First 'run' in about a month

I finally decided I should go for a gentle lunchtime run yesterday. It's been about a month since my last run, which was Scafell Pike Fell Race. Jogging for twenty minutes around a town and a nice park couldn't have been more different to my previous outing.

Having said that, it made all the difference to how I was feeling. My recent lack of running and the shorter days has been really getting to me. And although I can't count my gentle jog as any form of training, it sorted me out for the day.

I think Noel's training blog is going to become Noel's lunchtime jogs and occasional leisurely lunchtime swims. I'll have to work hard in the Spring to get my viewing figures back up to the heady heights of this summer ;)

Scafell Pike - a different league

I like steep fell races. I generally avoid ones that don't have a sufficient amount of height. And I've done some good steep ones in my time. Ones like Buckden Pike, Mount Famine and even Shutlingsloe.

However, nothing could prepare me for Scafell Pike fell race. It was steep, but never steeper than other things I've done. But it was the length of ascent (and more worryingly descent) that I couldn't cope with. No amount of reps could prepare me for 3000 feet of downhill in one go. I've never before done a race where my legs hurt for two days after the race.

The race went reasonably well, I was in a good position at the top, but lost about 40 seconds after reaching the summit as I couldn't tell which way to go in the thin mist. I was asking myself "how can I get lost in a there-and-back race?" Well, there seemed to have been a gap of about a minute between me and the guys behind, and there was a gap of about a minute in the stream of runners coming up the summit. These two gaps somehow managed to coincide. Add my natural inability to remember which way I've run, and I was temporarily lost.

Luckily I then saw the stream of runners coming up and could slowly boulder-hop down the way they were coming up. After a minute or so of this, Fleeter shot past me and I said "that's what I need - a pacer. Go on Fleeter". Unfortunately, Fleeter's downhill pace was way too fast for me, and I lost another few places on the long descent. I finished in 1:06:30 (ish), which was faster than my target time of 1:07:00.

Despite me beating my target time, I have mixed feelings about this race. I would like to return and do it justice. I feel like I could have been a few places higher if I had trained a bit harder. But the real killer was not having the stamina or technique to descend a mountain (as opposed to the hills we have in the Peaks). I would get genuine satisfaction from being able to say I ran this race well.

Next year? I'll have to see how things work out. It is a long way to travel for a 4.5 mile fell race. I certainly feel I have unfinished business with this mountain. And I'm slowly coming round to the idea that the best way to train for Lakes races, is to do more of them. Is this a statement of intent, or a pipe dream? Time will tell...

Ready for Scafell?

I'm pretty sure I haven't run enough in the last few weeks to consider myself ready for Scafell Pike fell race. It's because the days are so short. If I work over a bit, or if Mrs Noel fancies a run, there's no daylight left. I should probably get into this headtorch running nonsense, otherwise this blog will rapidly deteriorate (if that's possible). I did one tempo run this week, and one recovery run. That's a fair way short of the 30 miles I should be doing.

Lantern Pike and Stanage Struggle

Hayfield country show had birds of prey, kite flying, archery, and a decent fell race - Lantern Pike. It was Mrs Noel's turn to do this one, so I was largely being mithered about going on slides and bouncy castles.

Sometimes I wonder 'if I set off really quickly, how long could I keep up with the proper runners at the front?' It seems someone else had this idea today. This guy normally finishes about where I do in fell races, but today seems to have decided to have a quick sprint at the beginning - note the look of effort on his face. Sadly I couldn't watch the race to see how long he stayed first.

Mrs Noel was also first was a while, but finished third lady to secure a very nice jar of lemon curd. Full results are here: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/temples-bin/hc.pl?a=list&d=hc&f=lantern-pike-2009

I made do with a longish run (about 9 miles perhaps) when we got home. Doing slightly longer runs at weekends to make sure I have some stamina is part of my training I often neglect. This probably explains why I have no stamina and prefer short races. It might also amaze some people that I consider a 9 mile run to be a longer run. I have mates who do 4 hour sessions at the weekends.

On Sunday, my 'club' the Fat Boys, organised the Stanage Struggle. Again I wasn't running, as Fat Boys are encouraged to marshall. I pointed about 280 runners (a record turn-out) left along the track. My youngest briefly thought it funny to say 'go back the way you've come'. Luckily no-one believed him. The conditions were very dry, which made for a fast course and a new course record. Stuart Bond beat his old record for the new course, which was set last year. Full results: http://www.stanagestruggle.co.uk/

Late summer sun

For the past few nights I haven't been bothered to go out running. Tonight, I couldn't refuse a run - it was such a beautiful evening. I took a few photos to share the best bits with you. As always, the shots I thought that would be good, weren't, and vice versa.

Here goes:

Tree growing through barn

Happy to be here

Three Shire's Head looking downstream from the bridge

Sunset through dead thistles. Everything looks pretty in this light!

And finally, sunset.

If days were always like this, everyone would go out running.

Compare and contrast - the real Tour of Britain

Mrs Noel went out to watch the real Tour of Britain today. This is stage 5 of the tour and it follows the same course as my charity tour ride of two weekends ago.

Sadly I wasn't there to experience it for myself but Mrs Noel was good enough to show me a few pictures. It made me think 'how different is the proper tour from what we did?' After giving it some consideration, I think the two events are pretty similar.

If you take away the support cars and all the state-of-the-art bikes, take away a few of our food, drink and toilet stops (well, all of them in fact), and take away the tour riders' ability, including the years of training and dedication to reach that level, then I think what we did was pretty similar.

Obviously, you'd also have to factor in that these guys have been doing this every day for the previous 5 days, and you'd need to account for my usual level of tactical naivety. But when you've taken all this into account, and the degree of mental pressure that the tour riders are under, I think the two events are largely similar.

Perhaps when making such a comparison you might also need to consider the average speed that the tour guys are going - approximately twice what we were. But, to get back to my original point, apart from the support, the bikes, the ability, the dedication, the lack of rests, the day-on-day fatigue, the tactical acumen, the mental pressure, and the overall speed, what we did a few weekends ago was pretty similar to what Mrs Noel witnessed today.

Speed work

After last week's hill reps, I'm now confident I can run (or rather walk, slowly) up Scafell. However, I'm less confident that I can keep my legs moving fast enough to descend quickly. This was highlighted in the race on Sunday when I lost ground on the flat and lost loads of ground on the descent.

So tonight, instead of hill reps, it was sprint reps. This is even more tiring. I think my flat course is about 250 metres, but it's through a sheep field, so it's not exactly perfect track training. I did 8 reps flat out before feeling completely broken. It did feel good to be running quickly again.

Whenever I do sprint sessions I am reminded how good proper runners are. I probably was close to averaging about 4:10 minute/mile pace for 250 metres. At the end of each rep, my heart rate was 165 (from 140 at the start). And yet there are guys who can run this pace for quite a few miles. Amazing.