Sheep - Teggs Nose fell race

We got there early to this race so the kids could have some lunch at the sheepdog trials and we could take in some of the stalls. I've always been pretty impressed by rounding up sheep with sheepdogs, and this year my respect for these guys (and dogs) has been increased further.

Local lad and former One man and his dog TV star, James Gilman (pictured), was doing the two dogs round where he had to collect his sheep, take them through a few gates, then split the pack into two lots of three sheep. This looked like the hard bit and none of the other competitors managed it. He then had to pen three in a three-sided pen and leave one dog guarding the sheep. Then he had to also pen the other three using the remaining dog. All this while the stopwatch is going. Apparently, he had also won the championship trials the day before.

Next to all that, my race sounds pretty tame.

We had the usual race round the fields before being on the course proper. As usual, most people seemed to be running too quickly towards the start of the race, and for once I wasn't with them. I was wondering whether Cracken Edge was still in my legs, so I took it steady, hoping to make up places as the race went on.

In the end I steadily worked up to 7th, which is where I finished up. I normally aim for the lady's record, as it's a good indicator for me. Olivia's course record (of last year) was 59.23, and I managed to run it in 59.20. I was very pleased with this until Mrs Noel told me she had been talking to one of the organisers, who said the course was 100 metres shorter this year.

We also introduced Mrs Noel's sister, Sam, to fell racing. She has been nursing an injured back for a while, so well done to her on giving this one a go and still having a smile on her face at the end (or maybe a bit after the end). Well done Sam.

I know how the fox feels - Cracken Edge

Generally in fell races I aim to overtake the person in front. This is very good for my mental state during the race as I feel more like the 'predator'.

Last night at Cracken Edge, I was definitely the prey.

The night started well. I turned up early so sat in my car for a while and listened to the radio about a man who had won a £1000 bet from his local bookies about whether he could lose 5 stone in 6 months. Here's the story: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/08/03/fat-reward-for-groom-115875-22460074/

I was then chatting to fellow Pennine runner, Joe, who continued this theme by explaining to me how he's lost 8 stone by only eating on Thursdays and how this should make him faster. To be fair to Joe, I might have forgotten the actual details, but it was something like this.

Joe's slimming plan is partly driven by a competitive desire to beat me in fell races, and partly by the desire to stay ahead of Steve (another Pennine runner). Steve is going well and is getting better over the season. One of Steve's aims is to beat Joe in fell races.

Once the race started, it became apparent that there was no-one for me to chase down, as the gap was too big between me and the guy in front (Jonny, my old Fat Boy team-mate). However, whenever I glanced behind me, I saw the pack of panting, salivating beasts that included Joe and Steve.

With no obvious holes to hide in, I decided the only sensible option was to stay ahead of them. Thankfully, Joe swapped places with me with about a mile to go, so I could enjoy the feeling of biding my time before striking and regaining the lead. In the end I finished 1 second ahead of Joe, who was 10 seconds ahead of Steve.

With this fierce level of competition, I'll have to start putting more training in. Joe and Steve, if you're reading this, I'd like to recommend the new super training food: bacon, ham, mushroom, tomato and mashed potato pancakes, covered in cheese.

Shining Tor - hurray for short races

After the long slow torture that was Holme Moss, it was great to get back to some fast runnable stuff. Shining Tor is another one of those "this is one of my favourite races" races. It's got loads of hills but it's never too steep.

It was good to be back in the top 10% of the race field, and to yet again beat my time from the last time I ran this race (2 years ago).

I was also very pleased to have the new experience of being in a winning team. I guess this is more likely now I'm part of a proper club, and one that has good runners like Simon Coldrick in it. Simon was 3rd, and because us Pennine boys were also 14th, 18th and 19th, we had a higher average over our top 4 than anyone else. I'm currently sipping from a bottle of Stella that was my share of the multipack prize.

Mrs Noel was also first, ahead of her Pennine teammate, Lucy. They also won the lady's team prize along with Mary.

Bring on more short races. I love 'em.

Holme Moss - it went to plan

In my last blog entry I was planning out how my Holme Moss race would go. Obviously, this was partly tongue-in-cheek. Let's revisit that plan and see how much of it came true.

1. Set off too quickly - No. I think I set off a bit too slowly.

2. Still feeling fresh after about 5 miles - Yes.

3. Get cocky and overdo it - Yes.

4. Lose the person in front - No. But there were a lot of them.

5. Head towards Scotland by mistake - No, but only because there were lots of flags showing me the way.

6. Finish in a crumpled heap - Yes, definitely.

I said I'd probably finish about 150th, but I was hoping for top 100 and I finished in 97th.

I was aiming for 3 hours 15 minutes and I beat that to finish in 3:11:34 (here are the results).

So on the face of it, I should be pleased with my performance. But I am not. I think it was the style of my race that leads me to not be pleased. Relative to previous years, when I've trained for long races, I have done:
- more long, slow runs
- a greater run-in period of long, slow runs
- more overall mileage.

But the last 3 miles of this race were like the last 45 minutes of every endurance event I've ever tried: my muscles saying "that's your lot" and me having to jog back while streams of people overtake me.

I don't like to turn my back on things that I haven't got the hang of, but I'm erring towards Mrs Noel's advice on the subject of long races - "what's the point?"

However, these pained musings are demonstrating to me what the point is. It's a challenge. And despite the fact that I would like to turn my back on long races, the more I do of them, the more I want to do them well.

So, whenever I pluck up the courage to enter another long race, here are the main points I've learnt from doing this race:

1. Train more, in terms of overall mileage per week and distance per outing.
2. Train up to the race distance. I need to know I can do the distance, and not mis-pace it because I'm used to running 2 miles shorter.
3. Do a few long races during the run-up to my target race.

Three days to my first ever championship race

It's Holme Moss this Sunday, and it's an English championship counter. That means all the proper athletes will be there. So instead of being 15th, like I sometimes am at the normal low-key races I do, I'll probably be 150th.

I was planning to have done lots of recces of the course so I would have been prepared, but I haven't got round to it. So instead, I'm hoping to follow people in front of me. I was also hoping to have done lots of stamina training, as the race is 17 miles. I've done a fair bit, but as always, not as much as I would have wanted.

My plan is to do a few more championship counters in the coming years, so this is like a warm up for next year. I only hope I don't end up as the stumbling mess I have been at the end of my previous long race attempts.

My target time is about 3 hours 15 minutes. Last year that would have put me 12th (because it wasn't a champs counter last year). I'm hoping that stating my target time to the world (or at least the 7 people who read my blog) will spur me on towards the end of the race. Watch this space...

In Mrs Noel news, she was looking forward to doing Black Rocks Fell Race, but I googlemapped [it's a verb now, honest] the wrong address so she didn't get to the race in time. Luckily she had a 45-minute drive home to calm down so didn't then hack me to death with a spoon. We spent a few minutes tonight seeing where we think she would have finished.

Glory at Hathersage

There have been two important races in the Noel household over the last few days. At the weekend it was Hathersage junior fun run. Mrs Noel competitively accompanied our eldest who was coached with advice about how to pace a race and when to attack, etc. I accompanied our youngest and we stopped at various points to look at ants and talk to the 'martians' (marshalls) who were showing us the way.

After then losing in the tug of war, we headed off home before the prize-giving to be in time for the kids' tea. However, we later found out that my eldest won the fantastically large Hathersage Gala Shield for first non-local. Here it is, dwarfing my first local's trophy from Shutlingsloe.

This trophy now has pride of place on our trophy cupboard-top, and Mrs Noel is already planning how to train up our eldest to improve on this year's time.

The second important race was of course Hathersage gala fell race on Monday night. I got lots of justified heckling from the Fat Boys for turning up in my Pennine vest. After being 8th at the summit, I finished in 10th. Although this was a place down on last year, this means I've done a better time each year for the last 4 years at this fell race. One of these years I'll manage to stay ahead of Jonny Wilson on the descent. I think for me to do this, I'll need to be ahead of him by about 2 minutes at the summit. That or find a bike for the road sections.

Whaley waltz

As triathlons go, this one suits me down the ground. It's a 5.5 mile fell race with a 5 metre river section where you can touch the bottom, and there's no biking involved.

You could almost argue that it would be better without the river section. Except that it makes for great photographs and gives the race a character of its own. Here's me hovering above the water. I was hoping to look a bit more Action Man than this - I think my eldest summed it up well by saying, "you look like a rabbit, Daddy". Despite this, I was pleased with my race, as I finished just behind my Pennine teammate, Nat, who I've yet to beat.



Mrs Noel is famous for this race. A few years ago she appeared in Runners World in a similar pose. She also holds the race record as she won it last year and it was a new course relative to the year before. Here she is showing me how it should be done. This was on course to setting a new lady's course record. She was also part of the first lady's team along with Pennine ladies Lucy and Elaine.