Where Did That River come From?

Following last night's talk, I spent all day in work today thinking about how I can improve my training, even if it’s just slightly. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and was finding it really difficult to concentrate on getting my work done. I had to force myself to get on with my job all morning but then at lunch I decided to have a think about next week’s training plan.

I wrote myself a schedule, which included a speed session and a hill session (with options for these being either the club sessions or sessions I have made up myself), my usual long run on Sunday, a race on the Saturday (cross country) and then a couple of easy runs in between. I had to write Wednesday off altogether as I’m going out straight from work so won’t be able to fit in any training on that day. I have also included some yoga, pilates, core and balance board workouts. I used to do these a lot anyway but have let them slide lately. I feel like I have no time to myself but I’m really going to make an effort to get back to incorporating some non-running training.

The schedule starts on Monday so watch this space to see how it goes. Hopefully, as I’m writing it in here for all to see, this might make me feel more inclined to stick to it.

Tonight’s run was just an easy one to take me into the weekend. I seem to have a ridiculous fear (going back to my comment yesterday about my psychology) about overdoing it before a race and tiring myself out. I wouldn’t mind but the race isn’t until Sunday and it's only just over a couple of miles but I’m especially scared this time as it’s a team relay so there’s not just myself to think about. I really do need help to get over all these psychological issues I have. Perhaps a hypnotherapist would help? Anybody know a good one?

The weather was horrific tonight and I really didn't want to go out but, as usual, I forced myself and once out felt fine. The weather wasn't too bad until I got up to George's Lane from the Pigeon Tower side and it was awful up there. The clag was down and the hail was hitting my face. It was really windy too so hard to run against. My feet were already soaked at this point as the track up to the Pigeon Tower from the Terraced Gardens was like running through a stream.

When I rounded the bend after the Pike Race gate to the Pike, heading towards the kennels I found myself faced with a mass of water all the way across the path. I don't think I've ever seen so much water there before and it was still coming down really heavily so is probably worse still now.

I spent most of my run wading shin deep which sounds horrid until you think about poor Ruby - my shins are level with her head!

No running tomorrow because, as mentioned above, I’m scared of being too tired for Sunday’s race. Instead I’m planning on going for a nice walk with Ruby and trying out my map and compass skills a bit more.

Total distance - 5.05 miles

Oh Woe Is Me!

I was hoping to get to the club’s hill session tonight but, due to logistical problems, had to give it a miss. I instead took Ruby for a dreaded road run. I wanted to get a decent mileage in over a short period of time, which is why I opted for road. We ran up Factory Hill to George’s Lane and then along to Chorley Old Road. From there we ran to Doffcocker roundabout and then did a right to the traffic lights, then back on ourselves up Old Kiln Lane, back down Chorley Old Road and back along George’s Lane and Factory Hill. At the beginning I was starting to regret my decision to take Ruby on a road run because having her on a short leash is a nightmare. She just pulls and pulls and my shoulder was starting to really hurt. After a while though, she seemed to get used to my command of ‘back’ and started to stay more by my side, but still occasionally trotted out in front. Time to invest in a hands free lead I think.

Total distance – 7.45 miles.


After my run Duncan, Ruby and I went to the Jolly Crofters for our tea. We chose Jolly Crofters because the club had organised a talk by Olympian Steeplechaser, Stuart Stokes, at 8pm so I figured that we would have our tea there and then Duncan could drive home with Ruby and I’d stay for the talk.

The first part of the talk was about nutrition and looking after your body. Stuart quite rightly believes this is the most important thing to get right to become a good athlete. He expressed the importance of not eating unhealthy foods, including wheat, so bread and pasta are off the menu, unless you opt for the wheat free variety. In fact, pretty much anything which tastes good is off the menu! By this point I was feeling incredibly guilty about having just scoffed a plate of chicken tikka masala followed by chocolate fudge cake and accompanied by two glasses of full fat Coke.

He also mentioned that throwing your microwave in the skip, along with your non-stick pans was one of the best things you could do! Not sure how I will cook my porridge at work in the mornings as we only have microwaves, although Ali did suggest I take in my camping stove!

Stuart said that all the changes to diet he was recommending, individually, would only get you a one percent improvement but all those one percents would add up and, before you know it, you would have a twenty percent improvement.

This all got me to thinking… what do I actually want to gain from my running? I started out running just to get fit and so that I could eat chocolate now and then and not feel guilty about it. So do I really want to run AND not eat the chocolate? No way!

He then went on to talk about his training routines. I thought I was doing well at 40 miles per week but it appears everyone else in the club is doing way more than this, a good few running twice per day and getting in over 100 miles per week. I thought that because I’m already in work in Manchester at 7.30am that was a good enough excuse not to run twice a day but it appears that getting up and running at 4.30 in the morning takes place in some households.

I did come away feeling quite bad about myself because my lack of speed is all down to the fact that I don’t put in enough commitment. I want the results, but don’t want to make the effort to get there. I have no one to blame but myself and I'm well aware of this.

Don’t get me wrong, this was a really good talk which I enjoyed and was a great insight into how a pro-athlete goes about their day but Stuart did mention that in all his years of being a pro-athlete, he only enjoyed 32 minute of it!

I feel like I’m obsessing so much about running and race times lately that it’s sucking all the fun out of it and I really don’t want to get to the point where I’m enjoying it so little that I end up giving it up altogether.

It doesn’t help when I find out that the latest member of our ladies team, who has been picked for the A squad at the relays on Sunday, has only been running for a few weeks! How can somebody who has been running for such a short time be so fast and I, who has been running for a good few years, still be plodding along at, at best, a 7.45 minute mile pace? I know a lot of it is down to my lack of doing speed sessions and my eating habits and my psychology (don’t even get me started on that) but I’m pretty sure some of it must be down to genetics and raw talent, mustn’t it?

I think the conclusion from all of this is that if I have to stop eating all the foods I enjoy to become a good runner, I’m happy to stay in the mid-pack. I’ll compromise a little and make some changes, i.e. incorporating more speed sessions into my workouts and improving my core strength. I’ll also try to eat a bit more healthily and stop using my microwave so much. Now there’s a couple of percent…

Walkies!

This week I intended to run Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, miss out Saturday and then race on Sunday. It's going to be a very low mileage week as I'm not going to be able to fit in a long run due to racing on Sunday as I don't want to wear myself out the day before. I was planning on getting in at least 30 miles though but it has already started to go wrong.

I did six miles yesterday and intended to go out again tonight, but for some reason my hamstring is playing up. It's only a slight niggle but I don't want to mess myself up before the relays at weekend. I've never done a relay before and so don't want to let the team down.

I decided to go for a nice walk up on the tops with Ruby instead. We set off from home and went straight up towards George's Lane. En route, Ruby tried to kill Dave Jackson as he was flying down a slope towards us but Ruby was on her extension lead and Dave nearly ran between us both and would have gone flying over the lead. Luckily I was able to warn him in time and he managed to swerve us.

We went up to 2 Lads from George's Lane and then out onto the mast road. At the bottom of the mast road we saw Ruby's old owner, Sean, who was really happy to see her and scooped her up in his arms. Ruby seemed really happy to see him too, but not overly happy to see his other dogs who Ruby wasn't the best of friends with, hence her move to our house.

From there we just headed home via Foxholes.

Hopefully we'll be back running tomorrow but I don't envisage getting much mileage in at all this week. Ah well, it's good to have a rest once in a while (...so why does it make me feel so angry with myself?).

Distracted

When sitting down to write my blog of yesterday’s run, I firstly went on e-bay to try to buy myself a new, cheap camera for running with. I used to use my phone but have recently upgraded to a new one and, as with all fancy new phones, it’s massive and not really something I want to take running with me as it might weight me down. That and I don’t want to damage it.

So the other day I went to Asda and bought a £10 pay as you go phone purely for running with in case of emergency. Thing is, being a £10 phone, it doesn’t have any features other than phoning and texting and it occurred to me that, on my leisurely runs, I sometimes like to stop and take the odd photo or two. I therefore decided to buy a cheap very small camera and thought Ebay would be a good place to start.

I haven’t used the auction side of Ebay for a good few years now and forgot how exciting it can be. I had my sights set on a few Nikon Coolpix cameras all ending within the next twenty minutes so I had each of them open in different windows.

The first one I left until 20 seconds before the end before placing my bid – I was too hasty and got outbid with 5 seconds to spare.

The second and third went a similar way but on my fourth attempt I decided to be extra brave and wait until under 10 seconds remained. I got as far as 8 seconds and then flew in with my maximum bid of £31 and I won! £26 for a Nikon Coolpix S3300. It’s a non-fault customer return so is effectively brand new and has a manufacturer guarantee. The cheapest I have found this camera on the internet is £49.99 and that was for a refurbished one!

I love a good bargain.

Anyway, back to the point… the excitement of Ebay made me completely forget why I had gone on the internet in the first place – to write my blog.

It appears I have been distracted again from this as I haven’t yet mentioned anything about my run. To be honest, it was totally uneventful really.

Total distance – 6 miles.

(P.S. I have manually amended the date of this blog so that it appears on the day the actual run took place, even though I wrote it the next day)

Rain Rain Go Away!

After being caught out in the hail storm yesterday, I went out already in my Inov8 Mistlite over-trousers today as it was throwing it down outside and blowing a gale and I was intending to go up on the tops again.

Not long into my run though my back really started to ache (it’s been playing up for a while but Duncan stole my physio appointment the other day so I now have to wait until tomorrow to get it seen to) so I decided to stay low and we just went along to the top barn, did a loop round Dean Brook and then back along the side of Lower Rivington Reservoir.

I’m by no means a fair weather runner and am out no matter what – hail, sleet, snow, ice, you name it – but I really am getting sick of all this rain at the minute. Ruby isn’t impressed with it either and has to keep stopping to have a shake every five minutes. I wonder if you can buy a dog lightweight breathable running jacket? If not, Dragon’s Den anyone?

It’s been a good week running-wise and I’ve managed to get a good few miles in (although compared to most of my running friends 40 miles is nothing!). Next week won’t be as mile heavy though as I’m not going to be able to fit in a long run. I think I’m due a nice easy week anyway so I’ll be all fresh for the relays next Sunday. My first relay! Scary!

Total distance – 5.05 miles

Week’s total distance – 40.20 miles

Apologies – I Appear to have Rambled on a Bit

I made a decision a couple of days ago that for my long run this weekend, I would do a route out of my ‘West Pennine Walks’ book, one which would take me over ground I haven’t covered before, so that I could try to brush up on some navigation skills. I decided not to take Ruby with me on this run because I wasn’t sure where it would take me and I didn’t want to end up running through fields of cows with her because, as mentioned in an early entry, people have been telling me horror stories about going near cows when with a dog and this has scared me a little bit.

The route I chose (entitled ‘Great Hill – Great Walk’) was down as being 11 miles in the book but it started in Belmont so I decided to get Duncan to drop me off there and then at the end of the run I would get back to Belmont and then go up over the top of Winter Hill back to Horwich so I worked out that it would be around 14 miles.

So Duncan dropped me off in Belmont and I set off along Belmont Reservoir. I went over the dam and then turned left up to Higher Pasture House Farm where I stopped to take a (very poor quality) picture of Winter Hill.

After going through the farm yard, I continued along the path to Lower Pasture Barn Farm, and then straight on until eventually coming out on the road to Tockholes. From here, I turned left and headed to the main road (A675) between Belmont and Abbey Village. I crossed over, ran along a bit to the right and then through the gate on the left and along a track through the moorland. There was a nice track for a while but this then turned into a complete bog which was pretty hard to run through and went on for quite a while. It was whilst following this track that I lost my bearings for the first time. I was supposed to descend to a trial shaft and then turn right by a fence over a stile but I didn’t come to any of this. I did get back onto the same track as the book though as I used my map and navigated to a wall which I followed. I then climbed up to Great Hill which wasn’t as tough as I had expected.

At the top of Great Hill I got my bearings and decided which path I needed to take. I bumped into another runner up on the top and he just so happened to be a navigation expert and he assured me that the path I had chosen was the correct one.

Once I got to Drinkwaters Farm I stopped to take a picture of ‘Joe’s Cup’. For those of you who don’t know, this is a plaque on a wall (see picture) and when some of the bricks in the wall are removed there is an old tin cup which a fell runner (named Joe would you believe) kept there so that he could use it to scoop up some water from the stream whilst out on a run and have a drink.

Just around the corner from Joe’s Cup, I bumped into Ed and John Swift. We had a bit of a natter and then Ed and John were going separate ways, Ed’s way being the same as mine. We headed down towards the quarries and then out to White Coppice. At this point Ed left and went back to Rivington and I continued along to the cricket ground. I walked through here for a bit so I could eat a cereal bar I had brought with me, and I got chatting to a couple with three Labradors. I walked along with them up to White Coppice Farm and then continued on my own. I ran through some farm fields and then out onto a narrow road and then turned off the road and went over a bridge and continued into some woods. I got slightly off track in the woods as the instructions in the book weren’t terribly good at this point but I soon found my way through and up onto the road. I then ran along the road to Jepson’s Gate and made my way to the Bomber Memorial. I was now fully aware of where I was and didn’t need to navigate but still wanted to carry on with the walk in the book, rather than just making my own way. The book took me down to Lead Mines Clough and then up the steep embankment at the other side, out into the farm field. I crossed the field until I got to the track and continued along this to a ruin named ‘Simms’. This is where I made my worst navigational error but, again, it’s because I was trying to make sense of the directions in the book which weren’t at all clear. The book told me to leave the track at this point and head towards a waymaker which was across boggy ground. It then told me to stay parallel with the track I had just left until the path I was on turned sharp right. The thing is, the ‘path’ I was on was just a total bog so it was really difficult to work out which way it went. There was mention of a bridge going over a stream but I think the bridge I went over was the wrong one.

After lots of wading through bogs, I finally made it back to a path that I knew and headed the way I thought I was supposed to. I did eventually get back on track but I had come to the next junction from the opposite direction to which I should have done!

I went past Higher Hempshaws and followed the path towards ‘Will Narr’. I then turned right to come out onto Rivington Road. I ran along the road for about 50 metres and then crossed the stile on the left and ran along the ridge back into Belmont.

Once back at Belmont, I made my way around the Blue Lagoon, which is when the weather started to turn. From here I made my way up to the top of winter Hill along the route of the Belmont Winter Hill Fell race. I was really tired at this point and walked the majority of the hill. The weather got really bad whilst I was climbing with very strong wind and hailstone pelting me all the way up. I started to get a bit worried really because I was moving quite slowly and was worried I’d get too cold. It seemed to take ages to get to the top and the weather was getting worse and worse. By the time I did reach the top I was saturated. My hands were freezing because my gloves were completely soaked.

I got onto the mast road and decided to stay on this for a while because I knew I could get a decent speed up on it and that would hopefully help keep me warm.

I turned off the mast road, cutting the corner down to George’s Lane. From there I went down through Wilderswood. By this point I was really cold. Even though I was running at a good pace my legs were so wet that I was starting to lose feeling in them. The thing is, I had kit with me, including waterproof over trousers but I didn’t want to stop to put these on because the weather was so bad that I thought stopping would just make me get colder even quicker.

I realise now how easy it is when fell running to get cold and get into big trouble. I’m so glad I was wearing decent kit – OMM smock and, surprisingly, my Crane Sports (Aldi) thermal base layer which I must say I actually prefer to my Helly H!

I’ve never been so glad to walk through my front door but my hands were so numb I struggled to get my key out of my bag, put it in the lock and turn it. Once I managed to get through the door, all I wanted to do was strip out of my soaking clothes but, again, due to numb hands, I couldn’t undo my laces to get my shoes off. Nobody was home to help me so I had to struggle for ages to get them undone. When I finally managed to get my shoes off, I stripped off there and then, right inside my front door as I couldn’t keep the wet clothes on any longer - good job the postman didn't turn up at this point as we have a glass panel next to the front door! I was really shivering and threw all my clothes onto the floor - my leggins even made a huge 'splosh' sound as they landed - and ran upstairs and straight into the shower. The warm water of the shower actually hurt my freezing cold hands which wasn’t very pleasant at all.

I’m now sat on the couch having just devoured a tin of hot soup with four slices of bread but I’m still struggling a bit to get warm, despite having turned my heating up to 24 degrees.

It really does show how dangerous it can be out there.

Total distance – 15.85 miles

Twice as Nice

I had a day off work today as I had to drive Duncan to the hospital for his follow up appointment at 8.45am. My body clock was still in work mode though and I was lying awake staring at the ceiling at 5.30. By 6.15 I thought I might as well go out for a run and make the most of the morning.

There was still some slushy snow on the ground when we set off and it was a bit slippery crossing Cotswold Drive. We ran down to the school and then along to top barn. From there we just did a bit of a loop down Sheephouse Lane and then back up to top barn and back home again. It wasn’t a very long run but I didn’t have much time before having to set off for the hospital.

It was a really nice run though as there wasn’t another human being in sight. We did pass a group of deer though, some rabbits, squirrels and possibly a hare. I say possibly because I didn’t think we had hares round here as I have never seen one before but, if it wasn’t a hare, it was one HUGE rabbit!

Obviously Ruby tried to chase them all!

Distance – 4.1 miles



As this morning’s run was a bit of a short one and as I was off work, I decided to go out again this afternoon. We set off just after 3pm and again ran towards top barn. From there we ran over to Pigeon Tower car park and then up to the Pigeon Tower via the steep rocky road (I think this is actually the bottom of George’s Lane). The weather up on the top of George’s Lane was dreadful, blowing a gale and throwing down. Made me realise how good my OMM smock is though. We stuck to George’s Lane today and just ran to Factory Hill, down and then across Brinks Row and back home. Nothing exciting to report on this run really but, again, I didn’t pass anyone else whilst I was out.

Distance – 4.95 miles

Total distance – 9.05 miles


Oh and, by the way, Duncan’s follow up appointment went well. He was told that he can drive again and can get back out mountain biking.

Tripping Hazard

I was due to see Maria tonight for some physio but Duncan ‘stole’ my appointment as apparently his need is greater than mine. Anyone would think he’d just had a hip replacement or something!

As he isn’t driving yet, I had to take him up to George’s Lane for his appointment so I decided to incorporate this into my run. Not wanting to get full of mud again I decided, begrudgingly, on a road run, taking me along George’s Lane to Chorley Old Road, up to Bob’s Smithy then right down Old Kiln Lane. At the bottom of Old Kiln we then headed back to Chorley Old Road via Doffcocker Roundabout. From there we just went back down to George’s Lane and along to Maria’s.

I thought this would only be about 4 miles but it turned out to be 5.25 which was good as we got back just as Duncan was leaving his appointment.

This is my first proper run on a road with Ruby and, whilst it was nice that she wasn’t pulling the entire time, she seems to not be able to run in a straight line and spent the entire run drifting into my path.

My shoulder is really sore now from trying to keep her to my side to avoid tripping over her, although this did happen… twice. Luckily nobody was around to point and laugh.

Total distance – 5.25 miles.

The Hardest Part of Running…

…is getting out of the front door.

This was so true tonight when I got home from work and it was throwing it down outside and I wanted nothing more than to curl up on the settee with my dog, cat and Duncan with a nice cup of tea and watch the TV.

The good thing about dog ownership is that you are forced to go out no matter how much you don’t want to and, to be honest, once I was out the door I really enjoyed my run.

The weather was awful though, especially up on the tops where it was blowing a gale. I didn’t even know it was windy until I got up onto George’s Lane.

One thing I realised when I got home is that, in my entire five mile run, I didn’t pass a single other person – great news as Ruby was well behaved for the entire run and didn’t try to chase anything – which brings me back to Sunday’s question of how do most dogs get their exercise on bad weather days?

The highlight of tonight’s run came on our way back home when we ran down from George’s Lane along the path to the west of Wilderswood. I noticed some eyes staring at us through the trees and thought it was sheep at first as I have seen some around there before but then two deer ran across the path right in front of us, only about 3 metres ahead, and joined the other staring eyes. I counted five of them altogether. I tried to get a picture of the glowing eyes but unfortunately the camera on my phone wasn’t good enough.

So all in all, I was pretty glad we went out tonight. Getting out of the door was definitely the hardest part.

Total distance – 5 miles

Such a Perfect Day… or is it?

Today was glorious. It was my ideal weather for running – beautifully sunny but not hot. It was just the right temperature and there was no need for my usual buff and gloves.

The only problem with this was that it meant there were a LOT of other dogs around and Ruby managed to snap a whippet on the nose before I had chance to drag her out of the way. Poor thing yelped really loud and I found myself, yet again, having to apologise to the owners for Ruby’s behaviour.

Whilst on the subject of all these dogs that were out and about today, what I’d like to know is how these dogs get their exercise on rainy days? I barely see any walkers out with their dogs in bad weather but there are so many in good weather. No wonder there are so many fat dogs around. That’s definitely not the case with my Ruby who really enjoyed running along in the sun today.

We ran from home along to top barn and from there went down Sheephouse Lane and turned off right through the kissing gate, through the field, down the steps and along Dean Brook. We carried on up the private road which then takes you out into a field at the top. This is the reverse of the route Pauline took me on yesterday from Lead Mines Clough. I wanted to try it out whilst it was still fresh so that I would remember it for future. It’s quite difficult doing the reverse of a route though, as it looks totally different going the other way. This wasn’t helped by the fact that it was all farm fields with no discernible path so you didn’t know whereabouts on the other side of the field the stile would be to get you out of it. We made our way through fine though, however I had to pick Ruby up and carry her over three stiles as there was no dog access, which resulted in me getting covered in mud.

We came out onto the road by Lead Mines Clough and then ran along for a bit before continuing along the other side of Yarrow Reservoir back into Rivington. From here we skirted Rivington Reservoir towards Liverpool Castle and then back home via the road at the side of Rivington and Blackrod School.

It was such a beautiful day I couldn't help but stop and take the odd picture. Sorry for not taking my athleticism seriously!

View of Winter Hill across Yarrow Reservoir.

Total distance – 7 miles

Weeks total distance - 37.2 miles

‘We Fall Down But We Get Up Again’.

That’s the name of the group I ran with this morning. I try to get out with them as often as possible for my long run of the week, as I really enjoy our outings. I can’t take Ruby with me though as she has a habit of tripping people up when we run with others.

As a bit of background, the WFDBWGUA group describes themselves as:

‘…a small ill-defined group of mostly geriatric runners who share a love of the fells. It also covers a sub-group, best described as drinkers with a running problem, who struggle to combine dwindling athletic ability with an increasing thirst for cheap alcohol. A sort of "Last of the Summer Whine" (sic) in Walshes…’


Along for the ride today were myself, Ed Swift, John Swift, Rachel Swift, John Coope, Kev Latham and Pauline Charters. I feel it’s time to point out that two of these guys are over 70 years old, one nearer 80! If that’s not impressive, I don’t know what is! A few weeks ago I ran all the way to Darwen Tower and back, over the tops, with the 78 year old - a total of over 14 miles!

We met up at the ‘UTUP’ and climbed straight up to the Pike. From there we ran back down to George’s Lane, along to the kennels and up to Two Lads. It was pretty fresh up there and you can get cold really easily so I did a few laps around one of the cairns whilst waiting for the group to all get to the top.

At this point John Swift (young John) went his separate way. The rest of us set off toward the quarries and to the Trespass Stone. For anyone not in the know, this is a commemorative stone in memory of the people of Bolton who took place in the mass trespass which took place on Winter Hill in 1896 in the fight to reclaim their right of way. The way things are going on Winter Hill at the minute, history may well repeat itself!

From the Trespass Stone we went up to the trig point on Winter Hill and from there dropped down to Belmont Road where John Coope (John the Elder) and Kev returned to the barn.

Now down to four, we set off along Belmont Road and out onto Rivington Road. We ran along the road a little before turning off at Hordern Stoops and headed cross-country to Lead Mines Clough.

One thought I had whilst running towards Lead Mines Clough was that I really need to work on my strength. There are people I run in the fells with who are much stronger than me and much better climbers but, if I was up against them in a 5 or 10k road race, I would leave them for dust. I’ve never really thought about that before but it has told me that I really need to do more strength training and squats to build up that much needed leg muscle.

Once in Lead Mines Clough Pauline and I decided to go up to Bomber Memorial before setting off back to the barn. Ed and Rachel left us at this point and headed back.

After leaving Lead Mines Clough Pauline took me along a route I haven’t been along before, through a field which brought us out onto the private road along ‘Dean Brook’. From here we made our way back to our cars at the barn, where we arrived just after Ed and Rachel.

It’s such a pleasure running with these guys, they’re so interesting and full of knowledge of the fells and life in general. I learn all sorts of new routes and really enjoy the great company.

Bring on the next one!

Total distance – 12 miles

To the Hills…

I decided to get off my backside and go to the club hill session this evening as I’ve been dodging it a lot lately in favour of running with Ruby. Don’t worry, Ruby still got to go out, just not for a run. Duncan took her on a nice walk instead.

I ran down from home to the junction of Foxholes and Factory Hill where I met a couple of lads from the club and did a bit of a warm up with them. This was probably not the best idea I’ve ever had, seeing as their warm up pace was my race pace but, hey, in for a penny…

We then met up with Steve, hereinafter referred to as ‘coach’ and the rest of the group. Coach told us the plan for the evening – effort up Factory Hill to the cottages, a bit of a rest there, then effort all the way to Geroge’s Lane. Nice recovery along to and down Foxholes, then effort again up Chorley Old Road to George’s Lane. Along George’s Lane back down Foxholes. A figure of eight really. The ‘A’ group were to try to do three of these, the ‘B’ group two and the ‘C’ group – that’s me – one and half.

So off I set up Factory Hill. It started off well and I remember thinking that I was keeping up with Lindsey and Maria… for about two minutes, then they left me for dust.

I felt good as far as the cottages, which is where coach caught up with me (I had a bit of a head start on him). I then started to struggle a bit en route up to George’s Lane but coach waited for me at the top of Foxholes for our recovery run back down. Part way down, we passed Ed (the unready) on his way up.

On the way down, rather worryingly, I got the pain in my side that I’ve been getting a lot recently when running downhill. I have noticed that I only seem to get it when I run with my bum bag on so I’m not sure if it has anything to do with the restrictive nature of having something tight round my waist but it only happens when running down hill and it really takes my breath away. I usually have to stop when it happens and double over for a minute.

We then set off up Chorley Old Road where coach went ahead of me and said he would wait once he got to George’s Lane. I felt OK going up COR but I was only plodding at a steady pace really and didn’t feel I had much energy to go faster. I reached coach at the end of George’s Lane and we set off towards Foxholes. We passed Ed again on the way.

When we got near to the stables coach made me get a wiggle on and sprint to the lamppost before Foxholes. I was feeling pretty tired but managed to get a good effort in. It’s funny because if I had been on my own there’s no way I would have been able to sprint at that point but because coach told me to, I really pushed hard.

We then went back down Foxholes and when we got to the bottom, coach decided we should do another trip up Factory Hill all the way to George’s Lane and back down Foxholes. I was knackered by this point but, again, I was being pushed by coach so felt obliged to continue when really I wanted to wimp off home up dog poo alley. Half way to the cottages coach got me to sprint again all the way to the cottages. Surprisingly, I felt OK at this point but was happy for the rest when we reached the cottages. After a bit of a rest, we then did another sprint to the corner at Brinks Row. I felt a bit more tired at that point, but still not too bad. We then continued up to George’s Lane and I REALLY started to struggle, to the point where I was shuffling along rather than running (for those who don’t know, this is a very steep hill!). Coach then said we had to do one last sprint up to George’s Lane. There was no way I thought I could do that but, again, as coach was pushing and pushing, I tried really hard. It was painful and I felt like my calves were going to explode but I made it and then kept going along to the top of Foxholes. That was it, all the effort over. Just a nice jog back down Foxholes and it was time to go home. We bumped into Maria and ran down with her where, again, we passed Ed on his way up. He must have been doing his own hill repeats in the opposite direction.

From the bottom I then jogged home up dog poo alley and am now sat on the couch drinking a well deserved glass of wine.

That was one hell of a tough session but I’m really glad coach pushed me out of my comfort zone rather than just letting me plod out the hills. I found it really painful but know how much benefit it was.

Coach told me that once a week I should do a short session involving three 300-400 metre hills which I have to go up at speed. I’ll try to incorporate that into my training. Hope Ruby is up for it.

Total distance – 6.2 miles

Poo!

After failing to get to work today due to some ‘equipment’ fault with the trains (them all being cancelled), I worked from home instead and so managed to get in a nice decent length run in daylight.

Before the run though, I had the TV on whilst I worked and there is a really annoying advert on at the minute. It’s by ‘Change 4 Life’ which appears to be some kind of NHS/government set up trying to get people to change to a healthy lifestyle. The problem I have with it though is that it is telling people to swap their sugary fizzy drinks for sugar-free alternatives. I find this to be incredibly bad advice, seeing as the sugar free alternatives are full of all sorts of chemicals which are far worse for you than sugar. The advert winds me up every time I see it. I’m so sick of the government telling us what we should and shouldn’t do. People will eat and drink what they like. Deal with it!

Anyway, back to the run (there seems to be a rant in this blog most days). We went down towards Rivington & Blackrod School and Ruby ‘did her business’ on the pavement. Being a goody two shoes, I bagged it up and went on my merry way. How annoying it was that, despite there being signs all over the place telling you to pick up your dog poo, there are very few bins around to put it in. I ran all the way from the School around the edge of the reservoir, past Go Ape, and to the prep school before I found a bin! And they wonder why people just discard the poo bags all over the place. Which brings me to my next rant – why pick up the poo if you’re then going to leave it lying around in the bag? At least if you just leave the poo it will wash away in the rain but bagged up it will be there for a very long time. Idiots.

There really is a lot of anger going on here today and I haven’t even ranted about the fact that the trains weren’t running!

From the prep school we ran past the bowling club, along the side of Yarrow reservoir, out onto the road, down towards Anglezarke car park and then back along towards the dam and back up onto the lane which takes you back to the bowling club. We then ran up to the top barn and along the track back to Rivington & Blackrod School, then home.

Not much to tell about the run itself, it was just a nice steady pace as I was feeling a little tired today from being sat on my couch with a laptop since just after 7.00 this morning.

Total distance – 7 miles.

Racing The Sun

Tonight’s run was a little earlier than usual as I got out of work early. We left home at about 3.45 and headed straight up to George’s Lane. From there we went up the Pike, back down, to the Pigeon Tower, down the slippery slope to the path below, up through the terraced gardens, back to the Pigeon Tower and along George’s Lane back home.

Although I had my head torch in my bum bag, I decided to challenge myself to get home before it got dark which meant really getting a wiggle on.

It has made me realise that I might not be trying hard enough in races. When I was running through the terraced garden, uphill towards George’s Lane, I looked at my Garmin which was showing an 8.15 minute mile pace and, whilst this isn’t quite as fast as my race pace (8 min mile), I felt really comfortable and was initially surprised to see that I was running at this pace up hill. I held this pace for about three miles and still felt comfortable and that if I had been in a race I would have been able to go quite a bit faster.

Why then do I not feel this good when I’m racing? Is it all in the head? Maybe I struggle to get out of my comfort zone? I do find that I’m always able to finish a race with a sprint finish which makes me think I’m not putting in enough effort during the rest of the race if I still have this much energy let at the end. Plus, when I cross the line, even though I’m out of breath and I have to double over for a few seconds, I recover really quickly so maybe I haven’t pushed hard enough?

Whatever it is, I’m going to work hard to try to overcome it and get to a place where I’m racing well and getting more and more PBs in.

I’ve agreed to take part in a relay with the Harriers in March so I really want to improve by then so I don’t let my team mates down and make them proud.

Total distance – 5 miles

Around Anglezarke

Not much to report about today’s long run really. Legs were quite tired but I managed to keep up with Ruby for the whole run.

As the title says, we ran around Anglezarke Reservoir. There’s a bit before getting out at Watermans Cottage which I really think would benefit from traffic lights. The amount of times we had to pull over for cyclists and other runners/walkers was ridiculous and it’s not like it was even a beautiful weather day.

Ruby enjoyed herself and we got home after just over 12 miles. As usual we jumped in the shower but, bizarrely, when we got out Ruby ran straight to the front door wagging her tail hoping to go back out again. WE HAD DONE OVER 12 MILES!!!!! How has she got so much energy?

Also, how come Ruby runs that distance but never drinks any water?

Total distance – 12.15 miles

Week’s total distance – 26.80 miles (+ warm up/cool down at XC) - must try harder next week!

Mid Lancs XC – Barrow

After umming and ahhing about what shoes to wear for this race – spikes or fell shoes – I eventually opted for the spikes, based on another Horwich Harrier betting me I would do much better in them. I was a bit worried about wearing them because I have never worn spikes before and was concerned that the lack of support/cushioning in them would make me end up injured.

Today was full of highs and lows really and I have had a lot of mixed feelings. Let me explain.

I had a good start and felt quite comfortable on the first loop round (the ladies race consisted of two large laps). It was quite a short but tough race and was very muddy underfoot in places and I did feel like the spikes were of benefit as I felt much lighter on my feet and didn’t find the mud as hard to trudge through as usual.

Just after the first lap, one of the Horwich men shouted ’26!’ to me as I passed so I thought this meant that I was the 26th lady, somewhere I have NEVER been before. This got my engine revving and I was determined not to lose any places because this was better than I had ever done before. During the last loop I was passed three times, however, I passed one back and then got the other two right on the finish line. Therefore, in my head, I finished in 26th place. I crossed the line pretty much at the same time as another girl and one of the time keepers said ‘two at 35!’ as we came through, so by this I assumed we were in joint 35th place but that this included the U17 boys so when these were taken away I would be at the 26th place I thought I was at.

Later on I asked an official how many were in the race and he said 92 but, again, that included the U17 boys and he didn’t know how many ladies there were.

I was euphoric. I had come 26th out of around 80 ladies. Top third. Somewhere I have never been.

I continued to believe this until I googled the results in the car on the way home. Deflated is not the word. I came 40th out of 78th. Thing is, this is still a good result for me – almost top half of a field of serious runners – but the fact that I thought I had done exceptionally well, when really I had just done well, made me feel terrible. I could have cried and probably would have done had I been alone.

On the plus side though, this has made me really determined to train hard. The euphoric feeling I felt when I thought I had come 26th has made me want that to actually happen so much that I just want to train and train and train until it does.

I’m no longer happy to be a midpack runner, I want to move on up.

Watch this space!

Total distance – 2.75 miles (is that all!) + warm up/cool down

Ruby's Snack

A good stress relieving run was in order today to get rid of the anger caused by my train journey home full of selfish people. Why do Apple insist on manufacturing absolute piece of garbage headphones that enable the entire carriage to listen to some terrible music? Isn’t the whole purpose of headphones so that the user can keep their music to themselves instead of inflicting it on all around? Seriously every single day I sit on the train and have to listen to somebody else’s music and usually it’s utter rubbish pop drivel. Thing is, you always know who the culprit is by the mere fact that their headphones are white.

Deep breath… and relax…

Back to our run…

I wanted to get a good few miles in today seeing as it’s only the second day I have run this week and I won’t be running again now until Saturday, meaning that I’ll have only had four days of running all week.

We set off from home down to Rivington & Blackrod School, then off towards top barn. From there we went out onto Sheephouse Lane, to the bowling club and then up past Yarrow Reservoir before dropping down to the road and onto The Street. We ran along The Street, onto Horrobin Lane and then back up to top barn and back home again.

The rain was torrential the entire time and we were soaked to the bone by the time we got home.

To be honest, boring as that is, it’s all I have to say about today’s run. It was really uneventful and right now I’m anxious to start watching the Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin so, quite frankly, can’t be bothered writing anymore.

Just one question before I sign off though… is it normal for my dog to eat horse poo?

Total distance – 6.85 miles

Bad Dog!

Well it was back to the head torch today after two weeks of being able to run in daylight. Is it just me or does anybody else find it really hard work to get out the door for a solo head torch run? I’m really not keen, probably because my mind starts playing tricks on me and, in my head, all those glowing sheep eyes are actually goblins waiting to eat me.

Speaking of sheep, this brings me to the reason for today’s title. We set off from home down towards Rivington and Blackrod School and then did the Pike Race route up to the Pike. The farm fields were full of sheep and Ruby was going mental trying to get at them. I had her on the lead an no matter how many times I yanked her back, yelled at her, got hold of her face and yelled at her eye to eye, she just would not stop trying to go after them. It’s so infuriating. You’d think that being yanked about and yelled at so much she would get the hint that it’s not OK to attack sheep. It’s for her own good - I don’t want her being shot by an angry farmer! If only I could speak dog and tell her that.

After leaving the Pike we headed along to the Pigeon Tower and then turned left straight after it, down the steep muddy slope. When I’m not running with Ruby I love going down this hill as downhill running is what I’m best at. However, with Ruby there are two problems with going down a steep hill at speed, namely:

1. She stops dead right in front of me, causing me to trip over her and go face first down the hill.

2. She does the exact opposite and runs really fast, causing me to lunge forward when the extension lead reaches its maximum length, making me fall onto either my backside or my face and slide down the hill.

Still I suppose falling down the hill might be a quicker way of getting to the bottom?

From the bottom of the slippery slope we climbed back up, zig-zagging back to the Pigeon Tower. We then ran back home along Georges Lane and down Factory Hill in a desperate attempt to get Ruby to dry off and run off some of the mud she had accumulated so I wouldn’t have to get her in the shower again when we got home.

This didn’t happen – she was filthy.

Total distance – 5.05miles.

No Beep Beep for us

I woke up this morning and, for the first time in about two years, decided I wanted to do a road run. My pure and simple reason for this is that I really didn’t want to have to bath Ruby again when we got back so I figured if we went for a road run she would stay reasonably clean.

I didn’t want to run on busy roads so set off from mine, down dog poo alley and then up Factory Hill. It wasn’t until I was on Factory Hill that I realised how icy it was (hadn’t noticed the ice all over the car when I passed it on the drive!). After me slipping three times and my four leg drive companion slipping twice, I decided to go home via Brinks Row.

A quick change of shoes later and we were back out again and where we belong – on the trails!

We went straight up onto George’s Lane and the along towards the Pike. We went past the first gate to the Pike and along to the old toilet block. When we got there, the gate had been knocked down. It didn’t look like wind had done it but more like somebody had rammed it down.

We went up the Pike avoiding the steps as they were really icy. We then went straight back down, onto George’s Lane and up to 2 Lads by the side of the kennels. I was feeling pretty strong this morning so it was frustrating that Ruby kept stopping dead in front of me and breaking my stride. Equally frustrating was that she decided to pick up the pace on the way back down, nearly dragging me down on my backside. For a small dog she is remarkably strong and really pulls, especially if she sees another animal.

From there we headed back home through Wilderswood and, when we got there, hopped straight into the shower – both of us.

Moral of the story – road running sucks!

Total distance – 6.3 miles

Week’s total distance - 37.2 miles

Canals, Bikes and Unfit Boys

As Duncan announced this morning that he was driving out to the now closed Bridge 63 pub to have a bike ride along the canal with his mate, Iain, I decided to tag along and go for a run. I got them to drop me and Ruby off near Suzannah's restaurant though in Blackrod because I thought that, seeing as we were running and they were on bikes, we wouldn't be able to cover as much distance in the same time so would need a head start.

I was wrong.

We ran down from Suzannah's to the canal and then along to Bridge 63 pub, this was around 1.8 miles. I saw our car parked up there and so carried on along the canal in the direction of Haigh Hall. About 0.2 of a mile along from the pub I passed them!

I can forgive Duncan for this as he had a hip replacement five weeks ago and this was his first time out on a bike since and probably only his fifth bike ride since his accident six years ago. Iain, however, has no excuse other than many many years of a very sedentary lifestyle and lots of junk food.

We passed them with ease and carried on going, past the bridge to Haigh Hall. We turned round when I knew that it would be at least five miles by the time we got back to Bridge 63.

Once back at Bridge 63, Duncan and Iain had just finished their ride - they made it to Bridge number 61!!!! I don't think they even covered a mile! Ah well, as they say at Tesco, every little helps!

Total distance - 5.4 miles

Diggers and Bras

We set off today with only one goal in mind – hills! We’ve been avoiding them for most of this week so it was time to get back up there and so off we went from home straight up to 2 Lads. Unusually, I was feeling really good at this point. I say unusually because most times when I go straight up from home I’m totally knackered before I even hit George’s Lane. I made the decision that if I still felt good once I got up the Pike I’d make this my long run which I would usually do on a Saturday. It turns out I was feeling good on top of the Pike, so much so that when I ran down it I decided to go back up again.

There was a Land Rover parked on the road up to the Pike at the gate to the path to the mast and there was a sign up saying ‘danger plant machinery’. In the distance, on the way to the mast, was a digger. No idea what UU are up to now but I wouldn’t be surprised if they ban us from running over there too.

We dropped down onto Georges Lane, to the Pigeon Tower, and then continued along Belmont Road. At the far side of Belmont Road, before coming out onto Rivington Road, I passed through the gate where I found a bra hanging from the fence! Not really something one just loses when out and about in the country like a glove or hat.

We then ran along Rivington Road a bit towards Dangerous Corner, but then turned off towards what I only know as being called ‘Old Rachael’. The path we followed leads through farmland and eventually comes out into Lead Mines Clough. From here we ran up to Bomber Memorial then back down again, through Leads Mines Clough and out towards Yarrow Reservoir. We then ran along the side of Yarrow back towards Rivington, to the top barn and then home.

Whilst running through the farmland before Lead Mines Clough I started to get a bit anxious as many times when I’ve run this way there has been a herd of cows. I’ve never been bothered about cows before but recently people keep telling me stories about cow tramplings and that these are sometimes triggered by dogs. I haven’t run amongst cows with Ruby before and I got to thinking – how fast do cows run? Could I outrun one? Luckily I didn’t need to find out as there were no cows, just a lot of sheep which Ruby wanted to chase but thankfully I kept her on the lead. You’d think after being yelled at that much and yanked back she would learn but alas, no!

Total distance – 11.1 miles

Ruby the Bodyguard?

No running for us today as I thought I’d give my quads and hamstrings a well deserved rest and I’m sure Ruby needs the odd day off too. Instead, I drove to Jepson’s Gate and we went for a walk around Lead Mines Clough in the beautiful sunshine.

We went up to the Bomber Memorial and then carried on up, following the path by the edge of the farm which then takes you out to a waterfall a good way down. Whilst walking along this path I passed two blokes who, whilst were probably very nice people and did say hello to me, looked a little bit dodgy. This got me thinking – would Ruby be an effective deterrent for any would-be attacker? She’s only little but would the mere fact that she has teeth scare someone enough to leave me alone? Answers on a postcard please.

We continued on across the bridge over the waterfall and then made our way over the fields before dropping back down into Lead Mines Clough, where I got chatting to a nice 71 year old gentleman who, sadly, had recently lost his wife to cancer. Ruby really took a shine to him as he fed her a digestive biscuit… which again got me thinking – could any would-be attacker just hand Ruby a biscuit to get her off their case? Probably!

Perhaps I should trade her in for an Alsatian or a Doberman…


…not a chance!

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a good celebration last night and would like to wish you all the best for 2014!

Despite a few glasses of wine and champagne last night I was feeling surprisingly well this morning and so Duncan and I took Ruby to the ‘beach’ at Rivington Reservoir to play ball.

By about 3.20pm I was starting to feel anxious to go for a run, even though I had today down as a rest day. I just felt that I wanted to start the year as I meant to go on. As my quads and hamstrings are quite tight at the minute, I decided to just do another easy run on the flat.

Whilst a largely unremarkable run, it had the desired effect of easing the guilt of all the food and drink I’ve been consuming lately. The highlight of the session, however, had to be a rather trendy girl in a white faux fur coat and light coloured Ugg boots trying to get across a very muddy section of trail in Rivvy, not helped by Ruby splashing her way through in very close proximity.

We just about managed to get home before it got too dark and I again had to throw Ruby in the shower. It’s becoming daily now so hopefully she will start to take it for granted soon. She’s a good girl really and, whilst you can tell she’s not overly keen on it, she doesn’t scrabble about and just takes it in her stride.

I was hoping to get out with the WFDBWGUA group tomorrow morning but unfortunately I have to take Duncan down to the health centre at 9.30 so won’t be able to make it. I’ll try to make it for Saturday’s run though.

As for the year ahead, hopefully my running times will continue to improve and I’ll get more confident with my navigation skills.

Here’s to a great 2014!

Total distance – 4.1 miles