Over The Hill....

After a five month sabbatical away from the hill Martin and I finally managed to find ourselves both in the office at the same time and decided to return to the hill. We knew we'd struggle but sometimes you've just got to do what you've just got to do. The old bell from the saloon bar clock struck out those twelve chimes and we knew it was time....

We set off steady but it still wasn't easy. Our Dundry loop isn't the longest. Nor the steepest but when we get going it always seems to be competitive - despite the relative slowness. One thing was for certain it wasn't going to be a 30 minuter today.

As we hit the climb, shallow to begin with but getting steeper the further in, we both began to puff. I took an early lead but only by a metre or two. As we eventually crested the summit there was nothing in it and if anything Martin had climbed the better.

I was thankful of the runnably steep descent and managed to creep a few metres back in front. As we ran the final stretch along the A38 I could hear Martin above the noise of the traffic. I never look back - that's a sign of weakness - but he sounded close. I pushed on. He pushed on but never quite closed the small gap. It was a few metres all the way and we both worked bloody hard. I finally finished in 32:38 with Martin a few seconds back. The time was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting something closer to 35. It was a damn good session. Felt good to stretch out the legs and get a bit of speed going - only a little bit of speed, don't want to go getting carried away or nuffin.

Maybe we'll manage to get out again next week....

 

Hum Drum

Oh well, Monday's here and it was back to the day job. Wasn't too bad though. Can't really grumble. As to the legs? Well they legs feel pretty good. Surprisingly so. It's another sign that I am getting there although yesterday's result did somewhat flatter me. Me in 5th place! From a field of 82 starters but only 69 finishers! And a Welsh Champs race. You have to chuckle - well I've did today as the memory slipped in and out of my thoughts. How can so many fell runners be so bad at navigation? I'm thinking of only running races when there's thick fog....

Well despite the legs feeling okay I didn't want to over stress things so I put in an easy half hour on the bike. Should be fully operational by tomorrow...

Greatest Race?

In foggy conditions on the tops it was definitely a day for the navigators. I set off in the middle order. My legs hurt a little and I wanted to ease them into it and not get carried away. The first climb from the upper Blaen y Glyn car park to Craig y Fan Ddu is annoying at the best of times. Today I was puffing a little but eventually hit the top path.

As I ran along the path on the east side I kept taking a glance right to see where it was going to be best to drop off on the return. It all looked bloody steep and I wasn't looking forward to that descent on tired legs.

Anyway, I continued along steadily if somewhat slowly before cutting across no mans land to what I shall call the Brecon Beacons race ridge - you know the one I mean. I got lucky with my line and picked my way along a small trod. The route from there to Fan y Big was pretty simple even in the fog and being so far down in the field I was able start picking up a few places. It felt good to be overtaking people and somehow my legs began to feel a little more responsive.

I managed to descend Fan y Big pretty well over taking a few more before a steady ascent to Cribyn. It wasn't the fastest but I still managed to gain a few more places. At the summit, the marshal reported that I was 20th - hey, where had all the rest of the runners gone! I shouldn't have been twentieth. I know I'd picked up a few spots but not that many.

The descent from Cribyn was good for me. Staying out wide, sticking to the grassy, more runnable areas I gained another five places - 15th, I couldn't believe it! Now, even if I were to lose a few of those on way back I'd still be top twenty. Could I do it? In a Welsh Champs race, on tired legs, claim a top twenty spot....

The climb past Fan y Big went well. I was starting to feel the buzz. I ran as much as I could but admitted defeat a few times. Still, no one came past. Finally to the ridge I cut off too soon - ahhh, school boy. Realising my mistake quickly I bore back to the east to pick up the proper Beacons Way path. It didn't really cost me much. Once on the Beacons Way I hatched a plan. A plan of cunning. A plan so subtle... I decided to break from the BW where it turns the corner to the east and keep going straight and slightly east...

I couldn't be arsed to get out my compass and relied on the 'force' to guide me through the fog. If my plan was to succeed I needed to make sure I didn't drop down too much too soon or I'd be in the valley. As things went I got it just about spot on. Contouring around the west side of Craig y Fan Ddu picking up the odd trod here and there I made it to the end pretty much where I wanted to be. Then I crossed the path, continued the contour before I decided it was time to cut down to the fence corner and then a few hundred metres more to the final check point. From there it was just a trot back down through the forest to the finish.

As I rounded the last corner I was astonished to hear the cry by some weird looking bloke on crutches, 'Fifth!'. Fifth! Where the bloody hell had all the others gone? By my reckoning I was fifteenth - which I would still have taken, mind. Across the line in 1 hour and 22 minutes I really was fifth. Un... wait for it, wait for it.... believable. And to think this was just a recovery race after my main event yesterday. That's my greatest fell result ever. Heck I love the mist.

The Tor of Torpantau is a cranking race. Initially it looks fairly bog standard but because there is a surprising amount of route choice it's actually a bit of class - and all the better for the fog. At 12km and 600m it isn't the longest or the steepest but, for me, it's one of the best. Thanks to race organiser Andy Blackmore and the marshals. I'll be back for more next year.

Oh, and one last thing, this is to that chap from Chepstow Harriers with his own special route. (Secretly, I think he quite likes creating his own special routes - shh, say no more). I think the WFRA organise navigation courses every few months.....

Feeling Stronger

I'm still bloody slow mind, but definitely feeling stronger. Today I made it about 16 miles out before I'd emptied the tank - best performance to date this year. And my tactically planned route meant those last four and a half weren't total agony. I'd deftly incorporated three quarters of the total ascent into the first two thirds of the route - that's a lot of fractions. The upshot, those four plus miles didn't have a lot of ascent and were mostly flat or downhill so even on tired legs - read bloody knackered - I didn't attain 'sense of humour failure'. Result.

I won't bore you with the detail except to say the run over Llangorse was cracking. I've not there many times outside of the Mynydd Troedd fell race and never been as far south as I ran today. I pretty much ran the entire ridge from south to north. Some great views, especially in the fantastic sunshine - took me twenty minutes before I could remember what that big, bright, circle of light in the sky was called..

All in all a very pleasing run. I've still much improvement to make before I'm ready for the big day but provided I can keep getting a weekly long mountain run I'm confident I will get there. At 32.8km that's my longest run to date, adding almost 5km to my Black Mountains run a couple of weeks ago although today only had 1,350m of ascent verses the 1,5000m of the BMs. On a second plus note, I took exactly the same time as the BMs run, 3 hours and 57 minutes - although I do feel I should knock off four minutes from today's time, being the it took me to check, double check and triple check that I was really was where I knew I was and still on a public footpath. All the checking was necessary because there were farm houses all around and the gate I had to go through had no markings and more importantly was locked! Having established I was where I was from field boundaries and other features I just climbed over that bad boy and moved on but I did waste about four minutes.

Slightly Scared

It's got to be done but that doesn't make it any less imposing. With now just three - F*(% me, only three! - months till the Welsh 1000s I've got to increase the length on my runs and, more importantly, go up mountains. Trail running over the few bumps along the Cotswolds or the Malverns ain't going to cut it. Can't believe time is going by so quickly - where's the theory of time dilation when you need it? That said you do need to be travelling close to light speed for that.

Anyway, I've plotted a twenty mile circumnavigation of the villiage of Cwmdu taking in Mynydd Llangorse, Mynydd Troed, Pen y Manllywn, Waun Fach, Pen Trumau, Mynydd Llysiau, Pen Allt-mawr and finally Pen Cerrig-calch. In all I reckon it'll be somewhere over 1,250m of ascent.

The forecast is decent so even if - or should that be when - I fade I'll still have the views to take in as I walk to the finish. Hoping it doesn't come to that... And if - eh hem, I mean, when I survive that, there's the TT on Sunday with it's eight mountainous miles. Half tempted to make a mini-break of it and camp out overnight in the van rather than travel out and back both days. I'll see how I feel in the morning...

Hitting The Low Point

Training hasn't been great this week. On the ebb at the moment and keen to find the flow for the weekend. Need to plan in another long run Saturday before the Tor of Torpantau on Sunday. Looks like a bit of an out and back but should be fun all the same - apparantly some chap from Chepstow Harriers has his own special route towards the finish but I'm not sure I want to follow it!

Managed a short run today finished off with a go on the bike but some how the ebb has hold at the moment. Bring on the weekend's flow...

Not Been Good Today

Woke up in the early hours this morning feeling right bloated with stomach cramps. After that I couldn't get comfortable and didn't sleep a wink. Didn't get into work. In fact I didn't get out of bed until gone one. Still feel a bit bloated even now but less so and I've managed to eat a little bit. Suffice to say I'm not doing any training. Not sure what caused it. Haven't really eaten anything different over the last couple of days apart from maybe some sweet potato yesterday. I've eaten it plenty of times before though so can't see it was that. At the moment I still have wicked sulphur breath - even the cat winces and turns away when I burp - that's a first, out breath-weaponing the cat! Oh well, fingers crossed I'm all back to normal tomorrow.

For Every Pleasure There's A Price

From the positives of yesterday come the not so positives of today. I woke up this morning with a stiff neck and back ache. Slept awkwardly? I don't think so. More likely all the jerking around in the woods yesterday - ooh, nooo, stop it. There were a few areas of new growth that I ran through where the branches suddenly flicked out at your face. I think my cat like reflexes, yanking my face to safety, avoiding a branch slap, have taken their payment today. I decided not to risk the arduous trek south for the Ironwood.

Anyway, having risen early and then made my decision I jumped on the exercise bike for two hours to burn the pent up energy - not to mention the coffee high of two cups of super strong fresh coffee. (For those wondering, it's still to cold for me outside for a real bike ride, my hands just cause me too much pain). I spent the rest of the day coming down from that caffeine high with a bit of baking to relax the soul. Although I'm a tad disappointed not to have run this morning, as everything is feeling much less achy now I think it was the right shout.

That Worked Out Rather Well

I manage to stick to the plan, got up early(ish) and headed over to the Haresfield Beacon car park in plenty of time to make way over to the Painswick Orienteering.

As I arrived at Haresfield it begain to snow. Not a lot but by god 'eck it were chilly - I could feel me cockles shrinking. I switched out to a thicker top before heading out. I took it pretty steady and just enjoyed the scenery. After five minutes of running I was fully warmed. It was perfect conditions really. The slight frost firming the ground so it wasn't too muddy through the woods.

Some time later I arrived over at the golf course above Painswick and duly began to get right bloody cold. I registered my run but then had to wait about half an hour before I could go orienteer. I put on an extra layer but it didn't really help. The biting cold bit me and my hands began to go white, as they are prone to do.

Once finally underway in the orienteering my hands did finally warm up with about ten minutes to go - doh. Control of the compass was trickier than normal on account of the cold and even folding and re-folding the map took more time and effort than normal.

As to the actual orienteering I final broke my duck. Just like last week I made no major cock-ups, a few dilly-dallies but definitely no massive 'I don't know where the hell I am' incidents. However, unlike last week, I finally smashed the hour barrier on the blue course. Well, I say smashed. Does 59 minutes and 59 seconds count as 'smashing the hour barrier'? It does in my book anyway - which, coincidentally, is the official book of smashing the hour barrier as authorised by the National Association of Smashing the Hour Barrier.

Anyway, with the orienteering complete I didn't hang around too long to get cold again and promptly set off back to Haresfield to complete the days training. In all I covered a little over 24km with 560m ascent, breaking down as 10.5km/250m to Painswick, 7.5km/150m for the orienteering and 6.2km/160m for the return journey. Job done I'm all set for tomorrow's Ironwood Challenge and really rather buoyed by the fact I'm managing to keep the momentum going - I might not die on the Welsh Mountains in June after all......

Eminently Sensible Suggestion

Well I'm not heading for the mountains tomorrow after all. I'm planning to take the eminently sensible suggestion put forward by an expert training consultant - trying saying that after a couple of beers - and park up over by the Haresfield Beacon to then run the 10k or so along the Cotswold Way to the Painswick Orienteering. With that, the orienteering itself and the return journey I reckon I'll clock up 25 kilometres or so. That should be enough. It might have been slightly foolish to have run back to back weekends of over-extending mountain runs. This could be a gentler alternative while still getting some good distance with reduced risk of breaking myself - and I should have a little something left for the Ironwood Challenge on Sunday - provided there are spaces left....

The Day The Buzz Ended

After a good weekend followed by some proper training I came down today. Mustn't grumble though. Apart from today, which has gone a little flat, I'm generally feeling more positive towards my mid-year race goal. I definitely need to keep the momentum going. I think I need to plot myself a route for Saturday and then commit it to the diary. Not sure I can trust myself for another mountain run without scheduling it. I am going to run another long one Saturday. I am. I must. I must...

A Day To Recover

My legs are improved - read, I can at least walk normally now, if not totally pain free. Managed a bike session tonight which I think helped with the healing. Ready for proper training tomorrow - aka a run. Other than that it's been a supper of special cauliflower cheese finished off with Operation LBFU - that's lazy bar-sterward feet up.... job done.

Heck The Pegs Feel Sore

Despite the pain I actually feel pretty good. Good in that I feel I actually had a good a weekend of training. True, walking is painful but I'd rather feel the pain of walking than feel the pain of regret for not having run some decent mileage... I was starting to worry that the mountain I'd set for myself was too high to climb but now I feel confident I can get myself in shape for June. There's going to be no room for complacency mind but I feel my Welsh 1000s and Vegan Welsh 3000s dream is now at least achievable.

By right's I'm no where near fit enough to have run the black mountains route on Saturday having struggled at the Dursley Dozen the week before so it's comforting to know when I have to dig deep I still can. Really looking forward to more mountain running in the coming months. To avoid the curse of work I'm going to book up some long weekends for April and May and then bloody well stick to them. Be good to head to Snowdonia at least a couple of times before the big days.

Been a bit serious tonight, darn it, can't be setting a precedent...

Ruined By The Wrekin

It was the Compass Sport Orienteering and I was up for it - but my legs weren't. They feel didn't great before the start - and by the finish they were fair wrecked. The Wrekin ain't exactly flat. I didn't really have any choice but to take it steady today. Physically I wasn't capable of anything more than steady and so it began...

 So as my start time approached I bid good day to team and headed across the field towards the start, some 600m away in the woods. To much amusement and the sounds of 'good luck' still ringing in the air I managed to catch a bramble not thirty metres away, in full view of everyone and stumbled to the grass - what a cock. With an omen like that I was going to be lucky to survive let alone finish. I did eventually manage to locate the start with no further incidents and, with compass to hand, set off at just gone eleven on the brown course - that's long and hard for those not in the know - ooh matron.

Unusually I made very few errors. A few 'cautious' entries - shhh, no, stop it - onto the controls but nothing I would call a major cockup. I'm figuring my utter lack of speed today enabled me to focus much more closely on the navigation. I think slow and steady is the future. Get the micro-navigation skills firing on all cylinders and the speed look after itself - well, that's my new theory. My current method of firing off quickly - I said stop it - and then getting the nav a little off kilter isn't going to win me any awards. It was definitely much more satisfying to come in - that's enough now - to the controls from the right direction...

On the score front it was a good day for the club. We won the trophy and so qualify for the finals in October - I say 'we' but I didn't actually score - story of my life....

And here is my not so 'looks like a spider crawled over the page' route from today...

(ps for the record, the bit on the far left was a decision
to out and back to the control not a mistake - truth)