.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Three Shires Fell Race - Saturday 20th September
With FSS nursing a poorly knee, we opted for a hill bagging day collecting a couple of Wainrights and nine Birketts. Crossing the path of the racers gave us the chance to snap a few locals more details here if it’s of interest : )
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Lake District Mountain Trial Sunday 14th Sept
Me and KLM and a posse of local Lancasterians travelled up on Sunday at 'bleary-eyed-O-clock' to do battle with the Cumbrian Fells.
This year the location was Patterdale. The LDMT is organised so that you have to run a bit, following a taped route before you get to the map issueing point. First nervy bit 'am I heading the right direction' to get my map. Two fast lads had set off immediately before me and had disappeared up the lane out of sight.
So it was with some relief that I got the map in hand. The relief didn't last long. The first control looked straightforward enough as did the last, the bit in between - well I'll let you decide which way you would have gone by checking the link to the routegadget site on this page http://results.sportident.co.uk/home/event.html?eventid=a1c3fec1-b9de-43c0-93a7-9a80b55df790 . This is a new version, it's supposed to work better on all computers but I have a conflict on my computers at work, but it will now work on apple devices which it didn't before.
KLM had set off 2 mins before me and I managed to catch up on the descent into the Grisedale valley. We both opted for a route climbing up to the 'Hole in the wall' on the Striding Edge ridge, where we parted company and KLM carried on the climb up Swirral Edge and I opted for the 'duffers' route contouring around Catsye Cam and onto the path around Keppel Cove to then skirt round the summit of White Side. Our 2nd control being a sheepfold about halfway down Helvellyn Gill. KLM had already said hello to the Marshalls nestled in its walls by the time I arrived.
By the time we both reached the 4th control KLM was still ahead (check the 'winsplits') but I managed to claw back some time by doing an 'up and over' whilst he took a contouring route to the 5th control. All the courses had this control and the next one as their last 2 controls. I note that a couple of runners on the long course have plotted an 'up and over' route to the last control - that definitely deserves some respect!
I think the % of non-finishers over all the courses shows how tough a day it was. For myself given the lack of training over the last 2 months (distracted by having new kitchen done) I was chuffed to make it round in one piece. Having plotted my route I got 17.5m and about 6500ft climb, as you can imagine stairs are tricky at the moment.
Can't wait for a fortnights time when I get further 2 days in the Lakes of map reading and route choice with an even heavier rucksack!
TF
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Lake District Mountain Trial Sunday 14th September
Some familiar names on the LDMTA 'medium' course results. Well done folks!
Photos anybody?
Photos anybody?
Sunday, September 14, 2014
t'Yorkshire-man 10k
Original plan this weekend was to do Hodder Show Fell Race on Saturday and then drive over from there with Julie to York and on Sunday support Diane in a 10k.
Logistics in the end meant that Hodder Valley would have to be missed so I'd did the UTUP on Saturday morning with EtU, TF and Rachel (Ed, have you a publishable nom de plume for your daughter?) After a very sluggish climb up Two Lads, I decided to call it a day and return to the UP. I had it in mind to enter Diane's race on the Sunday but was a little apprehensive as I suspected I still had tiredness in my legs from the GRP - certainly felt tired on Thursday's 3 hour run.
Diane was quite happy to have her dad in the same race, so after a rushed breakfast and good few glasses of Rioja the previous evening, we headed over to Newby Hall to give us an hour before the 10.30 start. Registration was somewhat hectic as some glitch meant that many of the pre-registered had to register again.
After a few minutes delay and the 2k fun run, I lined up with Diane somewhere near the back of the runners, planning to run the first few hundred metres alongside Diane. By the time I reached the start line, which I now know to have taken 13 seconds, I could hold back no longer as the pace around me seemed a little slow (and I was last after 200 metres at Henderson's End earlier in the year, so it must have been slow). I managed to weave my way around the other runners and got up to my planned pace over the next kilometre.
I'm used to the rest of the runners being strung out around, thinned out in my customary position at the back of the field. This was now happening but with a subtle difference - I wasn't at the back of the field.
I passed one bloke who I thought may be in the same age category and thought of the possibility of a paucity of V55 runners ahead of me. The final kilometre came and the tiredness must have affected me as I lost six places, including to my potential rival. However, the finishing clock did make me happy, a few seconds over 46 minutes, some four minutes quicker than my last 10k, the supposedly fast course of the Manchester 10k last year. My garmin, showed the course as marginally short by 80 metres but as it was 70% off road, that is hardly surprising.
The prizegiving came but was very limited, no category prizes, think it was just first three m/f and first veteran under 40!!! I did manage to get a peak at the results which showed that I had finished 40th with a chip time of 46:00.
The full results are now up and include age-related performance which make pleasant reading as my result was 8th best amongst the men, with three women having better results, out of 262 finishers. So for once, this tail-end Charlie is quite happy with his race - and looking the age-related performances think I must have been first V55. It also puts me in the Runbritain top 100 V55 10k in the North West - still a long way to go to match the likes of anyone called John though.
Oh, the race was called the Yorkshire 10k, although I don't think it could be classed as a championship race.
Logistics in the end meant that Hodder Valley would have to be missed so I'd did the UTUP on Saturday morning with EtU, TF and Rachel (Ed, have you a publishable nom de plume for your daughter?) After a very sluggish climb up Two Lads, I decided to call it a day and return to the UP. I had it in mind to enter Diane's race on the Sunday but was a little apprehensive as I suspected I still had tiredness in my legs from the GRP - certainly felt tired on Thursday's 3 hour run.
Diane was quite happy to have her dad in the same race, so after a rushed breakfast and good few glasses of Rioja the previous evening, we headed over to Newby Hall to give us an hour before the 10.30 start. Registration was somewhat hectic as some glitch meant that many of the pre-registered had to register again.
After a few minutes delay and the 2k fun run, I lined up with Diane somewhere near the back of the runners, planning to run the first few hundred metres alongside Diane. By the time I reached the start line, which I now know to have taken 13 seconds, I could hold back no longer as the pace around me seemed a little slow (and I was last after 200 metres at Henderson's End earlier in the year, so it must have been slow). I managed to weave my way around the other runners and got up to my planned pace over the next kilometre.
I'm used to the rest of the runners being strung out around, thinned out in my customary position at the back of the field. This was now happening but with a subtle difference - I wasn't at the back of the field.
I passed one bloke who I thought may be in the same age category and thought of the possibility of a paucity of V55 runners ahead of me. The final kilometre came and the tiredness must have affected me as I lost six places, including to my potential rival. However, the finishing clock did make me happy, a few seconds over 46 minutes, some four minutes quicker than my last 10k, the supposedly fast course of the Manchester 10k last year. My garmin, showed the course as marginally short by 80 metres but as it was 70% off road, that is hardly surprising.
The prizegiving came but was very limited, no category prizes, think it was just first three m/f and first veteran under 40!!! I did manage to get a peak at the results which showed that I had finished 40th with a chip time of 46:00.
The full results are now up and include age-related performance which make pleasant reading as my result was 8th best amongst the men, with three women having better results, out of 262 finishers. So for once, this tail-end Charlie is quite happy with his race - and looking the age-related performances think I must have been first V55. It also puts me in the Runbritain top 100 V55 10k in the North West - still a long way to go to match the likes of anyone called John though.
Oh, the race was called the Yorkshire 10k, although I don't think it could be classed as a championship race.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
This Week
Thursday 11th - Fielden Cup (handicap) from Jolly Crofters/Georges lane - guests welcome.
Saturday 13th - UTUPing.
Saturday 13th - UTUPing.
Tuesday, September 09, 2014
Settle Up
At 8 o'clock last night I was running(?) up Pen y Ghent on my own in the dark! No I am not completely mad but I must admit that I hadn't planned it at all. I had contacted the local running group, Settle Harriers, and having been told that Monday night sessions were slower and easier than Wednesday's, I duly turned up at Helwith Bridge at 7.30, expecting to meet lots of other runners. Exactly two other runners as it happened, both of whom were much younger, much fitter and much more used to the fells than me. Where are we going I asked: up Pen y Ghent they said! OK it is only three miles to PyG from Helwith Bridge but also about 1700 ft of climbing and it was going dark. I managed to stay with them for just over a mile but was clearly holding them back, so they went on ahead, promising to meet me on their way down. Things improved after that: I don't know if I relaxed or just got used to the gradient, but I managed to get almost to where the path on the 3 Peaks route joined my path, when I met the others coming back. They hadn't made the summit, turning back at the first rocky section instead. The descent was interesting: my head torch which was fine in the Thames Valley, was as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike at 2000ft on PyG. Fortunately, one of the others had a very powerful torch and we got down without mmishap. A very welcome pint then followed and they asked if I was going to turn out on Wednesday. I said I would but if that was the easy session, I think more embarrassment is in store tomorrow.
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