Longshaw Fell Race

The race was delayed by 45 minutes due to fog! I know that sounds pretty weird, but the sheepdog trials competitors couldn't see the dogs or the sheep. So the whole programme (including the fell race) was moved back to wait until the fog cleared.

It turned into a lovely sunny day. Here's the video (I'll add the actual video instead of a link once youtube and my blog will talk to each other!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxSX2-rnuTc&feature=plcp

Grasmere Senior Guides Race

For those who do not know the history of this race, let me enlighten you. It was the first girl guide-only race and was run solely by girl guides from 1903 until 1971, when cub scouts were also permitted. However, it reverted to its original format 3 years later after some nasty name calling near the summit.

In the late nineties, it became very popular as a fell race, and many grown men would enter it in disguise. Although it cannot be verified, several eye witnesses believe "Isobella Smith" was actually Ian Holmes in a brown skirt, when "she" won by over 8 minutes from "her" nearest competitor (13-year-old Georgina Phillips) in 1997.

By 2001, the guide-only format was abandoned and both adults and non-guides were allowed to enter the race. This was met with by fierce opposition both from traditionalist corners of the guiding community, who saw it as political correctness gone mad; and by several notable fell runners, who said they would miss the opportunity of cross-dressing. Since then, however it has established itself as one of the best fell races in the calendar.*

The 1958 winners

Mrs Noel has done this twice before and had come second both times. Luckily, Pippa Maddams wasn't there this year, but Sharron Taylor was, to take first place. Mrs Noel was second yet again, and was first lady vet 40.

It was my first time to run this race. Although I had my sights set on outright victory, several notable fell runners turned up, as did several reasonable club fell runners, and probably a few fit locals. These combined to narrowly edge me into 26th place, a mere 3 minutes behind the winner. But I was very pleased and have my sights set on top-20 glory next time.

*Some of the above might not be completely true

Great Hucklow - sports photography

 Photographing fell running is great for capturing the free-flowing dynamism of the sport. The trick is to get runners as they are turning on steep ground or leaping over obstacles. I've now learnt that it's not such a good idea to take pictures of fell runners as they are going across narrow bridges, as it make them look like they're going slowly. So, from Great Hucklow fell race on Sunday, here's:



Strolling John Heneghan

 

Meandering Jack Ross

Idling Olivia Walwyn-Bush

Dawdling Helen Elmore

Photos

I've been very lazy with updating my blog for the last month or so. And finally, my sister told me to update it.

The problem is, I've not done much recently that's blog-worthy. I've largely had a succession of bugs and colds. So I'll share a few photos instead.

Here's a nice picture of our dog Max, swimming in the river at Lathkill Dale. This is his "are you going to throw a stick?" face.

Also, we're very pleased to get the first courgettes from our plants in the garden. They're the yellow variety, and as you can see, are a good size.

Here's a close-up of my hands after cleaning out the range-style oil-burning cooker in our kitchen. It's like having old men's hands for about 3 days afterwards. Click on the picture to get the full effect - it looks best close up.

Here's a nice shot of a rock face at Ramshaw rocks.

And finally, here's the actual size of the first courgettes. They're meant to be small, but that's just silly.

The importance of stretching

We all need a good stretch from time to time. I have a series of fairly strange ones which seem to help me when I've been out for a run. We were amused to see a pelican at Blackbrook Zoological Gardens teaching us a few more.

Right arm and leg together



Turn your lower jaw inside-out

It was one of those moments where we had to set aside our adultness and point and laugh with the kids.

Cheshire Triathlon

Firstly, a big thanks to everyone who has sponsored me and my colleagues to do this triathlon. Cardiac Risk in the Young (http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/) will be about £1500 better off thanks to all our efforts today. This will probably save lives, which is great.

The race went pretty much as could be expected. I haven't done any swim training for about 3 years. This became apparent when I had to resort to breast stroke after 4 lengths of ropey front crawl. This didn't seem to slow me down much, and after another 12 lengths I got out of the pool feeling OK.

"No copying my technique now chaps!"

My swim-bike transition was alright as well. I had planned not to have a towel and to take my goggles with me on the bike as I was too lazy to need to walk back to the pool after the event.

My bike ride went well. I passed about 10 people in the 20k and was able to push myself most of the way round. It was gently undulating, so I could keep a decent pace up most of the way. I remembered the advice of changing down gears and pedalling more quickly when I was approaching the bike-run transition. This stops your legs feeling too much like jelly when you try to run straight away.


Sitting down - the fourth discipline

I managed to find my shoes at the transition, and slipped them and my socks on pretty quickly, having talced them well beforehand. I had been considering not wearing socks in order to gain that extra 10 seconds. But then I remembered blistering a few years ago when I'd tried that at a swim-run event.

Once I was out of the transition, I was passing runners for most of the 5k course. In triathlons, most of the good runners can also swim a bit. And because people are set off at times based on their predicted swim time, most of the top runners had already finished by the time I got on to the run course.

The final few paces

Overall I was very happy with my time of 1 hr 11 minutes and 2 seconds. One of the good things about triathlons is that you can spend as much time as you did in the event, working out what the results mean and where you need to improve. It seems pretty clear for me.

Swim
My time: 10:25
Fastest time: 06:31
Percentage of fastest time: 160%

Bike
My time: 40:01
Fastest time: 32:46
Percentage of fastest time: 122%

Run
My time: 20:36
Fastest time: 17:57
Percentage of fastest time: 115%

I clearly need to save more energy from the swim and bike, so I can shave some seconds off my run time :)

Whitebrook Wind-Up

We were visiting friends last weekend in Abergavenny. My mate does a bit of running and is very good, although not as driven to do races as I am. He had planned that we could coincide our visit with a local race, and suggested the Whitebrook Wind-Up. This is a trail half-marathon with a reasonable amount of hills in it, so sounded like something I'd really enjoy.

In the weeks running up to our visit, my friend picked up an achilles injury and Mrs Noel decided she is nursing her ankle, so it was only me who entered.

The race went pretty well. There was one guy there who was clearly in a class of his own and set off pretty quickly. I quickly clocked that I wasn't in the same league, so let him go. However, there were about 5 others who I think got dragged along with him for the first 2 or 3 miles. These lads didn't look great, but were clearly running more quickly than I was so I let them go too.

When that happens, half of you says "they're just better than you - get used to it" and half of you says "they've paced it wrong - you'll get them later". Luckily, I think some of them had set off too quickly. Over the next 8 miles, I passed all but the very good bloke and was cruising in second.

"Pride before a fall" and all that. Just when I was thinking I'd done all the hard work, someone shot past me with about a mile to go. Luckily I had the leg speed on the flat and won by a few seconds. I'm a bit sore today. Perhaps I should have built in a cycle warm-down after the race. That's what the winner did, after packing up his stuff into his Iron Man rucksack - he'd clearly cycled to the race too. I have a lot of respect for good triathletes.