Bigger quads

Quads are the big leg muscles that help you run up hills. I have noticed that most of the better fell runners than me have bigger quads than I do.

It seems there are many schools of thought on how to get bigger quads. One of my training books tells me I should do plyometric exercises, or 'bounding'. The main drawback of this (apart from the injury risk) is that you look like an idiot when you're doing them. So on Wednesday night I went for a run on one of my normal routes and tried to find quiet bits where no-one would see me.

Basically, you have to bound and far and as high as you can after landing each stride. I usually describe it as running like Penelope Pitstop used to do when running from the Hooded Claw. Unfortunately, I can't find any images of this, so for those who didn't watch the same cartoons as me, here's Jonathan Edwards showing how it should be done. I don't think I'm quite there yet.

I have also noticed that people who cycle a lot tend to have big quads. So on Thursday night, I went to Manchester Velodrome for a 2-hour taster track session organised by a mate (who also has big quads).
This is one of those banked tracks so you can go quickly round the corners. The angle is 42 degrees at its steepest, but it seems a bit steeper when you're on it the first time, and you don't really want to cycle round the top.

We did individual pursuit, team riding and a timed lap and it was great fun. I'm not sure how this will relate to me improving at fell running. The test will be at Wincle Trout race on Saturday.

I've taken a picture of my quads and I think they might be improving. What do you think?

Shutlingsloe - trophy envy

Mrs Noel has been coveting my first local trophy for Shutlingsloe fell race for the last few years. This was made worse last year when she was second local, so would have been the first female winner of the trophy if I hadn't turned up.

This year I was keen to beat last year's time (of course) and retain the much coveted (mainly by Mrs Noel) Frank Hooley Memorial Trophy. Despite managing to fall twice during the race, I finished 4th in 18 minutes and 11 seconds.

Mrs Noel was 33rd overall and again was second local. She also did very well and finished as the first lady, so now has a trophy of her own. However, it was handed to her in two pieces, with a screw in the cup part where it had been badly bodged together (I'm making no comments about women and DIY here).

Despite this trophy being in two parts, Mrs Noel has wasted no time in telling me that her trophy is bigger than mine. My trophy envy will be increased after we've had it mended.



This is an artist's impression of how Mrs Noel would have looked if she were a bloke.

Glaramara fell race - my birthday treat

We had a free weekend so decided to go camping in the Lakes with my family. This allowed Mrs Noel to check out a new campsite that looked nice. It also let me sneak in another race. Glaramara is 5 miles and 2100 feet of ascent (and descent).

This was the hottest weekend of the year so far and it felt very unpleasant as about 65 runners set off down the road towards the mountain (or hill, I'm not sure where the cut-off is). It quickly became obvious that I wasn't in tip-top condition as I fell further and further behind a small group of runners that I had started near. I would probably put that down to dehydration, general tiredness, a beer the night before, etc. It is also very clear to me that I don't train on big hills like this, and I'm not much good at them.

I was 6th at the summit after a brief scrambly section (see picture), but decided I should amble a bit so that I could follow someone down the mountain and see where the best lines were. Unfortunately, as soon as I got into ambling pace, my body seemed to say "that's me done, I'll warm down now, thanks". So it was almost impossible for me to get back into racing mode.

With this in mind, I was going to go for a gentle finish, but found myself unable to resist a sprint finish to secure 14th place (I think). All in all, it was a very pleasant way to spend my birthday.

Goyt's Moss

This is another one of my favourite races. I like the fact that there is a long uphill section in the last third of the race. I normally try to gain a few places on this bit.

The race is set in the picturesque Errwood valley, formerly home of the Grimshaw family. The valley is now flooded to form the reservoir which covers the old village where the servants used to live. The house used to look like this:



It now looks like this, and the fell race runs past it.

I was again hoping to beat my previous best time for this race. So I got in with some of the runners who I know do times slightly faster than I normally do, and I tried to keep up with them. I lost a few, but managed to hang on to some of them.

The end of this race is on a stony track that is about 3/4 of a mile long. It starts to go downhill at the very end. This year I mistook a slight gradient for the point where I should do a sprint finish. This almost went very wrong as the guy I was racing then caught me and we were neck and neck for about half a mile. Luckily, he's one of the few fell runners who doesn't descend as well as me, so I managed to sneak in front of him at the very end.

I think it was partly this last mile of racing that helped me beat my previous best for this race. I'm starting to realise that next year is going to be tricky - how will I maintain this level of improvement? I think I'll need some good excuses lined up.

Mount Famine - this is fell running

This is one of my favourite fell races. I've probably done it four or five times now, so I've put a bit of pressure on myself to do a better time each year.

It's a very sudden and pretty daft uphill start. You run up a grassy and tree-filled bank which is to the right of a valley-bottom footpath. So instead of jossling for places, everyone takes their own line for the first 200 metres. Here's a shot of the 2008 race, which sums it up pretty well.

I'm always quite a fast starter and am a better climber than descender so I normally try to get into a good position after the first climb. This time I was just ahead of Tom Brunt at the top of the first climb. Tom is a proper fell runner and wins races, so maybe I went off a bit too fast (again!!).

There were lots of steep climbing bits and I've found a new technique which seems to work. When the bits are too steep to run, most runners take large steps and put their hands on their knees to help them up the hills. I find that this works but I find the transition from slow steps to fast cadence running is quite hard. So today, I tried fast cadence walking and it seemed to work well. I certainly gained a few places by doing this.

Here's a shot of me looking dazed but happy about a third of the way into the race. I was pleased to finish tenth and to take about 1 minute 20 seconds off my time from last year. This now means there's more pressure on next year's time. There's probably a fine line between focus and obsession.

Mrs Noel was due to do this race as well but has a throat infection so has lost her voice. I should probably avoid making comments about the relative merits of this.


Photos courtesy of FRA forum members "Rudolph Hooker" and "finniganjones", respectively.

Rainow fell race - fast and hard

I don't normally target races that don't have loads of ascent in them, but this one is a local race and I've not done it before so I gave it a go. It covered a lot of the same ground as Sunday's race - Bollington - except in the opposite direction.

I managed not to get lost this time, and was pleased to finish 10th in 35 minutes 37 seconds. I think it's also the first time I've ever beaten Olivia Walwyn who is currently leading the ladies English fell running championships.

I'm slightly drained today and certainly needed my recovery run. I now need to focus again for the third race in 7 days: Mount Famine on Saturday. That's a proper fell race with lots of ascent. If we don't get any more rain before then I might run it in road shoes. Everything is the dryest I've seen it in about 4 years of living where I do.

Mrs Noel News:
Mrs Noel was third lady and 2nd lady vet-40 at Burbage Skyline on Tuesday night. She's waiting for the results, but should have taken loads of time off her previous best for this race. Last time she ran it was about 3 years ago and she was 11th lady.

Bollington - Where's Wally

It's common knowledge that you should do a reccie of the course before you race it - especially if you live near the course. This means you can pick the best lines and you know where the hills are. It also means you don't get lost.

I didn't reccie this course (despite living pretty close) and I made the mistake of assuming the four runners in front of me knew where they were going. Unfortunately, three of them were making a similar assumption and the one at the front was a bit uncertain. Anyway, it was a lovely detour and made the race slightly more challenging. We got back on to the right course after a while, but found we were joining the group of runners that we had left behind.

In the end I think I finished about 8th. Those who beat me included: the four who were ahead of me when we went wrong, Simon Bailey - who didn't go wrong and was too far ahead of everyone for us to follow him - and a few people that I couldn't catch after our extra loop.

Using similar statistics to those being applied by our politicians to describe their party's performance in the election: if I assume our detour was about 3 miles, I would probably have won had I not gone wrong. I told Simon Bailey this at the end, and got a laugh.