Week 21 - Strong but also weak!

Monday, 21 May




After not doing a right lot last week, I started off the day with a 3.3 mile run, followed by a strength and conditioning session. 






My run was hard work and my calves felt pretty tight, probably from all the standing around yesterday at the Manchester half marathon and 10k.  I just parked up on Horrobin Lane and ran along the Street, then turned right onto Knowsley Lane and followed this, turning off towards Lead Mines Clough.  I didn't go into Lead Mines Clough though and turned right onto the track along the side of Yarrow Reservoir before dropping down to the Dean Clough.  I ran along the side of Dean Clough then up the steps, across the field and out onto Sheephouse Lane.  If I went back to the van from here, I wouldn't get three miles in so I ran out toward the barn, turning right down to the prep school and then back to the van on Horrobin Lane.






Suitably warmed up, I did an hour's S&C session which felt really good. 


Total distance - 3 miles








Wednesday, 23 May




I walked Ruby straight after work tonight and then my brother came round to go riding with Duncan but had to wait an hour for Duncan to get home from work so I took that opportunity of getting him to dog-sit whilst I went for a quick run...




...at least it would have been a quick run if I hadn't kept stopping to chat to everyone.  I only did 3.3 miles but was out over forty minutes! 




To be honest, I was glad of the excuses to stop as I was really struggling with my run and felt very sluggish.  I was the same on Monday, maybe it's because I've started back at the gym after a couple of months of injury and my legs are tired.  Hopefully just temporary. 

Total distance - 3.3 miles




Thursday, 24 May


I hit the gym again this morning for another S&C session.  I was feeling pretty strong today and it showed as I got a huge PB in my 'sit to stand'.  In the past, I have been able to get up easily off my right leg when the bench is at the lowest setting, but not my left leg.  Today, not only did I get up off my left leg, I also did it consecutive times whilst holding a 5kg weight!  I was over the moon as it's a massive improvement for me.  On my right leg I was holding a 10kg weight.  It was really hard work and I made a lot of grunting noises but it feels great having made such good progress. 








Friday, 25 May


I went to altitude spin this evening with Kath and Aiden.  I haven't been in ages and I was dreading it now that it's really warm out.  The spin chamber can become like a greenhouse if the sun is shining through into it.  Thankfully, the sun stayed away this evening, although it was still a pretty hot session.  I managed to bag quite an easy bike though which is nice because, strange as this may seem, I actually get a better workout on an easier bike.  The hard ones are so hard that I can't physically keep up the RPM I'm supposed to be doing so I don't feel like I burn as many calories because I'm not going as fast. 




Saturday, 26 May


Before marshalling the Ian Hesketh Memorial Duathlon, I parked up in Rivington and went for a run.  It was, again, painfully hard work.  I still had nothing in my legs. Hope this is just temporary and once I get used to the weights sessions again my running improves. 


I went up the Pike, where it was horrendously windy, resulting in my cap blowing off my head and me having to chase it uphill when I was already struggling to run up there.  After the Pike, I zigzagged around the terraced gardens, down to the car park underneath the Pigeon Tower.  I then ran down the road towards the campsite, turning off on the footpath and along to Dean Brook, which I ran alongside back into Rivington.


Total distance - 5 miles

Week 20 - Perspective

On Wednesday night this week I took up my position of time keeper for the Horwich RMI Harriers Jubilee Race and Junior Street Races. 

 

Watching all the runners coming over the finish line made me feel a bit down about my own running at the minute.  I know I’ve been getting out much more these last few weeks but I am still getting foot pain.  It’s not enough to cause a problem running but I’m aware it’s there and it’s causing me to worry about the future and whether continuing to run is going to result in real issues with my feet in later years.  There’s nothing I can actually do about it either other than ease it by wearing decent footwear like Hokas. 

 

I keep looking into other activities which are kinder to feet but nothing floats my boat the same way as running.  Running is just so simple!  I don’t mean that it’s easy, it’s really hard work, I mean that it is something you can do whenever and wherever.  As long as you have a pair of running shoes you can be on your way.

 

Swimming just bores me.  I’d probably quite like it if I was fortunate enough to have my own pool in my back garden but the idea of going down to the leisure centre trying to dodge round all the other people there just isn’t appealing.  Plus the scenery never changes.  ‘Wild’ swimming is much more appealing but it’s not something you can do all the time like running is. 

 

Cycling is OK but it’s just not as convenient as running.  For a start, I won’t road ride except for on VERY quiet roads which there aren’t many of by me.  Sheephouse Lane just seems like pure hell, not because of the climb but because of the amount of cars speeding along it.  Off-road riding is good fun but it’s hard to find a decent bridleway network by me and I find myself doing the same route again and again which gets a bit tedious.  As for travelling further afield, I’m not confident on anything too technical so I have to find routes which aren’t too rocky.  Most of the blue routes at trail centres are pretty short but I want to get decent distance in as I’m all about endurance.  There are a few long routes I’d like to do, for example the Kielder loop, but they involve travelling a good distance and overnight stops so they’re not something you can do as simply and easily as putting your shoes on and going for a run.

 

Lastly, I’m still toying with buying a kayak/canoe.  I’ve really enjoyed doing this in the past but, again, how often would I actually go out on it if I bought one?  It would probably just end up turning green on top of my garage roof.

 

I know this sounds like a bunch of excuses but the truth is, running is the only form of hobby/exercise I’ve ever stuck at.  To lose it would be a big disappointment to me as it’s my life now and has been for the past 13 years. 

 

All of this was, however, put into perspective on Thursday evening when I bumped into a friend who, about eight months ago, suffered a major stroke at the young age of 46.  He's now getting around in a wheelchair, having been pretty active before the stroke.  My complaining about running suddenly felt pretty petty.  I guess we should be grateful for what we have as you never know what's around the corner.  Obviously I'm still sad about my own problems, that's not just going to go away, but I should be grateful that I'm still physically able to do all the activities I have made excuses for above.

 

 

Tuesday, 15 May

 

I had a coached strength and conditioning session this morning, having decided that my muscles are turning to mush because I haven’t done any S&C for eight weeks now due to my pulled muscle and/or cracked rib.  It STILL hasn’t healed, which is possibly my own fault because I haven’t stopped exercising. 

 

Usually when I have coached sessions, Dave has already written out my training plan and then goes through the exercises with me, however today he just came out with a blank piece of paper as he wanted to try out various exercises to see which didn’t cause ne any chest pain. 

 

We started with some work on the hoops, doing double leg and single leg squats. 

 

Next I did face pulls and an exercise (which I’m sure has a proper name but right now it escapes me) which involves being in a squat position, with a forward lean and pulling down a bar on a cord – I really haven’t explained that very well! 

 

After that we moved on to my favourite – the slide board.  I did backward lunge slides and a super set of inner thigh slides (again probably has a more technical name than that). 

 

Then it was onto the barbell.  I did barbell step ups with a superset of single leg dead lifts. 

 

The penultimate exercise was the low row (at least I think that’s what it’s called).

 

Finally, it was the reverse leg press. 

 

It felt really good to get back into it but I wish this chest pain would go away so I can get back to my actual workout, which is much harder but much more rewarding. 




Friday, 18 May


Another coached S&C session today with Dave, again starting out with a blank sheet of paper.  Today's session comprised of:


Y's, W's and T's on the hoops - that probably doesn't mean much to you but they are all exercises which use a good deal of core strength.


Leg press followed by glute raises. 


'Landmine' side to side rotations with a superset of 'landmine' squats.


Barbell overhead push ups with swinging weights, followed by single arm rotations. 


Single leg sit to stand (very tough!!!).




Saturday, 19 May


We had an impromptu camping trip last night, staying at a campsite in Tosside with a view to going on an early bike ride this morning at Gisburn Forest.  The plan was to get there really early so that I could do the blue trail before it got to busy (as I was worried about having a queue of people trying to get past me whilst I clamped my brakes on riding downhill) and then Duncan would ride the red route after I had finished so that one of us was always with Ruby. 


The first mile of the trail was like hell on earth!  It was just full of tight (to me anyway) switchback berms and I was terrified that I wouldn't get round them and would end up sailing over the top.  I really was pathetic and nearly spat my dummy out and went back down.  I didn't though and continued which was the best decision as the rest of the route was really nice and enjoyable. 

Total distance - 6.5 miles




Other than that, I haven't done a right lot this week. No running at all.  I did spent a lot of time on my feet on Sunday though, marshalling the Manchester 10k.  It was a long day as we did the half marathon too so were out in the blazing sunshine from 7.30am to 4pm.  Great day though, I'd much rather be marshalling it than running it!

Week 19 - t'Yorkshire

I didn't get a right lot of exercise done this week, very busy at work and at home.  I did a charity gardening day on Wednesday at Seashell Trust in Cheadle Hulme.  Does that count as exercise?  Funnily enough, my shitbit showed that I did over 15,000 steps that day however I only climbed the equivalent of two, yes two, flights of stairs all day.  How flat is it round there!?!?!?!  The day before, all I did all day was walk Ruby 1.25 miles and then sit on my bum the rest of the day, yet I still climbed over 30 floors on that day, in only around 7,000 steps.  Just shows how hilly it is round here and how flat it is round there.




Thursday, 10 May


Just a quick run this morning, seeing as I haven't done anything all week.  Duncan dropped me off at the end of Wallsuches on his way to work and I ran from there alongside the fishing lodges and up through the old quarry onto George's Lane.  I then ran along George's Lane, turning left just after the first turning to the Pike and then heading down through the terrace gardens into the Pinetum.  I then just ran along to the back of the high school and then home along dog poo alley. 

Total running distance - 4 miles




Saturday, 12 May


Yesterday evening, Duncan, Ruby and I travelled up t'Yorkshire to a campsite near Bolton Castle.  It was a nice quiet little site and we found a good spot in the corner of the field.  I had come up to Yorkshire so that I could do some reccying of A Foot in Two Dales, the 50 mile walk I'm doing in July.  I just wanted to see how good the route description is and try out the parts of the route which I will probably be doing in darkness. 


This morning I decided to walk the last two sections of the route - section 7 from Thoralby to Gallops and section 8 from Gallops to the event HQ in Harmby. 


Section 7 was pretty easy as it was mostly just on a couple of paths which went on for along time without any turn offs, however, right from the start there was a problem  with the directions.  The directions took you out of Thoralby down a narrow passage, coming out on a road.  It says to turn left on the road and then follow with care to Burton Bridge.  The problem was that, once I turned left on the road, after a few hundred meters I came to a T-junction which there was no mention of in the directions so I didn't know whether it was left or right from here.  I had the route on a GPX on the OS maps app on my phone so I just looked at this and knew I had to go left but this made me immediately wary about the accuracy of the route description.  I had doubts anyway, given that the whole 50 mile route is contained within only three A4 sheets whereas that is usually around the amount you would get for a walk half that distance. 


The rest of this section went OK though and I arrived at Gallops where there were racehorses all over the show.  At Gallops the route takes a bridleway over the common but it isn't terribly clear on the ground in places and the directions suggest using an alternative path if on this section at night which is probably a good idea because the grassy bridleway is full of hoof holes so it could be pretty easy to turn an ankle.


Further on, the directions say: Continue to reach RIVERSIDE by gate through wall. Go through gate and turn right onto track by River Ure.  That to me sound like once through the gate you turn right onto the track, however the track is a long way after going through the gate and from the gate to the track you are following a trod which isn't fully clear in places. 


I did find that I was checking the GPX on my phone far more than I would have liked as usually with these challenge events, I never have to look at a map at all. 


Despite the directions issue, it was a really nice walk on a lovely sunny day so I did enjoy it and that's the main thing.

Duncan then picked me up from Harmby and we spent most of the rest of the day just chilling out in the sunshine.


Total walking distance - 11.5 miles




Sunday, 13 May


We were woken up very early this morning at 4am as our bedding was soaking wet!  Having found no leaks or any reason for this, we had to draw the conclusion that Ruby had wet the bed!  We're pretty sure she didn't do it on purpose and that it was an accident, the same as a child would.  I would have known if she had got up and squatted on the bed because I'm a light sleeper and she also wouldn't have done that, had she needed the loo she would have woke us up to be let out. 

So I found myself in the campsite showers at 4.10am and, after that, there was nothing we could do but get up, given our bedding was all wet. 


I therefore had an early start for today's recce, which I decided to run this time.  I did section 5 (Hardraw to Bainbridge) and section 6 (Bainbridge to Thoralby).


Again I found the directions somewhat sketchy and I had to keep resorting to looking at my GPX route.  There is a bit which simply says 'take footpath straight on through fields to road' but the path is again a trod which isn't clear in places and it also splits going in different directions and you can't see the road so don't know which direction to go in and, again, there is no mention of distance so you don't know how far away the road is.  With my GPX the route was fine, however I think if anyone is going to do the event without being able to read of map or having GPX, they may get a little lost. 


It was supposed to have been raining all day today but it actually turned out to be really warm and sunny with not a drop of rain. 


I did have a couple of issues today though, which were due to my general anxiety:


Firstly, I had to go through a couple of fields with cows.  Thankfully they were just minding their own business, chilling in the sunshine, but I was still pretty nervous and constantly looking around the fields for the best escape route.


Secondly, stream crossings.  There were two of them.  My issue with streams isn't getting my feet wet or being swept away, it's slipping and cracking my head on a rock.  The bottom of both becks was really slippery and my studded footwear didn't help as there is very little ground contact.  Neither beck was leapable (unless you are Greg Rutherford) as they were a few meters wide but the first one was easy as there was a fence thing across it used to stop sheep going through (I'm sure there is an actual name for one of these) so I held onto this to steady myself as it crossed.  The second one was much trickier though, for me anyway, my fell running friends would have no issue with it at all.  It wasn't fast moving and wasn't deep but as soon as I put one foot on a rock it slipped straight out and had no traction whatsoever.  The best thing to do would probably be to just run as quick as possible through having as little contact with the ground as possible but my anxiety stopped that.  Instead, after pondering it for a while, I took off my shoes and socks, deciding that I'd have much more grip in bare feet.  I was correct, although it wasn't very nice going across rocks in bare feet.  I just hope I'm not quite as wimpy on the actual event day! 

Duncan picked me up in Thoralby and we then drove over to Hawes and had lunch in a bike café there which was lovely. 


After that we drove to Malham and chilled out in the sunshine again, catching up on the sleep we had missed this morning.


Total running distance - 10 miles

Week 18 - Conquering Shaly Dingle

Tuesday, 1 May

Went for a run first thing this morning but my legs just didn't want to play.

I drove up to Burnt Edge Lane, which I know is cheating as it avoids all the climb at the start but meh!  I just like to have a change of scenery rather than plodding up to George's Lane every time.

I ran down past 'haunted house' and along to Holden's Farm.  I then turned left and followed the trail, forking right to cross the stream over the bridge and then out onto the mast road.  I climbed up to Two Lads then ran down to the water tanks and straight across, crossing the mast road again and back into Smithills Estate.  I then went along Burnt Edge and back to the van.

It was really hard work this morning and my legs just couldn't get going.  Still, lovely to be out on such a nice morning before work.  It really is great living in this neck of the woods.

Total distance - 3 miles 



Wednesday, 2 May

Altitude spin tonight with Claire.  My word it was a hot one!  The sweat was pouring off my nose.  It felt really hard work tonight, my legs still struggling.


Friday, 4 May

I managed to get out for a run this morning, even though I didn't think I would have time to.  I just did a short one though, going up past Wylderswoode Stud and then turning right onto Brinks Row.  Instead of then climbing up to George's Lane I crossed the road and ran down the footpath between some cottages and Harpers Farm, coming out on Foxholes, then crossing over into the memorial forest.

When I came out of the forest I climbed the hill through the old quarry, out onto George's Lane.  I then just ran along to Pike Cottage and went home via my favourite field.

The most calories I burned today though were at the rock gig I went to in the evening - The Britrock Must be Destroyed!  In an hour of moshing to the Wildehearts I burned nearly 500 calories!

Total distance - 3.1 miles 


Sunday, 6 May 

What is with the weather lately?  On Monday morning I had to scrape ice off my van before leaving for work and now it's beautifully hot and sunny!  Utterly bizarre!

Not complaining about the sun though, it's lovely!  I went out earlyish this morning with a route already in mind for my run.  I wanted to find a decent way out of Shaly Dingle!

From home, I ran up to George's Lane but the soles of my feet were really sore (this happens a lot when I run straight up hill).  I sat on a rock at the kissing gate at the bottom of the Two Lads stream climb and gave my feet a bit of a massage, before heading up to Two Lads.

At Two Lads, I then went the off-road route to the mast.  By now my feet felt OK as they were now warmed up.

After the mast, I went down to what was the shooting hut then climbed the hill, heading over to 'the secret' reservoir!

It was absolutely stunning this morning in the sunshine and I was tempted to go in for a dip but I refrained - it's probably bloody freezing!

From there, I made my way across Whimberry Hill and Egg Hillock, dropping into Shaly Dingle.  Every tine I have been here before, I have either climbed up the horrid bracken to Counting Hill, or have turned around and gone back the way I came, however somebody told me that if you go straight on, eventually you get to a trod which leads over to the San Marino ramp.  I thought I'd give it ago, crossing the stream and climbing up the right hand side of the waterfall.  This involved a bit of scrambling so I'm not sure whether there is an easier route which I missed however, once I got to the top I did manage to pick up a trod.  It was quite easy to follow for the most part but there were bits where it seemed to disappear.  After what seemed like a long time I came out onto the San Marino ramp.  It wasn't the best route ever as I found it tricky to run in places but it was still nicer than climbing up through the bracken and the best bit about it was that I didn't see a single other person.

I ran up the San Marino ramp then stopped to chat to a couple of mountain bikers for ages at the top.

When I started running again, the soles of my feet were sore, but this time not muscular sore, but friction burn sore.  It wasn't too bad though so I carried on regardless, going to the trig point and then down the diagonal, which I haven't done for ages!  I really enjoyed it.  I've missed this kind of running as I've stuck more to trails recently which is nice but not the same.  Once at the bottom, I ran along the lane a bit but then turned off up to Noon Hill.  As usual, Noon Hill to the Pike was really boggy, is it ever dry up there?

When I came out of the kissing gate, instead of running along the track to the Pike, I went straight up the steep side, which was met by a 'wow' from a lady who was finding it hard just walking up the proper track.  That made me feel really good - I'm not such a crap runner after all!

On the Pike I was met by a bunch of runners who were taking part in the Horwich Triathlon .  I ran down off the Pike and along George's Lane, cheering on the competitors as I passed.

When I got to Pike Cottage I intended to turn onto my favourite field but, after stopping to watch some of the race, I saw some familiar faces further along so I ran down to have a chat.  It was Lindsey, Maria and Jim.

After a brief chat, I ran back home with Jim via Wilderswood.

Absolutely fantastic run.  There was lots of stopping to chat, etc.  but I don't care.  I ran 10 miles which is the first time I have got into double figures in two years (not including walking).  I didn't walk any of the climbs either so I'm really pleased with myself.

Whoooooooop!

Total distance - 10.5 miles